Telecommuting: The Buzz Word in Career Industry

Telecommuting is other wise known as e-work or e-commuting.  Telecommuting jobs are for persons who would like to take the advantage of the Internet, which enables them to work at anytime and from anywhere.  Telecommuting has offered decentralization from the fixed workplace and has made it possible for persons to work from the place where they choose. 

It is a boon for people who are unable to commute with physical handicap or for one-parent homes where only one of the parents is eligible to go for work. Telecommuting jobs are now simplified with the use of videoconferencing facilities, wireless Internet and broadband phone.  The tools are not only cheaper but also help in the completion of the job effectively and efficiently.  Telecommuters can work at the comfort of their homes at flexible timings and from any part of the world as the work is not done from any office environment.

Telecommuting jobs are primarily considered for artists, desktop publishers and photographers, data entry professionals, transcribers, engineers, programmers, sales personnel, web designers, writers/authors etc.

It is been found that the productivity is more when an employee performs a task alone at his own leisure than working in a stipulated time in an office.  Certain jobs have the nature of continuing it without any hindrance.  Few jobs need interaction with fellow workers and telecommuting cannot be considered as a full-time work.  In such cases telecommuting can be taken as a part time work where it allows the person to meet his fellow workers either on alternate days or two days a week.

Managing telecommuters may not be difficult task as the force is obtained from the existing employees, who are accustomed to the work routine, expectations of the employer etc.  Since they are not new to the job the relationship with the employee is already there.  In the initial stages of telecommuting there might be issues regarding adaptation to the new environment other than that of the office.  Managers who handle both the telecommuters and normal employees might be loaded with twice the responsibility.  Therefore, it is necessary to hire a manager who can handle the situation. 

Success of telecommuting depends of work ethics of the telecommuter; hence it is necessary to formulate policies regarding the work pattern before it is too late to find out that a telecommuter is missing on his side of work area.  Fellow workers also need to have faith that telecommuters are doing their bit of the job in the right manner. This makes is necessary to choose employees of the right attitude and discipline for telecommuting.  The decision should also should not be imposed on the employee as it might hinder his productivity that might not be under normal circumstances.

A better idea is to provide training before asking the employee to telecommute as both the employee and the managers gets to know what they are expected to do.  Room needs to be given to finish a task on a flexible frame of time.  They need to be asked to log on as many times as possible for a better communication in case of working offline, and make them respond to messages sent offline or online on a regular basis, which will help not to lose them out of touch when needed.  The transition from a regular employee to that of telecommuter needs to be very smooth.