Analysis of a telecommuting experience: a case study

The use of telecommuting by a large, Australian based, organization is discussed. Fifty employees and twelve managers were involved. These participants completed questionnaires evaluating the method of telecommuting from both telecommuters' and their managers' perspectives. The results indicated that since the introduction of telecommuting: (1) telecommuters' productivity had increased; (2) in general there was a positive attitude towards telecommuting and both the telecommuters and their managers were keen to recommend it to others; (3) an important link was revealed between the quality of supervision of telecommuters and the telecommuters' performance and attitudes. The strongest predictors of employee productivity were the quality of supervision that they had received and the number of days per week that they were telecommuting. The results suggested that there were certain problems relating to the effectiveness of communications, feelings of isolation and sense of loss of belonging to the organization. These problems were predominant in the work groups which included some telecommuters who were dissatisfied with the quality of supervision.