You like Smith a lot. Assignments come in on time, you never hear complaints about him from his supervisors and he floods your inbox with great ideas. He is, however, never around. He is a telecommuter.

Telecommuter, teleworker, e-worker, WAHs (work at home), virtual work and mobile workers, telework or the ability to work from anywhere outside your office is being embraced by corporations large and small around the world.

The good

For employees, flexibility often counts over money

According to Rose Stanley, a work-life practice leader, from the nonprofit association, WorldatWork, trends in e-working will continue to increase globally. "A 2006 estimate by JALA International says there are 100 million workers currently under some type of telework programme (at least one day per month) globally with it forecasted to more than triple by 2030."

While the numbers may seem startling, experts are quick to note that e-working is an extension to concepts such as teleworking and telecommuting which were coined in the 70s by Jack Nilles.

A physicist and engineer from Lawrence University, Nilles demonstrated the first telework project in 1970s. 

"At that time, those concepts were limited to certain flexible work practices, in particular working partially from home, say one day per week," says Jasper Lim MS researcher at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands. These types of home teleworking were originally used to solve traffic congestion problems, he adds.

The idea was to reduce the need for office space and improve balance of work and family. But, says Lim, since the appearance of new forms of information and communication technologies (such as wireless networks) there are even more e-working practices. "For instance, people can now work on the train during business travel, checked their emails during vacation or even work during a trans-Atlantic flight."

Telework was also the beginning of outsourcing some difficult to staff positions. "IT professionals from India are hired remotely to work for a company based in Europe," says Lim. So as technology evolves, the way people work evolves.

Just as Lim suggests, Robert Smith, director of the US-based ITAC, agrees that technology has driven the tele-commute. Founded in 1993, Smiths' ITAC is an organisation dedicated to awareness, progress and success of work independent of location. He believes people can work from anywhere due to the increasing availability of portable computer and high-speed communication technologies.

"For example, the use of broadband in the U.S. home by teleworkers increased by over 60 percent during the past year resulting in 25.6 million home-based teleworkers with high speed access."

Large companies are finding that employees are more willing to work for flexibility [telework] than ask for more money, says Stanley. And teleworking is a boon to small companies too.

"However," says Lim. "the motivation for applying e-working in a company depends on a number of factors." He suggests that CEOs and CFOs need to ask themselves: Is any employee requesting e-working, such as family life issues? Are there benefits for the company in terms of cost reduction, in terms, for instance, of office space? Does the company care about society and environment - reducing traffic congestion, pollution?

The bad

Not all good.  "I think email became the only way to communicate too quickly," says Charles Ferro, former editor of the expatriate magazine Abroad. Located in Copenhagen the magazine's editorial staff was nearly 100 percent teleworkers. But the content called for writers and reporters to be located in so many different countries.

The diversity was a plus. Yet, Ferro found that most 'e-communiqués' were typed too fast and spelled poorly. And when you're dealing with different languages, if you're not absolutely clear, there's always the danger of misinterpretation. "Likewise," he adds, "the person may not get the full meaning of the entire message." They miss body language, facial expressions and tone of voice, which all go a long way to appropriate communication.

Ferro describes the abuse of teleworkers in several ways. "It's easy to call employees onto the 'cyber rug.'" Cowardly HR managers can reprimand personnel with the click of a mouse. And since the employee is a non-entity at the office, there's the natural tendency to forget he/she exists.

In addition, last minute meetings or decisions may not allow for an email or a text message to a cellular phone. On the other hand Ferro admits that teleworkers can abuse the company too. Fraudulent expense accounts, using clients for personal gain, limited accountability and over billing may make many companies leery of letting employees work from off campus locations.

But teleworking is here to stay. "Sure trends will continue to increase, not because teleworking is always good, but because it's good for the bottom line," he says. There's an enormous amount of money that companies save. Reduction or elimination of workers' benefits, insurance, paid sick days, paid vacation—all the things that come with traditional employment are no longer an issue. Telecommuting freelancers or consultants will charge higher rates but they are short tem and save money in the long term.

It doesn't matter what you do or where you are, nothing beats the face to face meeting, says Ferro. "The spontaneous exchange of ideas that simply doesn't happen with telecommuting," he says, "You can't walk into a person's office and help them or help yourself solve problems. Immediate knowledge sharing, builds 'esprit de corps'. It's becoming critical to have all employees in one place rather then meeting once a month on a web-conference."

It's been suggested that telework could hamper a company's growth. Continuously buying the latest equipment for the e-workers and trying to offer interesting (expensive) perks to attract talent. But Stanley says despite these concerns, research has shown increased productivity through telework/telecommuting.

"That equates into better business results," she says. "It's getting organisations to understand that concept that is one of the reasons telework/telecommuting is not more widespread."  Stanley says teleworking is a true business strategy when planning for business continuity in case of loss of facility whether due to natural disaster or manmade. 

Businesses are also beginning to understand the payoff in terms of employee loyalty and in increased productivity.

The promising

E-working will continue to rise, especially in countries where there is a high internet penetration. Almost all studies point to substantial growth of e-working in the coming years. But Lim doesn't anticipate a new non-office of the future quite yet.

"The 'office-centric culture' is still relevant in today's work environment. People still need to interact face-to-face with one another, catch up with office politics, be in control of the employees, establish trust and confidence etc. However, we will see more and more hybrid working environments where employees will spend a portion of their working time outside the office; at home, customer offices or even during business travel."

Given today's information and communication technologies, it has become easier to work remotely during foreign assignments. "Emails are heavily used alongside mobile telephones, blackberries and videoconferencing," Lim says. Data can now be transmitted securely via virtual private networks.

However, Lim points out that traditional constraints such as employee's family commitments, expatriate compensation and location preferences will remain to be important factors for employees while deciding on foreign assignments.

Will e-workers decrease the need for expatriates? If you can be in Singapore in five seconds online—why send an employee? "My gut feeling is, being an e-worker makes you highly mobile and independent, and therefore an ideal candidate as an expatriate," says Lim.

Stanley adds, "If you are already an expat, teleworking is especially beneficial if there is a family involved." In terms of an expat being able to work remotely from their new home, Stanley says, "Just because someone is on an expat assignment, doesn't mean that they don't have work and personal balance issues." She adds that these issues may be even more exaggerated somewhere else.

And she says that one of the biggest obstacles in expat assignments is displacement of a working spouse.  Telework may be an option for them to consider. "With businesses today working in such a global environment," says Stanley, "many times there are co-workers who work in separate geographical locations as well as their supervisor."  It's simply a normal way to do business.

October 2006

Bernadette Sukely is a freelance writer based in the US.