Benefits Of Teleworking

According to Mamaghani, Farrokh (2012), teleworking has attracted a lot of attention in the last decade due to its impact on its workers, companies and society. Teleworking can be defined as the practice of working from remote locations using information technology and telecommunications (ICT). The terms teleworking and teleworking can be used interchangeably. The structure of teleworking varies from company to company and offers employees the opportunity to work from the convenient locations they choose (Hunton and Norman, 2010). Despite being present for so many years, the concept of teleworking was redefined again in 2008. The various reasons for the emergence of teleworking were the increase in fuel costs, access to high-speed Internet,

Michelle and et al. (1999) conducted a study on the Effectiveness of Telecommuting for the Employee, Employer, and Society and found out that company benefits and employee benefits are different with respect to perks. Usually, a trade-off between these two is seen but only in terms of WFH, it is seen that both the employee and the company gain utility out of it. T David (2006) collected data from 200 states of California workers, including current, former and non-telecommuters and concluded that telecommuters have an increase in productivity by 12%. It is also seen that when people work from a formal workplace tend to shift closer to their workplace. L Vasantha and et al (2008) believe that the reduction in operating costs of a company is rather less but yet significant in the long-run and concluded that telecommuting is green for the environment and people. They also see the positive effect of telecommuting on work-life balance. T Pamela and Tal Simon (1994) has conducted a research on the impact of working at home on career outcomes of professional employees and the results are in support of work from

The similar view was strengthened in the article authored by Estes & Michael (2005) where they have pointed out that there is no one accepted definition of what constitutes work-life balance practice. The term usually refers to the balance between work and life for the various demanding responsibilities from the personal front of the employees. The organizations extend support to the needy employees in the form of telecommuting and flexible work options, as this may lead to work-life balance. Some work-life practices may not help to reduce role- conflict between work and family due to the mismatch of the employee's preferences for managing both roles. As revealed by Boundary theory and role transition, the employee's preferences may vary due to segmentation and integration of work and family roles. For example on one hand work from home arrangements benefit some employees but on the other hand, they interfere with employee role if he/she has greater family responsibility. Beauregard, (2009) highlights that a ‘virtual Office' studies indicate if employees are given choice in the location and time of their work they exhibit greater job satisfaction. Along with increased job satisfaction, teleworkers also demonstrate less turnover and lower level of work-life conflict and experience greater work-life