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RECOMMENDATIONS FORSTAKEHOLDERS 445cost-effective. Organizations can often provide such en-
couragement at relatively low cost by working out vol-
ume buying arrangements for hardware, software, and
telecommunications services.
Various kinds of training can lead to improved organi-
zational performance in general and also have positive im-
plications for telecommuting. Training for specific kinds
of software used at the office, for example, integrated
e-mail and calendaring systems, will also lead to more
efficient usage of the same software on home computers.
Training in time management has obvious implications
for better employee performance both at the office and
while telecommuting. Training in management skills can
make managers more effective in handling employees at
the office, mobile workers in the field, and employees who
do classic telecommuting 1 day or more per week.
Telecommuting arrangements sometimes make it pos-
sible for organizations to retain key employees who would
otherwise be lost because either the employee or the or-
ganization relocates. Telework arrangements may make
it possible for an organization to access employees with
skills (e.g., computer programming) that might not oth-
erwise be available. These situations generally are unique
enough to be handled on a case-by-case basis, rather than
through formal organizational policies.Employees
Telecommuting offers substantial personal benefits, even
if it is only done for an average of 1 day a week. Some
of these benefits—vehicle costs and reduction in com-
muting stress—are proportional to the length of the com-
mute. For example, at the standard U.S. rate of 36 cents
per mile in 2003, telecommuting 48 days per year in-
stead of driving back and forth to a work location that is
15 miles away would amount to a savings of more than
$500 (U.S. dollars, undiminished by income taxes) per
year. For some employees, the reduction in commuting
stress (White & Rotton, 1998) can be important, espe-
cially when bad weather or other factors make the drive
worse than usual. In some relatively rare situations, full-
time telecommuting makes it possible for an employee to
maintain a desirable position within an organization after
either the employee or the organization relocates.
These personal benefits need to be placed within the
context of the employee’s standing in the organization and
the needs of the employer, however. If an employee pos-
sesses skills that would be difficult to replace, based on
specialization or on experience with the organization, it
may be possible for him or her to work out a favorable
telecommuting arrangement. Similarly, if the characteris-
tics of the job are such that telecommuting makes a lot of
sense for the organization, it may not be difficult to have a
telecommuting arrangement. For commission sales, and
telephone customer service representatives outside regu-
lar working hours, it may be more cost-effective for the
organization and more productive for employees to work
most of the time out of their homes.
If the employee does not have that kind of a bar-
gaining position or job description, the emphasis would
necessarily shift toward the perspectives of (a) how
telecommuting can improve the individual’s performanceand (b) how it can contribute to the overall effectiveness
of the organization. Although their organizations may not
mention this explicitly, it would be a good idea for such
telecommuters to reinvest their commuting time savings
into extra work on organizational projects. In a sense,
telecommuting is a privilege, so it would be appropri-
ate for telecommuters to demonstrate that their organi-
zations are getting something of value in exchange for
any inconveniences resulting from their physical unavail-
ability. Although there is little empirical backing for the
claims of increased productivity, telecommuters would be
wise to put in the extra time to fulfill the expectations that
these repeated claims may have generated in the minds of
their managers and within their organizations.
A high level of flexibility in scheduling telecommut-
ing days is important to avoid inconveniences to other
employees. Employees who telecommute 1 day per week
should, as much as possible, avoid telecommuting by ne-
cessity on a certain day of every week. Whenever there
is a conflict between a scheduled telecommuting day and
organizational requirements, the employee should try to
move the telecommuting to another day or, if that is not
possible, forego telecommuting for that week.
Telecommuting should also be based on identifying
tasks that can be accomplished significantly better when
working away from the office. If a task can be done equally
well at the office or at home, in most cases it should be
handled at the office to avoid inconveniences to other em-
ployees. Based on this criterion, there may be weeks where
telecommuting is not appropriate at all and other weeks
where more telecommuting than usual can be justified.Telecommuting Equipment, Software,
and Other Considerations
The requirements for hardware, software, and furnish-
ings will vary depending on the type of work done while
telecommuting, the frequency of telecommuting, the type
of software and systems being used within the organi-
zation, and the telecommuter’s personal preferences and
technical capabilities. Cable or DSL connections are de-
sirable for almost all telecommuters, because of the extra
bandwidth and because they do not interfere with use of
a single telephone line for voice communications.
The same business productivity software (word pro-
cessor, spreadsheet, etc.) should be used at home as at
work to avoid time-consuming compatibly and conver-
sion problems. For software categories that are less vul-
nerable to interoperability issues (e.g., e-mail systems,
web browsers, computer program development environ-
ments), technically savvy telecommuters would do well to
use software that differs from organizational standards
if it makes them significantly more productive without
creating problems for coworkers.Regulatory Authorities
At the public policy level, it is important to be aware that
telecommuting participation and usage trends have not
and probably will not result in noticeable reductions in the
need for transportation infrastructure (see Mokhtarian,
1998). At the start of the 21st century, the total traffic
volume reduction from classic telecommuting throughout