Telecommuting Programs Research Articles

Metropolitan size and the impacts of telecommuting on personal travel

Telecommuting has been proposed by policy makers as a strategy to reduce travel and emissions. In studying the metropolitan size impact of telecommuting on personal travel, this paper addresses two questions: (1) whether telecommuting is consistently a substitute or complement to travel across different MSA sizes; and (2) whether the impact of telecommuting is higher in larger MSAs where telecommuting programs and policies have been more widely adopted. Data from the 2001 and 2009 National Household Travel Surveys are used. Through a series of tests that address two possible empirical biases, we find that telecommuting consistently had a complementary effect on one-way commute trips, daily total work trips and daily total non-work trips across different MSA sizes in both 2001 and 2009. The findings suggest that policies that promote telecommuting may indeed increase, rather than decrease, people’s travel demand, regardless of the size of the MSA. This seems to contradict what telecommuting policies are designed for. In addition, model results show that the complementary impact of telecommuting on daily travel is lower in larger MSAs, in terms of both daily total work trips and daily total non-work trips.

TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF COMMUNICATION MEDIA RICHNESS AMONG TELECOMMUTERS

ABSTRACT Telecommuters work in hybrid media environments and require a high level of Communication Media Richness (CMR). However, the technological determinants of CMR in such environments have not been investigated in prior research. In this research study we develop a model for the determinants of perceived CMR in hybrid media environments. We test this model via a survey of telecommuters and in doing so we also link CMR to telecommuting outcomes. The results of this research should serve to guide managers of telecommuting programs on how to employ specific ICTs in order to maximize CMR for telecommuters, and in turn achieve successful telecommuting outcomes. Keywords Communication Media Richness, Hybrid Media, Telecommuting, Telecommuters

Telecommuting and environmental policy: Lessons from the ecommute program

In 1999 the National Air Quality and Telecommuting Act established pilot telecommuting programs (ecommute) in five major US metropolitan areas. The major goal of the ecommute program was to examine whether a particular type of economic incentive, tradable emissions credits from telecommuting, represents a viable strategy for reducing vehicle miles traveled and improving air quality. A context is established for evaluating whether the envisioned trading scheme represents a feasible approach to reducing mobile source emissions and promoting telecommuting and a review of the limited experience with mobile source emissions trading programs is provided. Using two-and-one-half years of data collected in the ecommute program, telecommuting frequency, mode choice, and emissions reductions are examined. It is found that from a regulatory perspective, the most substantial drawback to such a program is its questionable environmental integrity, resulting from difficulties in designing sufficiently rigorous quantification protocols to accurately measure the emissions reductions from telecommuting. Such a program is not likely to be cost-effective because the emissions reductions from a single telecommuter are very small.

A Comparative Study of Family-Friendly Policies and Benefits in Public Organizations: South Korea and the United States

This paper anlyzes the family-friendly policies and benefits currently offered by public organizations in South Korea and the United States. This study found that leaves of absence are the first types of family-friendly policy that reflect an acknowledgement on the part of government agencies in South Korea and the United States aht both men and women must face work/family conflicts in their lives. The South Korean government provides more generous leave policies than those of the American public sector. Hoewver, several family-friendly benefits provided by federal agencies in the United States, including flexible workplace and telecommuting programs, job sharing, and dependent care counseling and referral services were rarely offered by the South Korean government. Finally, the paper discussed policy implications and emphasizes managerial leadership affecting the implementation process behind these policies in public agencies.

Telecommuting in Malaysian Government Offices

AbstractThe Government of Malaysia is working hard to bring the country into a developed and industrialized country by the 2020. To support this development, the government agencies collaborating with non-government agencies increasingly involve in numbers of high technology projects, which must be supported by committed and dedicated service-based civil servants, IT and non-IT professionals. Government-based agencies and institutions, however, are having problems to retain their employees for different reasons; family matters, working distance, unattractive salary and environmental aspects. To solve this problem, the Government should give an opportunity for the employees to work away from offices and to work for more than one employer. In this sense, telecommuting shall become a solution for civil servants in service-based industry and among IT professionals. Employees can work at home or at a remote centre through the use and support of high and reliable ICT infrastructure. The success of telecommuting programs especially in Malaysian environment is depending on numbers of criteria and sub-criteria. This study identified the criteria as rules, regulation and policies, infrastructure, finance, selection, training, environment and benefits.

