Telecommuting Good for Workers and Bosses
November 20th, 2007 Posted by: Dr. Cox
(Ivanhoe Newswire) â Both workers and bosses win when employees are allowed to telecommute.
According to researchers who reviewed 46 previous studies conducted among more than 12,000 workers, telecommuting leads to higher morale and job satisfaction and lower turnover and employee stress. Supervisors rank telecommuters higher on performance reviews, and employees report enhanced balance between work and family issues as well.
âOur results show that telecommuting has an overall beneficial effect because the arrangement provides employees with more control over how they do their work,â study author Ravi S. Gajendran, from Pennsylvania State University, was quoted as saying. âAutonomy is a major factor in worker satisfaction and this rings true in our analysis.â
Statistics show telecommuting â defined as working at a location other than the standard place of work for at least a few days a week â is a growing trend. About 41 million people reported telecommuting in 2003. By 2004, that number had jumped to 45 million.
The only downside to telecommuting found in the current review was a worsening of relationships with coworkers among those who reported working away from the office. But bosses didnât pick up on any negativity, noting no adverse effect on performance due to working offsite. Telecommuters didnât believe working away from the office would hurt their careers either.
Women were especially likely to benefit from telecommuting. Among the studies included in the review, those with more women in them ended up with more findings favorable to telecommuting.
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SOURCE: Journal of Applied Psychology, published online Nov. 19, 2007