Home-working has its challenges

Technology has changed our working lives
Figures indicate that teleworkers add value to the bottom-line
There is a flip side

By: Lindsay Wood

Telecommuting, or home-working, sounds ideal. But is life without commuting as good as it sounds? Lindsay Wood looks into the stresses involved with working from the home office.

Technology has changed our working lives.

More and more people are living 'tortoise shell' existences as they work from home, telecommuting with their offices on their backs. The once-familiar central office has disappeared for many home-workers as technology has, and will continue to, change both social and working lives.

Working from home brings a range of telecommuting stress problems, not least of which is the lack of personal contact with co-workers and the isolation that can develop.

Also, telecommuters are dependent on the technologies that they use in order to work from home. So what is the worker to do when the micro-technology center they manage at home breaks down and there is no support system that would otherwise be there in a central office?

Figures indicate that teleworkers add value to the bottom-line

Gartner Group forecasts that there will be 137 million telecommuters by 2003 worldwide, up from the 8.5 million in 1995 and the 19.6 million in the third quarter of 1999. Figures indicate that home-workers generate more business, work harder and save the corporate office thousands in costs every year.

JDEdwards teleworkers are 20-25 percent more productive than JDE office workers
- Chicago Sun-Times, 10/99
AmEx teleworkers produced 43 percent more business than office workers
- CO Telework Coalition
Compaq productivity increases ranged from 15-45 percent
- CO Telework Coalition
$8,000 per worker in office space savings can be saved yearly
- Institute Distributed Work
Telework can cut corporate real estate costs by 25-90 percent
- PC World
IBM US reduced real estate costs by 40-60 percent
- Telecommuting Review
AT&T saves $3,000 per teleworker annually
- ITAC/AT&T
Employers can save 63 percent of absenteeism costs by per teleworker
- ITAC, 1999
Ford, Delta & Intel provided computers to their 512,000 employees "…to create a competitively superior workforce."
- www.zdnet.com
Unisys Outsourcing, with 100 percent of employees teleworking, reduced office space by 90 percent or $1 million annually.
- MWCOG, 9/99
$441 billion - potential US employer teleworker savings from reduced absenteeism and recruiting costs, and from more productivity
- ITAC, 1999
Teleworker income: 15 percent earn less than $20,000; 9 percent earn more than $100,000; 60 percent earn between $20 and $80,000; with a mean figure of $44,000
- ITAC, 1999
Teleworkers save 52.9 minutes of commute time each workday
- ITAC, 1999
A 40 minute commute = 8 working weeks every year
- CO Telework Coalition
53 percent of teleworkers say the ability to work at home is important to their employment choice
- ITAC, 1999

There is a flip side

As you can see from the various statistics that have been published, the list of benefits and lifestyle improvements is long and varied. Everything from simply being able to work without having to get dressed in office clothes (including putting on makeup, shaving, putting on stockings, and so on) to just being more relaxed by avoiding the stress of the commute.

However, more workplace stress will result from dealing with computer and other machine breakdowns, keeping up-to-date with new software, training on the latest equipment and learning new Internet techniques.

Breakdowns and the expectation of technology and machine breakdown, become an appreciable mental strain. To counter this it becomes important for the telecommuter to establish a relationship with a local computer supplier in case of technology problems.

The too rapid advancement of new technologies ahead of worker familiarity & acceptance of them highlights the increased need for technical support & training - which can be provided by the employer. The consistent use of data security measures and procedures can also be provided by the employer.

There is, of course, a flip side to the increased quality of work-life: morale, stress, personal control, work/family/personal life balance, and commute pressures. Life away from the central office will also make work more socially isolating. And there's also the stress of trying to separate 'personal' from 'work' space. The home-worker needs to agree on house rules with the family regarding interruptions during the day and create a 'finish' time when work ends and family time begins.

We've all heard the line "all work and no play". It is very true that you can burn out job searching or working - this is also true for the home-worker. It's important to learn how to get out and enjoy life whether you work in a central office or a home office. With organizational skills and time management a great deal of stress can be easily avoided. Telecommuters should take the time at the start to ensure they are organized and can accomplish their goals.

Working from home can be liberating for the telecommuter and can be extremely beneficial to the employer as well. But life is not always a breeze at home and the telecommuter needs to be prepared to start as they mean to go on. Anticipating potential technology problems, creating a dividing line between work, home-life and play, and maintaining some sort of social contact will all help to reduce stress and make working from home a very enjoyable experience.

© Copyright 2001. Galt Western Personnel Ltd. Unless otherwise specified, you may reprint this article, quote from it, use it in research or projects, duplicate it or distribute it. Credit of authorship and source MUST be given to galtglobalreview.com. Ownership of Copyright remains with Galt Western Personnel Ltd.

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