The Telecommuting Trend:
What is Telecommuting
Why Telecommute
Who Telecommutes

What is Telecommuting --  

Telecommuting redefines the workplace to enable people to work from home or from other locations during a portion of the work week. There is a continuum of options available to individuals and organizations that want to realize the benefits of telecommuting. This range of options takes into consideration amounts of time spent working in an office, at home or other remote locations.

If you're an informal telecommuter, you may work at home occasionally (e.g., when you need to be there to meet a service provider, tend to a sick child, avoid a major traffic or weather obstacle, etc.). Also, many people routinely work at home in the evenings or on weekends just to 'catch up' or keep on top of time-sensitive projects. The expanded use of voice mail, e-mail, laptop computers and cellular phones has facilitated this dynamic (or this intrusion, as some might think). Nevertheless, there's an undeniable increase in work-related activity occurring in our homes during non-work hours.

Part-time telecommuters blend their on-site work days with work-at-home days, usually telecommuting only a day every week or two. These arrangements can be structured to involve specific telecommute days (e.g., every other Friday) or can be variable depending upon individual and organizational needs.

Your 'on-site' time as a telecommuter can involve a range of options that may include work days in the corporate office, a field office, a client site, a vendor site, a conference room at an airport or some other remote location. There may be a dedicated office space for you in the traditional workplace, e.g., your 'cube' at corporate. However, with the increase in telecommuting and the imperative to curtail spiraling real estate costs, many organizations are opting to utilize hoteling or other alternative officing arrangements to support telecommuters. With hoteling, telecommuters have a temporary office available for their use while in the office. The range of services may include personalized phone extensions to which your calls are automatically transferred, personal files that are moved into your temporary office on the days you're scheduled to be there and assistance from a 'concierge' for scheduling and coordination of on-site support.

Some organization and branches of the federal government have established telecenters which often serve as regional or suburban-based work hubs. These afford workers the opportunity to minimize commuting time to corporate offices while offering the advantages of shared facilities, team interaction opportunities and less reliance on a home-based work arrangement. Some telecommuters combine their work-at-home days with on-site days at the telecenter providing even greater flexibility by blending the telecenter/telecommute options.

Although the balance between on-site work days and home-based work days may find some telecommuters working primarily from home, full-time telecommuting is very rare and difficult. Few jobs are conducive to practically no on-site time or interaction opportunities with co-workers. In reality, full-time telecommuters are typically those for whom the home office is their primary work location (e.g., where they typically do their work; receive mail, faxes, phone calls, voice mail and faxes; participate in virtual meetings and, perhaps, some face-to-face meetings). These telecommuters, along with others who work from home less frequently, don't function in isolation. On-site meetings and face-to-face interactions are still a necessary part of work, and telecommuters are simply more selective about when such 'live' interactions are essential. Telecommuters and the organizations with which they work take advantage of available technology to supplement face-to-face meetings with other creative ways to meet the needs of the organization, employees and customers.