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IS TELECOMMUTING FOR YOU? Pros and cons of telework [infographic]

Last updated: November 1st, 2018

Is telecommuting for you? Advantages and disadvantages of telework

Despite telecommuting’s promise of big cost savings and increased productivity, most businesses aren’t ready to let employees work at home yet.

Experts once predicted that telecommuting would be the norm by the early 21st century, but employer mistrust of unmonitored workers is delaying the dreams of American employees, 80 percent of whom would like to work from home, according to recent survey data from WorldatWork. Though the number of workers who call home their primary workplace jumped by more than 60 percent from 2005-2009, according to Telework Research Network, this translates to only 2.8 million employees.

However, that figure does not include home-based businesses, which account for another 3.1 million workers in 2008, or employees who work from home at least one day a week, which accounts for another 20-30 million workers.

“Part-time teleworkers include millions of mobile workers (“road warriors”) who charge a lot of business expenses to their credit cards,” said Charles Tran, founder of CreditDonkey. “What’s more, 10.3 percent of small business owners use credit cards to help finance their start-ups.”

Tran noted that the typical teleworker is a college-educated 35- to 54-year-old, non-union employee working in telecommuting-compatible professions such as accounting, graphic design, engineering, computer programming, journalism, copywriting, administrative support or customer service. At least 40 percent of the U.S. workforce (52 million people) holds telework-compatible jobs.

Telecommuting advantages

According to research compiled from the U.S. Census Bureau and Telework Research Network, the potential benefits of telecommuting include:

  • Nearly 6 million people considered their home their principal place of work. Of those 53 percent were home-based businesses.
  • Half-time telecommuting (2.4 days per week) would reduce current U.S. imports of Gulf oil by 45 percent annually, saving $22 billion.
  • If all Americans with telework-compatible jobs worked from home half-time, it could prevent 95,000 traffic-related injuries and deaths each year.
  • Companies would save $525 to $665 billion per year, thanks to reduced real estate, turnover and absenteeism costs, as well as increased employee productivity.
  • More than 66 percent of companies that permit telecommuting have reported increased productivity among teleworkers.

“Despite the bottom-line benefits, it’s mostly the larger companies (those with 100-plus employees) that are hopping on the telework bandwagon,” says Tran. “In the long term, it’s inevitable that many more jobs will be done at home, but in the near term, the spirit is willing, but employer trust is weak.”

Telecommuting disadvantages

There are plenty of benefits for employees and business owners who work from home, but there are also a number of drawbacks:

  • It’s possible that employee presence or good performance can be overlooked when compared to being in the office full time. Some believe, however, that if you stay motivated and get a lot of work done, it mitigates this issue.
  • Some employees are afraid to ask about telecommuting because they view it as an accommodation the employer makes for the employee. Employees are hesitant to so in an economically difficult time.
  • Some co-workers may resent or get jealous of employees given the opportunity to telework, seeing it as unearned or similar to vacation time.
  • Most employers will not consider telecommuting options for new employees.
  • Some managers do not trust employees they cannot monitor.
  • Telecommuters must be motivated and self-directed.
  • Teleworkers must be technologically savvy.
  • Some managers think telework inhibits collaboration.
  • Double taxation issues may arise in states that tax home-based workers.
  • Safety issues have led to concern about liability and workers compensation issues.
  • Some communities and even homeowners associations prohibit home offices.

How to get started

Visit career and job-finding websites, as well as other online resources, for checklists that help you determine:

  • If telecommuting is right for you and your company.
  • If your boss or supervisor would be open to the idea.
  • How to get your boss or supervisor to say “yes” to telework.

[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]by Kelly Teh. You can write to Kelly at kelly@creditdonkey.com and visit the Credit Donkey website.

This work by http://www.creditdonkey.com/ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.