Telecommuting and organizational change: a middle‐managers’ perspective

Telecommuting programs transform communication patterns, performance management, corporate culture, and potentially the work itself. This study addresses middle managers’ views concerning the introduction of telecommuting programs in their organizations. Middle management views are important, because telecommuting directly impacts their positions, and their support is vital to ensure its successful implementation. The findings indicate that the majority of managers perceived cultural change as the most difficult issue to resolve when introducing a telecommuting program.

Telecommuting: An Overview of Emerging Macroergonomics Issues

Advances in information technology are allowing selective employees to work “anywhere” and at “anytime.” The work location for some employees is changing from the traditional corporate office to a virtual work location, such as the home, hotel, airport, shared and satellite office, client office and the car. This trend toward “alternative work styles” and the distributed workforce is likely to continue. As these work styles and virtual workplaces continue to emerge, understanding and designing effective work systems using a macroergonomics perspective is essential to achieve the benefits of distributed work and telecommuting. In this paper, we will provide an overview of the major macroergonomics issues associated with telecommuting. First, we present the literature databases used for this paper, a macroergonomics perspective and model. Next, examples of telecommuting programs, including the organizational structure, implementation process and evaluation strategy are given. A review of the existing empirical research concerning telecommuting and its implications are also discussed. Further, a macroergonomics process for managing the health and safety of telecommuters is described. In summary, a discussion of future telecommuting research and program development using a macroergonomics, work system design approach, is given.

The Role of Facility Managers in the Diffusion of Organizational Telecommuting

This study provides baseline data from a nationwide sample of telecommuting programs in organizations with facility managers. Based on Rogers’ Adoption/Diffusion Theory, the two-phase study revealed a 38% telework adoption rate. The data describe the telecommuting programs, their attributes, and resultant off-site work environments and central office changes. In conclusion, among U.S. organizations that employ facility managers, the rate of adoption of telecommuting is growing steadily, primarily in large, reengineered, and services-oriented firms. The perceived attributes of these programs are (a) their relative advantage as an effective informal method for organizations to attract and retain valued employees and (b) their compatibility with theorganization’s corporateculture. Thus far, thesamplefacility managers’limited involvement in the corporate decision to adopt telecommuting and in evaluating work environment outcomes may constrain their potential effectiveness as telework change agents.

Telecommuting Implications for Travel Behavior: Case Studies from Minnesota

Case studies of two telecommuting programs were conducted as part of a larger research effort devoted to examining the implications of telecommunications for Minnesota transportation and community development. Data were collected in a large private high-technology firm and in a public agency located in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area. A multiple method design was employed including a cross-section survey of nontelecommuting employees; a census survey of telecommuters; and in-depth interviews with telecommuters, their coworkers, and their supervisors. Analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between telecommuting and travel behavior and the potential effects of travel outcomes for community systems. Results indicate that telecommuting implementation strategies differ within and between organizations, and these differing approaches appear to moderate the relationship between telecommuting and complex travel behaviors, such as local errand running and trip chaining. Additional findings concur with those of other studies, and the difficulty of the commute is highlighted as a primary factor in understanding the choice to telecommute and its impact on travel behavior.

Exploring Differences in Employee Turnover Intentions and Its Determinants among Telecommuters and Non-Telecommuters

:As telecommuting programs proliferate, a better understanding of the relationship between telecommuting and career success outcomes is required to provide human resources managers, telecommuters, and information systems managers with information to decide the future of telecommuting arrangements. This paper addresses this need by exploring whether turnover intentions and their determinants differ for telecommuters and non-telecommuters. Four hundred salespeople from one large company in the southeastern United States were asked to participate in the study. The organization entry point was the marketing director. One hundred and four telecommuting employees and one hundred and twenty-one regular employees responded, with a total of 225 usable questionnaires. Telecommuters seemed to face less role conflict and role ambiguity and tended to be happier with their supervisors and more committed to their organizations. They also showed lower satisfaction with peers and with promotion. Based on the results, recommendations are proposed for managing the implementation of telecommuting programs and their impact on the rest of the organization’s employee population.

