Telecommuting: The Pros and Cons to Employers

Driving today is growing more costly by the minute. In fact, gas prices jumped an average of ten cents recently just on the possibility of a terrorist attack in the Middle East. Yet workers in America still have to get to their place of employment, no matter how high the gas prices soar. American employers need to find alternatives for their beleaguered employees.

Telecommuting is one of the fastest growing means of fighting against high gas prices. Instead of spending time and gas-not to mention sending additional pollutants into the environment-more and more employees are choosing the option of working out of their homes. Not only does this option save on these precious resources, but studies have shown that the benefits outweigh the cons.

As an employer, the pros of allowing an employee to work at home, at least for part of the work week, are numerous. Such pros include the following:

Unproductive time becomes productive time:

Time spent on the highway and stuck in traffic can be used more productively in the home office. Employees can be required to log into work instead of punching a time card or arriving at a specified location at the start of the business day. Think of the middle management employee booting up his computer at seven a.m. instead of sitting in traffic only to arrive late-past nine a.m.-because of a traffic accident. Instead of wasting time, he can already be deep into his work and emailing other work-at-home employees while other commuters sit in a long line of cars waiting for the wreck ahead of them to clear. Gone is the employee who blames traffic or weather on his tardiness. When the walk to work is only a few feet, the excuses no longer apply.

Employees experience less time off due to illness:

Since the employee is at home and less exposed to others, the work-at-home employee will have less exposure to contagious diseases such as flu and colds. Less exposure means less time off due to illness.