Telecommutiing Part 1

As the price of gas rises you see that measly 'cost of living' raise being pumped into your vehicle's gas tank. There's got to be another option.

Telecommuting - The Concept , Part 1

This article is the first in a series exploring the telecommuting concept. Part II - 'The Journey' talks about being a good telecommuter, approaching your boss about a telecommuting work arrangement, and how to set up your 'virtual office' space away from the office. Part III – 'The Lifestyle' discusses how to mange your work and personal life, structuring your environment, and staying productive.

In the past, information was transmitted via Pony Express and telegraph – now it travels as e-mail through modem lines. This information superhighway has created an opportunity for a new kind of mutually beneficial working partnership: telecommuting. Telecommuting is broadly defined as any method of working productively away from the office. According to the American Telecommuting Association (ATA), "telecommuting is second only to casual days as the fastest-growing shift in traditional working patterns".

Working at home sounds intriguing but do your job duties allow it and are you disciplined enough to work unsupervised? According to The Virtual Office Survival Handbook by Alice Bredin, you need to understand your working habits. You should consider your ability to: resist distractions, manage your time, set limits on work, and deal with challenges. Know what your virtual office skills are before you try to sell the concept to your employer.

If your work habits and telecommuting are a match, there are advantages to this arrangement for you, your employer, and society. If your lifestyle does allow for full- or part-time work outside of the home you will be productive. Working from home alleviates the need to overcome family/personal issues such as daycare, family illness, events such as a school concert or conferences, and physical or transportation barriers. You can feel better, work harder, save money (childcare, transportation, and parking), avoid commuting time and irritations, and feel motivated to achieve the high performance necessary to keep the position. When you work from home there may be set hours you need to be at your work station yet you have the flexibility to work within the parameters of that day. If the work does not get finished within those set hours you may have the option to come back and finish at a later time that day. Finishing the work with accuracy and professionalism is the goal to gain the feeling of satisfaction and shows your manager that you can and will be productive.

According to the Institute for the Study of Distributed Work, an employer saves over $2,000 per telecommuting employee per year on the cost of absenteeism and reduces business disruptions due to inclement weather, family emergencies, childcare, labor disputes, and so on. The telecommuting option also helps businesses hire and retain experienced workers. By offering a telework option organizations can attract qualified or specialist employees that do not reside near the place of business. Offering it as an option for existing employees helps retain employees, whom have been trained for a specific line of work, and gives the employee an option to continue working with the company instead of needing to quit due to personal reasons or moving out of the geographic area. Telecommuting also saves the employer costs related to office overhead and parking requirements. Society benefits from less pressure on the transportation infrastructure and, subsequently, less air pollution and gas consumption.


INTERESTING FACTS
Advantages For The Employee
Increased Flexibility: Telecommuters have more control over their time than those working in the office. When working at home they work at their peak energy times which adds flexibility to their overall day and schedules.

Three barriers may stand in the way of telecommuting being an attractive employment alternative to some employers: management difficulties, training issues, and needs of the position. Managers can be uncomfortable with employees they can't see. Therefore, telecommuting requires a shift to a management-by-objectives style. The manager and employee should agree on pre-established goals for the employee and manage the results versus the process. These performance standards are a guideline of what needs to be done and by what time. The Teleworder's performance is evaluated directly by how they meet the performance standards. The performance standards also help the company to keep a close eye on actual cost benefits, productivity, and morale of the telecommuting employee. The manager needs to make certain an appropriate means of evaluating productivity of the pre-established goals is in place to avoid misunderstandings down the road. An open line of communication by phone, fax, or modem allows the manager and telecommuting employee to work out issues that may arise but also keeps the employee in the office 'loop'. There is a good chance that the telecommuting employee becomes a forgotten part of the team since the other employees don't see or hear from them often enough.

Training is also essential for the success of a telecommuting program. Training should include online orientation and how to set-up a virtual office in the home. You must also determine who is responsible for what expenses (utilities, office supplies, travel expenses to meetings, and so on) and how you will interact with the main office to stay part of the team. Preparation for isolation, distractions, and technical pitfalls -- as well as how to stimulate ideas, creativity, and professionalism – should be considered.

