Telecommuting may sound like a new concept for some HR practitioners or a recruitment firm. But the truth is, you’ve probably been hearing about it for years—you may even know someone who does it or may have been doing it yourself.
When an employee works in an unorthodox setting outside the four corners of an office and uses technology to do his or her duties and to communicate with clients and fellow employees, then they are already telecommuting.
Telecommuting was introduced in 1970 when advances in technology made completing work possible, even when outside the office. Today, more and more employers and employees have embraced this trend due to different reasons.
For companies, telecommuting saves them money on office spaces and other accompanying fees. For workers, travel costs are cut and the stress from commute declines.
A flexible working environment is also becoming the norm due to the current working generation’s (Millennials) preference. In the United States, many states have implemented this model, and several internationally-known companies are already doing it such as Dell, Volkswagen Group, Wells Fargo, Adobe, Colgate-Palmolive, Hilton, Ernst & Young, Oracle, Verizon, Walgreens, General Electric, and 3M to name a few.
Evidently, different industries benefit largely from allowing telecommuting, which include sales, customer service, marketing, and IT. There are even some medical jobs like health claims analysis and radiology that have done it.
There are several umbrella ideas under telecommuting that you may be familiar with.
Remote work is when duties can be completed by working both inside and outside the office. Outside can refer to places like home, co-working space, or on the road.
Work-from-home can differ slightly from remote work, as many employers expect that the employee will have a dedicated home office, and that he or she will be available during predetermined hours.
However, there are also companies that offer results-only work environment where employees only need to meet deadlines and have the option to complete work on their preferred time and place.
Virtual work is associated with companies that do not have a physical office, so 100% of the work is done in the employee’s preferred place all the time where he or she can complete it.
Mobile work is a job that can be done on the go or from the road. These jobs are those that employees can take with them, even if they start out in one location and accomplish it on another.
Digital Nomad is simply a romanticized term for telecommuting, as it refers to workers without roots who has the freedom to work wherever they are—may it be at the comforts of their home or the beach while getting a tan.
As there are several advantages to implementing telecommuting in your company, so do the drawbacks that you need to consider. In addition, thorough preparation is needed even before you put this idea forward to the company executives.