Telecommuting: A Study of Employees' Beliefs

Advances in information technology have affected not only how work is done but where it is done as well. The number of companies implementing formal telecommuting programs is steadily increasing. Underlying the decisions to adopt this work arrangement are employees' beliefs regarding its possible effects. This study elicits significant employees' beliefs based on an exploratory factor analysis of the anticipated effects of telecommuting. Possible differences between managers' and non-managers' beliefs are also examined. The identified beliefs include five advantages and two drawbacks. Telecommuting is expected to ameliorate the quality of life of telecommuters, to improve productivity, to enhance the company's appeal to employees and to affect positively the environment and society. It is also expected to hinder the career development of telecommuters and to constrain management and control. Managers share the same beliefs as non-managers, except for the anticipated magnitude of the effects of telecommuting on the environment and on management and control.

Telecommuting Adoption: Conceptual Framework and Model Estimation

The substitution of travel by telecommunications has long been advocated as an approach that might alleviate congestion on transportation facilities during peak periods. Among the various applications of telecommunications, telecommuting is considered a promising substitute for work trips, the major determinants of traffic congestion and air pollution during peak hours. Although positive effects from telecommuting have been demonstrated through small-scale pilot projects in the United States, systematic research is still limited, especially on the adoption of telecommuting, which ultimately determines the magnitude of its impact. A framework of the telecommuting adoption process is proposed, and a mathematical model of the employee’s telecommuting adoption process on the basis of a dynamic generalized ordinal probit model is developed. The framework identifies two principal factors in the decision process, employees and employers. Stated preferences for various telecommuting programs are elicited from employees and used to estimate the adoption model. To address correlations among responses from the same individual, a general error structure is also specified in the model. Estimation results confirm that employee adoption is affected by his or her personal, household, and job characteristics; commuting trip attributes; attitudes toward telecommuting; and the program design, defined on the basis of who assumes the additional costs of telecommuting and the corresponding salary changes for the telecommuter.

Modeling the Process of Adoption of Telecommuting: Comprehensive Framework

A comprehensive model of the telecommuting adoption process, incorporating employer and employee perspectives, is developed. A probabilistic modeling approach is taken. The employer decision to offer a telecommuting program is modeled as a function of motivations and constraints and of the perceived impacts of telecommuting on the organization's productivity and costs. The employee decision to adopt telecommuting is modeled as a function of motivations and constraints as well as of the impact of the program on lifestyle quality, work-related costs, and income. The results indicate that telecommuting has a significant potential to increase productivity and improve lifestyle quality, if the right program is designed for the right employee. The potential of telecommuting to reduce organization and employee work-related costs is perceived to be limited. An overall negative perception about the potential impact on productivity and lifestyle quality of telework center-based telecommuting programs is identified,...

Modeling the Process of Adoption of Telecommuting: Comprehensive Framework

A comprehensive model of the telecommuting adoption process, incorporating employer and employee perspectives, is developed. A probabilistic modeling approach is taken. The employer decision to offer a telecommuting program is modeled as a function of motivations and constraints and of the perceived impacts of telecommuting on the organization's productivity and costs. The employee decision to adopt telecommuting is modeled as a function of motivations and constraints as well as of the impact of the program on lifestyle quality, work-related costs, and income. The results indicate that telecommuting has a significant potential to increase productivity and improve lifestyle quality, if the right program is designed for the right employee. The potential of telecommuting to reduce organization and employee work-related costs is perceived to be limited. An overall negative perception about the potential impact on productivity and lifestyle quality of telework center–based telecommuting programs is identified, pointing to a need for further research to assess the market for telework centers.

Telecommuniting: Issue For The IS Manager

Growing numbers of employees are leaving the traditional workplace and daily commute behind for work at home or in satellite telecenters close to home. This article provides IS managers with tips for establishing successful telecommuting programs and managing telecommuters.