1. Telecommuting

2. Summary Slide What is Telecommuting Current Status
Types of Telecommuting
Impact to Individuals (possitive)
Impact to Individuals (negative)
Impact to Business
Impact on Working Parents
Impact on the Disabled
Impact to Society and Environment
Impact on International Business
The Safety of Telecommuting
The Telecommuter Profile
Telecommuting Technologies

3. What is Telecommuting
“Telecommuting is the use of computers and telephones to enable an employee to work off-site and outside the traditional workplace. This could include working partially, like one to three days a week from home, or working entirely at home corresponding when necessary with the employer”
“Making use of information and communication technologies to practice some form of remote working”
Telecommuting is moving the work to the workers instead of the workers moving to work
Flex-work
Term was coined by Jack Nilles in 1973
Telecommuting centers

4. Current Status
In million Americans telecommuted and in million
28.9% of American businesses practice telecommuting
15-20% growth annually

5. Types of Telecommuting
Cisco Systems classifies telecommuters in three types:
Day extender
Part-time teleworker
Full-time teleworker

6. Impact to Individuals (possitive)
More time at home with family (30 minutes - 2 hours/day)
Money Savings ($150/month on clothing)
Decreased sick time
Increases pool of possible employers (not confined to small geographic area)
Improved morale
Improves relationship with supervisor by 43%
Improves quality of life 10 hours/week to spent with family, personal growth activities, sleep, happier
Lowers stress
Care for people at home (kids, elderly)

7. Impact to Individuals (negative)
Lack of social contact
Do not participate in group projects
Work hours become longer
Difficulties balancing work and personal life
Difficulties drawing a line between work and home
Distractions
Lack of assistance

8. Impact to Business Could utilize abilities of the disabled
Reduction of capital expenditures
Harder working employees
Increased productivity by 20 – 25%
Lower turnover rates
Cost Savings (AT&T saved $10,000/year from each telecommuter and Merrill Lynch $10,000 through lower absenteeism alone)
Safety issues from telework
Possibility of loosing control over employees
“Gratitude effect”
“Hoteling”

9. Impact on Working Parents
Impact on the Individual discussed above and,
Allows parents to participate in school activities
Care for the elderly
Nursing mothers (feeding, pumping breast milk)
74% of telecommuting workforce are couples

10. Impact on the Disabled
52% of the 54 million disabled Americans suffer from mobility disabilities
In 2001, $ 4.3 billion was spent out to Social Security recipients (10 million young and disabled Americans receive Social Security disability)
U.S. Department of Labor introduced $2.4 million in grants for telework programs administered by the Office of Disability Policy
New technologies help (infrared headsets, voice recognition etc)

11. Impact to Society and Environment
Savings of 1.2 million gallons of fuel per week for every 10% of workers telecommuting (11% of energy in Japan is wasted through delays)
Yearly Telecommuting Cost Savings in the US is estimated at $23 billion
Less congested roads (road rage)
Fewer accidents
More free parking lots
Less cost in building and maintaining highways
People move away from the city creating areas of de-forested land
May increase “cabin-fever” trips
Increase in high-tech waste in landfills

12. Impact on International Business
Lower cost: cost in face-to-face meetings is 7 times more expensive than conference calls
Less time traveling (average time flying is 10 hours)
Items described in previous slides also apply here

13. The Safety of Telecommuting
Reducing risk of traffic related injury
Children stay at home with parents
Terrorist acts
Employer is responsible for telecommuter’s safety
Home safety inspections (fire, electrical, equipment, home office space, air quality, accident sources)
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines

14. The Telecommuter Profile
Telecommuters earn on the average whitle colar worker
Telecommuters work in small companies (65% in companies of less than 100 employees)
Telecommuters are concentrated in service industries like health care (13%), education (9%), architecture/engineering (8.8%), communications (8.8%)
Telecommuters are accountants, bookkeepers, programmers (best fit jobs for telecommuting)
Telecommuters understand technology (or so we hope)
Telecommuters are self motivated, results oriented, self disciplined and have good time management skills

15. Telecommuting Technologies
Telecommuting usually involves all the elements of a Computer Based Information System, including hardware, software, telecommunications, data, procedures and people:
Hardware: Computer, Printer
Software: Job specific
Telecommunications:Phone lines, Modems, Fax machines, Videoconferencing equipment
Data: Access to databases
Procedures: Related to telecommuting
People: That make telecommuting happen (not only telecommuters)