Paraphrasing Alvin Toffler, with each tide in "The Third Wave," we find increasing numbers of people working at home. Like adding yeast in making bread, the need for American business to control costs and raise productivity is bringing life to corporate interest in people working at home.
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of South Carolina, Control Data, McDonald's, Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph, and Security Pacific National Bank are among the well-known nameswho have received publicity for work-at-home programs.
There are CARROT & STICK motivations for implementing telecommuting programs:
Reducing costs is perhaps the major incentive toward innovation. With office space running at $25 a square foot, even 150 square feet per employee costs nearly $4000 a year. In high cost centers like Manhattan, space costs are approaching $50 a square foot. Rank Xerox, Ltd, a 51% owned subsidiary of Xerox, has found two-thirds of its cost in employing workers is space, support personnel, fringe benefits and payroll taxes. They have launched a new program to turn 25% of their corporate management staff into home-based consultants. They expect this program will reduce their headquarters costs by 8% to 10%.
If the need to cut costs is a stick, the carrot is increased productivity. In a Control Data work-at-home program, productivity gains of 70% are reported. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of South Carolina turned around high turnover, absenteeism and error rates in their central data entry staff by setting up four "cottage keyers." These four cottage keyers, working at home, proceeded to do the work it had taken many more workers to do before the program began. Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph in their pilot work-at-home program reported an average productivity increase of 100%!
Increased productivity and job satisfaction come from the relative autonomy that comes with the looser supervision of working at home. Indications of the effect of autonomy on worker satisfaction are found in the Institute for Social Research's survey that shows self-employed individuals are happier, even though they work longer hours for less money. With white collar productivity having lagged behind blue collar productivity gains, it's no surprise that corporate executives are enthusiastic about cutting office management costs.
There are OTHER CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO WORK AT HOME.These include a willing workflorce, population shifts, and otherhuman factors.
Many workers want to work at home. A Yankelovich, Skelly and White poll of the public in December, 1982 showed that 31% - nearly one out of three Americans - would prefer to work at home. These people who want to work at home or "want to's" have lifestyle preferences or personality dispositions that cause themto choose to work at home. They are joined by the "have to's," those people who must choose between working at home or not working at all.The "have to's" are most frequently women with families needing care who when they can work at home, no longer must choose between job and family. In addition to women, "have to's" include people such as the disabled, the handicapped and the elderly, for whom working at home opens a world of opportunity. Control Data has had such success in hiring disabled persons who work at home that they now have a training program that they offer to other employers.
The 1980 census showed solid gains in the population of rural counties. This reverses a decades-old pattern of declining rural populations. This change mirrors public opinion surveys that show cities losing favor as a place to live. Often included in the numbers of people who prefer life away from the cities are those with highly needed technical skills. Working from a computer means these people can live where they choose and companies can continue to benefit from their service. In addition, rural telecommuters can have a higher standard of living while being paid lower wages.
As the children of the baby boom enter their middle years organizations are presented with a glut of managerial talent. The number of people qualified to be managers exceed the opportunities for climbing the corporate ladder. Although ugly competition for scarce positions can drain a company's profitability, the prospects for contention are continue to be high in organizations during the 90's. Working at home on either on a salary or as a consultant can be a safety valve for an otherwise explosive situation.
The preferences of many Americans to work at home is consistent with increasing desire for an alternative to stressful and complex urban lifestyles. Surveys show appreciable drops in worker satisfaction, and increases in burnout, substance abuse, emotional and family crises, and feelings of rootlessness. The 1977 Institute for Social Research survey showed 3 out of 5 workers wanting to change jobs or careers. Satisfaction dropped most among those with college degrees, who are also those in jobs that can most easily be done from home. Midlife crises are characterized by searching for answers to questions like "Is this what I really want?" Burnout, a term coined in 1972 by psychotherapist Dr. Herbert Freudenberger, is a condition Inc. magazine estimates that 10% of Americans experience each year.
Many participants in telecommuting projects have decided to make working at home a permanent lifestyle. For many salaried persons, it will be a respite. They will want to return to offices and being with co-workers. For some, it will be no solution at all. For them the traditional office or other types of work arrangements such as satellite work centers will offer the supervision or social contact they need.
Cost savings, productivity gains, scarce workers for some positions and too many for others, shifts in where people live and possible solutions to family and emotional problems are attractive ingredients in the rising telecommuting tide.
In conclusion:
What seems certain is that a tide of of "The Third Wave" will have telecommuting in store for some of us. Our country's transition to an economy based on information, coupled with the decreasing costs of microcomputers, can only encourage this trend.
Last Update: 04/14/96
Web Author: Angela Connelly
Copyright ©1996 by Angela Connelly - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED