Introduction
Telecommuting, commonly referred to as teleworking, is a phenomenon whereby employees have to attend to their duties while away from their offices and submit feedback on work progress through virtual platforms such as the internet. Since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, many large firms have been compelled to restructure their daily operations. Managers have had to adopt measures that would adhere to the World Health Organization conventions regarding social distancing and among them was the mandatory work from home policy.
Companies blended this approach on the basis that it would reduce overhead expenses while at the same time limiting workers’ chances of exposure to the virus. Managers have quickly formulated telecommuting policies, delegating different roles and responsibilities to workers alongside the required time limits (Abilash & Siju, 2021). An exploration of the impacts of telecommuting and whether it influences workers’ efficiency, satisfaction, and commitment form the basis of discussion for this paper.
Positive Impacts
In the wake of modern technological advancements, many online platforms can effectively facilitate the work from home policy. The technique blends these modalities to ensure that workers from marginalized areas can perform their office responsibilities while guaranteeing their health safety. In that regard, managers are able to assess and supervise many employees simultaneously compared to the typical landscape office layout (Karácsony, 2021). Concurrently, managers can tap into the skills and knowledge of more qualified personnel who may not be willing and able to work from the firm’s premises. In most cases, such specialists have tight schedules and may not be physically present when needed. Telecommuting helps to solve these challenges by bridging the distance barrier to ensure that the services required by the firm are delivered on time.
According to Karácsony, the technique is a crucial component in promoting cohesion among workers. They are placed in interdependent cohorts and work together despite their different geographical localities. In addition, they are able to strengthen family ties and relationships since they spend most of the time at home. Lastly, companies have reported a significant decline in operational costs. Indirect costs associated with power supply, office equipment repair, maintenance, and budgetary food allocations have been significantly reduced. Although telecommuting faced negligible criticism from employees at its inception, the challenges associated with this technique cannot be overlooked. Some of the unfavorable implications of this approach are highlighted in the section below.
Negative Impacts
It is equiprobable that teleworking can have negative effects on the firm, primarily when the latter does not assess employees’ new working environment. For instance, workers who live in noisy neighborhoods may not deliver quality services due to noise-related distractions. In the long run, this affects their productivity and the performance of the firm. However, they may consider traveling or relocating to working-friendly areas, but this would be uneconomical since they will have to incur additional costs.
Similarly, workers’ concentration may be significantly affected in case of family issues during work hours at home. The minimal supervision can easily make them shift their focus from work to the topic at hand for an unspecified period. Some employees can take advantage of the limited supervision, become lazy, and rush to complete the assigned task haphazardly when the deadlines are almost due (Onyemaechi, Chinyere & Emmanuel, 2018). As a result, their output is negatively affected, restricting the company’s efficient operation. Lastly, the relationship between job satisfaction and telecommuting is not infinitely linear. Beyond certain limits, the application of teleworking has negative impacts on the performance of the firm as demonstrated in the last section of this paper.
Effects on Employees’ Commitment to Work and Performance
There are many conceptual frameworks, written literature, and research studies that confirm a positive correlation between teleworking and employee commitment and performance. As cited by Karácsony, telecommuting influences employees’ devotion and morale at work. In his book, Problems and Perspectives in Management, he argues that the technique reduces cases of absenteeism among employees. Pre-pandemic projections speculate that approximately 11.43% of total job hours were lost through workers’ truancy which later dropped to an unprecedented six-point five percent during the telecommuting phase (Karácsony, 2021). Cases of lateness to work are reduced since they do not have to travel to their workplaces. Generally, the technique enables employees to work in a stress-free, conducive environment as there are no disagreements among them; therefore, their commitment to work and performance improves.
Implications on Workers’ Motivation and Job Satisfaction
Even though the fulfillment from the job tends to increase linearly with the adoption of telecommuting, Karácsony argues that the upward trend may eventually flatten. However, most sections of his work support the idea that the relationship between the two variables is directly proportional. Employees feel motivated to work as the approach allows them to take care of their relatives who might be elderly, physically disabled, or infected by the pandemic. The perception of being overstretched by tight schedules at work is offset since they can comfortably strike a balance between the time allocated for attending to their sick relatives and completing office assignments.
Conclusion
Many duties in an organizational context can be executed by incorporating the teleworking approach. These tasks include but are not limited to preparing account statements, completing clients’ orders, advertising, and branding, among other tasks requiring less attention and concentration span. As illustrated throughout this paperwork, the agility associated with the new work schedules improves workers’ performance, thus accruing benefits to employers and employees. The rubric ensures that companies maintain their everyday operations and serve their clients despite the prevailing crisis.
On the other hand, employees retain their careers hence the income they use to sustain themselves and those who depend on them during the economic recession. However, it is vital for managers to closely monitor the application of this model since exceeding a specific limit may lead to decreased job satisfaction. They should be keen enough to detect the points beyond which a curvilinear association between the two parameters begins and formulate measures that would act as perfect telecommuting alternatives.
References
Abilash, K. M., & Siju, N. M. (2021). Telecommuting: an empirical study on job performance, job satisfaction and employee’s commitment during pandemic circumstances. Management, 8(1), 3547-3560.
Karácsony, P. (2021). Impact of teleworking on job satisfaction among Slovakian employees in the era of COVID-19. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 19(3), 1.
Onyemaechi, U., Chinyere, U. P., & Emmanuel, U. (2018). Impact of telecommuting on employees’ performance. Journal of Economics and Management Sciences, p54-p54.