Telecommuting
Recent breakthroughs in technology have made the concept of the virtual office viable at home, on the road, and nearly anywhere in the world. For a few thousand dollars, a home office can be outfitted with the essentials: phone, fax machine, and personal computer with video conferencing capabilities. Although a drastic change in work routines and habits is required, many companies across the country and around the world have found telecommuting an efficient, cost-saving, and flexible alternative to the traditional office. In the mid-1980ีs IBM experimented with telecommuting, and "the strategy has worked so well for IBM that it is hard to find many weaknesses" ("Management"). In 1994 IBM formalized the program and began to encourage more employees to telecommute, and as of July 1997 had 20,000 workers active in the program. However, telecommuting drastically changes not only the way people go about their work, but the rest of their personal and home lives as well.
Telecommuting has been criticized for extreme isolation of workers, and many of the IBM telecommuters "agreed that maintaining a sense of teamwork among field-based personnel was the greatest human challenge - and that it had to be worked at continually" ("Management"). Although many argue that improvements in video conferencing and the increasing availability of more realistic video and audio systems for these applications will decrease the isolation of home workers, the "anytime, anywhere" attitude of telecommuting suggests that even life-like video communication will often be sent as a message, and not participated in real-time ("Changes"). Considering the worldwide nature of many businesses today, one realizes that even if a telecommuter worked a traditional 8 hour day his co-workers around the world would see his availability as one-third of the day, with possibly none of it coinciding with their own working hours.
Although the flexible work times and schedules offer many advantages, they threaten to cloud the distinction between work time and personal time. Working at home on oneีs own schedule requires strict self-discipline, both to fulfill duties to of the job, as well as to keep time available for family and other responsibilities around the house.
"When the 'home' becomes a workplace the boundaries between work and family, workplace and home, public and private space...become blurred. How the separate spheres and roles are interpreted when new circumstances are operative affect the home as a social and physical setting." (Gurstein, 1989)The introduction of work in the home also can lead to "workaholism", since all the tools needed for business are readily available ("Electric"). On the other extreme, distractions around the home can also decrease worker efficiency. Thus, management by surveillance as implemented in the traditional office must evolve into management by results, where employees are self-motivated to perform well and work with maximum productivity and managers must except the loss of direct control of their workers. However, if supervisors insist on efficiency monitoring schemes for telecommuters:
Unscrupulous employers could institute a form of "electronic sweatshops" (Gurstein, 1989), where people working at home are paid strictly according to output, and productivity expectations are set unrealistically high. Worker's computers can be set to monitor keystrokes and report efficiency to the employer. Because some homeworkers would not have traditional face to face interactions with their coworkers, they may not realize that their working conditions are unfair. The lack of informal workplace interactions may hamper formation of unions or other labor groups that could campaign on behalf of the exploited workers (Antonoff, 1985; Hartz, 1985; Nilles, 1974; "Changes").Telecommuting has been praised for its ability to level the playing field among socio-economic classes. Overhead and startup costs for the home office are relatively small, and oneีs ability to complete work thoroughly and on time becomes their virtual identity among co-workers. Handicapped persons and those requiring some form of special assistance, as well as the elderly who may find it hard to commute on a daily basis, are given a chance to compete with other workers and make active contributions in their areas of interests. Telecommuting has also proven invaluable to pregnant mothers, women with young children, single parents, and those who need to be at home to care for the elderly or the sick. The home office allows them to continue working and participating in company decisions, work flexible hours, and remain at home to take care of their responsibilities.
While telecommuting may be ideal for those that find the commute and time away from home difficult, employees must be careful when adopting this type of work program. Its flexible hours can lead to frequent distractions around the home resulting in decreased efficiency and productivity. Because all of the facilities needed to complete work are on hand, and issues pertaining to work are less easily laid to rest at the end of the day, telecommuters also face the danger of workaholism which can lead to a deterioration of family and personal relationships.