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Telecommuting at the Crossroads
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20056 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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12 / 1992 |
2,673 Words |
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Julian Weiss
Julian Weiss, a Washington, D.C., correspondent for Japan
Journal, travels to Asia and the Caribbean on writing
assignments. |
When personal computers, fax machines, and other high-tech gadgetry first appeared in offices, many assumed that telecommuting--commuting electronically--would catch on rapidly. Since the mid-1980s, however, few businesses and government agencies have taken the option. Now, insist its backers, telecommuting is taking off. "The idea is catching on faster than ever," declares Gil Gordon, publisher of Telecommuting Review newsletter. "At the same time, all the issues like auto pollution and employee productivity are on the front burner." Increasingly, he observes, traffic gridlock and professional white-collar burnout are taking their toll among those who must commute.
Supporters insist that underlying technological and workplace issues augur well for adding more than five million telecommuters to rosters. According to Marty Barrack, an information resources policy analyst at the General Services Administration (GSA), "Offices today are information engines. Information can be stored anywhere and retrieved from almost anywhere. As far as telecommuting [is concerned], the factors holding it back are not technological, they are cultural."
A soon to be released federal study will praise large-scale pilot programs undertaken by several agencies. It examines a pilot project coordinated by the GSA and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and confirms most telecommuting advocates' key points. Productivity was higher than in conventional office settings. Nearly 1,000 telecommuters from around the country participated.
Results showed widespread satisfaction with telecommuting programs--some in effect for 18 months or longer. By five-to six-to-one ratios, managers were generally satisfied with output, employee morale, and other conditions arising from telecommuting. Budget analysts, chemists, an Agriculture Department regulatory analyst, a geologist, an oceanographer, and many others undertook their duties successfully from home.
Yet, issues such as management, technology, and costs must be resolved if telecommuting--whose expansion many perceive as inevitable--is to achieve its objectives.
Trial and Error
A number of experiments with telecommuting have produced favorable results. In the recent federal pilot project, estimates were that employee output increased by levels as high as 25-30 percent. Federal workers from clerical level (GS4) to top
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