Telecommuting



Telecommuting is a trend that has been gaining prominence over the past few years with several enterprises allowing it for their employees either for limited work hours or whole time work.

Telecommuting means you can work from your home or any other location of your choice while working through the enterprise's secure computing network. Work that is desk oriented such as documentation, software development, clerical and administration, accounting and secretarial can actually be done from any location provided there is access to the enterprise computing network. The internet makes that possible. Broadband and always-on internet connections will further these possibilities.

Extending the operation of telecommuting it is then possible to have people working for the business from any location in the globe by allowing them to connect to the enterprise systems from their own homes / work spaces.

Telecommuting still has to mature since businesses and employees have for years been used to working collectively in offices and the work and communication processes have been designed for these conditions.

Telecommuting also provides a challenge in terms of motivation and productivity. Communication over a digital network still does not compare with live communication. Internet based telephony and web cams however allow more human friendly communication and this will aid the growth of telecommuting.

Enterprises need to setup systems and processes as well work metrics to support telecommuting. The need for telecommuting is still not compelling but enterprises are realizing its benefits. Telecommuting gives the employees more space and time and cut out the travel involved. Enterprises also have begun to value the reduced costs of infrastructure and operations that they can avail of by the lower number of employees on their premises.

Telecommuting will keep gaining momentum as employees especially the higher skilled ones desire more quality time and less stressful work hours and travel. Enterprises will also become more flexible with work regulations as they try to become nimble footed and flexible to accomodate growing global competition and market dynamics.