Finally, as mentioned above, not all employees are good candidates for telecommuting. Besides employee personality, an assessment if the job function and a telecommuting job are a good match. Questions regarding the job such as - Does the employee need access to office files to perform the job function?; Are there meetings that the employee will need to attend in person?; Could all supplies be made available in a remote work location to accommodate a telecommuter for a particular job? - need to be answered and successfully evaluated. Furthermore, many employers like to have an employee work in the office from six months up to two years before telecommuting is offered as an option.

Telecommuting must be considered, first and foremost, as a tool for meeting business needs rather than a personal accommodation. That said persons requiring this accommodation can fulfill those business needs creating a mutually beneficial work arrangement. Beyond that, telecommuting can be an enviable lifestyle that adds balance to work and home life.
Subsequent articles will explore steps for selling telecommuting to management or working for yourself while marketing your telecommuting skills to others. There are also nuts and bolts to setting up your 'virtual office' and a new lifestyle that you should be prepared for. Advancements through technology have opened the door to this working partnership. It is not there for the taking but you can find your way to succeeding as a telecommuter.

Toni Grundstrom's expertise is in Marketing. Working for a professional association, government entity, and small business as a Telecommuter provides understanding of the concept and the issues surrounding this working option. She advocates for, informs and educates people who telecommute, work at home, or own a home based business. They are Professionals Working At Home.

This article may be distributed freely on your website, as long as
this entire article, including links and this resource box are unchanged.

Copyright 2007 Toni Grundstrom All Rights Reserved.
TelecommutingPro
TelecommutingPro

WOW, Telecommuting approved and under fire!!!

This article talks about OSHA regulations employers must adhere to even if the employeeis working at home as well as a list of other topice. You should not miss reading this.

Your Success Is Our Success

Toni
TelecommutingPro.com

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Old law vs. the new economy

In August 1997, a certain Mr. T. Trahan of CSC Credit Service wanted to let his sales executives work out of their home offices. He was uncertain about his possible obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, so he wrote to OSHA, the agency that administers the act.

Telecommuting Can Half U.S. Gulf Oil Dependency

If this is really the case, why is there such a lag in businesses and governments to push for telecommuting. Are we willing to have dependency on oil because of the lack trust business has for its employees?

Your Success Is Our Success

Toni
Telecommuting Pro

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Telecommuting Can Half U.S. Gulf Oil Dependency

Thirty-three million American's could work from home. If they did, the U.S. could make major cuts in oil dependency and significantly reduce global warming.

Both Parents Work At Home

This is a great example of how to work at home successfully.



Your Success Is Our Success



Toni



TelecommutingPro.com



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Both parents work at home while advancing in high-pressure jobs



Life is good in the Mayville household, about as good as it gets for two full-time working parents with demanding careers.



Family life flows in and around an eat-in kitchen and two offices -- one near the kitchen, the other at the opposite end of the main floor.

Telecommuting Information and Videos

Here are some great articles and information regarding Telecommuting. Please see my new RSS Feed from YouTube regarding Telecommuting.

Your Success Is Our Success

Toni
TelecommutingPro

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Flexibility can boost employee moraleNashua Telegraph - Nashua,NH,USA... it may be time to consider instituting family-friendly workplace policies such as flextime and telecommuting, say human resource experts.

Ecommerce saves the planetInquirer - Harrow,England,UKTop "carbon savers" are ecommerce, Telecommuting, Teleconferencing, ematerialization (that'sa new one!) and Telemedicine - ecommerce alone will save the US ...

Telecommuting top work choice for small business ownersTelecommunications Magazine - Norwood,MA,USAby Telecommunications staff, from news reports Small business owners in the US are more likely than employees to conduct business away from the traditional...

Flexible work life good for your health: studyReuters India - Mumbai,IndiaA flexible work life, including telecommuting and job shares, is good for your health, researchers said on Tuesday. They found that if people have the ...

Why Workforce Innovation Pays OffBroadcast Newsroom - Newport Beach,CA,USAEmployees get back time spent commuting and gain the flexibility telecommuting provides. Operators find they have more productive employees and also realize ...

Telecommuting Is Good For You

Telecommuting is catching on in the workplace. Emaployers continue to understand the significance of giving employees freedom to do their work away from the office. There are several articles involved with this post, each one talking about how telecommuting is good for you.

Your Success Is Our Success

Toni
TelecommutingPro

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Telecommuting Catches Up Here


Telecommuting Is Good For You

Researchers Give Telecommuting A Thumbs Up

Morale Boosts All Around Through Teleworking

More Telecommuting- Less Asphalt

Here is an article talking about the future of telecommuting, or what the author sees as a vision. Worth a quick read.

