In the heat of the current employment and financial crisis, soaring gas prices and insecurity in the future workers, as well as employers, are beginning to get creative in finding each other. According to the most recent surveys, industry experts anticipate an upward trend in telecommuting and work-at-home jobs. According to research by Telecommute Institue, a telework resource for employers, employees, and entrepreneurs, today's workers, many of them professionals who have been out-placed or downsized, are opting to take ownership of their own careers by becoming consultants or freelancers working from home in this tumultuous environment. At the same time, many employers are beginning to turn to creative alternatives like offering telecommuting or work-at-home options to attract and retain employees. Smaller companies, who were finding it hard to compete in terms of salary and benefits packages, can offer this type of benefit as it is often cheaper for the employer to have personnel work offsite than to maintain increasingly expensive office space and equipment onsite. Employers are discovering that telecommuters can be just as productive as, if not more productive than, traditional office-based workers.
Working from home is one thing, getting your employer to provide the technical support, such as remote network access, is a different. The 2008 CDW survey shows that 76 percent of private-sector employers now provide technical support for remote workers, up 27 percentage points over 2007. Even the government is seeing the benefit of this type of work arrangement. Since 2005, Federal IT support for telecommuting has grown 23 percent, according to a year-over-year trend analysis of telework survey data.
The resulting benefit of this type of arrangement is more than just the benefit to the worker, improving work/life balance, and decreasing stress for commuters. It is the fact that in the event of a disaster, the work force is dispersed across a larger geography, and can help to ensure the continuity of government and business operations in the event of a major catastrophe, or even a minor disruptive event, such as localized flooding, fire, or tornado.
According to the 2008 CDW telecommuting Report, in light of the recent concerns with traffic congestion, air pollution, global warming, and gasoline prices, 40 percent of employees say that the option to telecommute would influence their decision to remain with their employer or take a new job. Further, the report uncovers the obvious fact that employees want greater work/life flexibility, but are still concerned that management resistance will stunt their careers. Fortunately this trend is truly a reality and in the not-so-distant-future, management will have to face the fact that with the advent of virtual and remote technology, we are moving at warp speed toward a virtual workforce.
According to recent trends, telecommuting may very well be the answer to many of the employment concerns facing both workers and employers. At the very least, it bears investigation by both groups into what is involved to take the tele-plunge and join the job market of the future.
