Telecommuting

Definition: “Telecommuting is a type of an alternative (or flexible) work arrangement where an
employee conducts work at an off-site location with use of telecommunication technologies to
connect to the workplace” (Bernardino, 2017).
Summary: The article entitled “How Soon Will You Be Working From Home?” written by
Sintia Radu (2018) discusses how telecommuting is making more people work from home. The
author notes that in this decade the number of telecommuters is growing at a rate of 10 times
more than it was in a decade earlier. Radu (2018) however notes that telecommuting as pointed
out by experts faces numerous challenges including cultural barriers, labor laws, tax policies, and
the public’s perception and is not easy as many might think.
Discussion: Telecommuting popularly known as telework allows employees to work from home
or any other remote location other than an office. The employee can access all the computer
applications available to them at work for them to perform work adequately. In most cases, the
company provides internet access to the employees at their homes as well as makes sure they
have appropriate equipment to run and access the company provided software.
While some experts believe that telecommuting is more cost efficient and might improve
productivity besides creating a better work/life balance. According to Pierra-Louis (2018), the
spread of technologies is enabling Americans to spend more time working remotely, shopping
online and thus are spending more time at their homes. This is reducing energy use and by
extension greenhouse gas emissions.

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Pierre-Louis (2018) noted that Americans are spending more days at home with more
Americans spending 7.8 days at home in 2012 compared to 2003. According to Pierre-Louis
(2018), evidence shows that this reduced national energy demand by 1,700 trillion BTUs in 2012
which is equal to 1.8 percent of the nation’s total energy use. Considering many are spending
more time at home, it is the time to embrace telecommuting at work. Thanks to telework,
employees will work from remote locations and will not have to come to the office. This will
save a lot of cost for companies since employees will not require a physical location. Savings
will also increase based on lack of utility bills which are associated with the physical location.
Besides, the cost for daily commute will largely be reduced since there will be no need to
commute to the office every day. This will also save money for the company.
Telecommuting will also help employees to manage their personal and work lives more
effectively than working in an office setting. By way of releasing employees from the constraints
of a physical office, they will be employed to create their schedules thus accomplishing more
work effectively. This empowerment will enable employees to take ownership of their position
as well as motivating them to perform the best of their abilities.
Even the bible encourages employees to work as though they are working for the Lord
himself and telecommuting will encourage employees to work effectively. A bible narrative
supporting this discussion is when Paul said in Colossians 3:22-25 that slaves had to obey their
earthly masters in every. He claimed the slaves should work with their hearts and passion as
though they were working for the lord and those who work hard will be repaid by the lord as a
reward. Telecommuting will take employees out of the stressors of the office and thus will be
able to work more passionately and more effectively thus improving the production of their
companies.

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Though telecommuting has various challenges lie lack of human interaction, high technology
needs and many others, the future will open doors for telecommuting as technology improves.

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References

Bernardino, A. (2017). Telecommuting: Modelling the Employer's and the Employee's Decision-
Making Process. Routledge.
Pierre-Louis, K. (2018, July 16). Americans Are Staying Home More. That's Saving Energy.
Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/climate/americans-staying-home-
energy.html
Radu, S. (2018, February 16). How Soon Will You Be Working From Home? Retrieved from
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-02-16/telecommuting-is-
growing-but-still-not-unanimously-embraced