Your Success Is Our Success.

Toni
Telecommutingpro

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Spread universal broadband access, not asphalt
October 28, 2007

Broadband. Telecommuting. Taming our roaring highways instead of multiplying them. Walking or cycling to work. Less tension, better health. "Work to live, not live to work."

Could all those values come together?

Put your ear to the ground, and you can hear other voices, especially in new technologies, suggesting a less frenetic lifestyle in a nation clearly confounded by congestion, obesity, energy consumption, global warming and air quality issues.

Biggest on the technology side: broadband Internet connection. Broadband is usually sold for its economic promise; backers now claim that a robust, border-to-border U.S. broadband network would generate up to 1.2 million new jobs.

President Bush in 2004 announced a national goal that by this year, we'd be "ranked first when it comes to per-capita use of broadband technology." The United States was then 10th; today it's actually 15th. Many regions remain limited to dial-up service or such slow and unreliable broadband that critics call it "fraudband."

Yet expanding our broadband penetration to the levels of leading European and Asian nations, Leo Hindery of InterMedia Partners told a recent Brookings Institution forum, would "translate into a half-trillion dollars of economic activity."

New uses keep emerging for broadband service, now the world's premier messaging, data source, business, entertainment and video transmitter, and with voice services, a growing competitor to standard telephone lines. With broadband, medical images can be flashed long distances to save lives, schools can be smaller but still receive top-level instruction, images and communications for homeland security are faster ... and the list keeps growing.

But there's de facto "redlining" of geographically remote or poor areas by the "duopoly" of telephone and cable companies –– a modern-day version of early 20th-century corporate foot-dragging in delivering telephone and electric service to rural America.

Massachusetts, for example, has 32 towns with no broadband at all, 63 with limited service areas. "We are creating a new kind of ghetto," according to Don Dubendorf, president of Berkshire Connect, a high-speed Internet advocate and negotiator. "It's morally wrong. It's stupid economically, it's dangerous from a health point of view, it's absurd from a public education point of view."

Enter then the broadband-transportation link. Fast, reliable Internet connection makes telecommuting far more feasible –– to transfer files, worksheets and video clips, access company databases, create videoconferences and more. But "telework" can't function well when employees don't have broadband access. Simple equation: Universal broadband equals increased telecommuting, which in turn means less roadway demand, fewer greenhouse gas emissions and less pollution. Even if a worker telecommutes a day or two a week, it can make a real difference.

Which raises a thorny question: How many new super-road lanes do we need on our highways, anyway? None at all if they raise greenhouse gas emissions, says King County (Seattle) Executive Ron Sims. Sims is opposing a popular proposal on this fall's ballot –– $17 billion for a combination of new roads and rail transit in the central Puget Sound region. No good, says Sims –– the overall package raises the area's carbon dioxide emissions by 18 million to 28 million tons over the next 50 years.

Overall reduction of auto use is the challenge, says Sims, which means growth limits –– tighter, more dense communities:

Sims' highway stand is collaborated by Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Institute. Expanded freeways, Litman notes, may cut congestion delays in the short run. But in a few years, congestion generally returns to its earlier level through "induced travel" –– more thousands of drivers flooding into roadways they perceive as less crowded.

An alternative, says Sims: remote work centers, telecommuting, commuting in off hours, "an array of things so people have a life."

No one should have to commute more than a half-hour from home, Sims suggests. That translates too into time for a mix of exercise and sociability, walking and biking and talking with neighbors –– which reasonably compact communities make easier: "We want to tell people, you don't live to work, you work to live."

Heresy in fast-go, roaring-roadway, sprawling America? Maybe so. But let's pause to give it a careful look before we embrace urgent appeals for fresh asphalt.

10 Time-Tested Tips For Small Business, and MORE

Keeping you up-to-date on what is happening in the world of small business and telecommuting.

Your Success Is Our Success
Toni
TelecommutingPro

10 Steps To Small Business Success
Try Out These Time-Tested Tips To Make Business Bustle

Take Your Small Business On The Road
Today, running a business requires you to be in a lot of places at the same time. You run from meeting to meeting, while at the same time answering and sending emails. This can all be a bit overwhelming; fortunately technology...

More workers telecommuting, but plenty of obstacles remain
Americans are "teleworking" or "telecommuting," spending at least part of their workdays at sites other than their offices, usually their homes. ...