Telecommuting and its impact in today`s society

Today’s world has seen great transformation. From the days of our fore fathers when man needed to take hands on approach in carrying out day-to-day activities, to a point currently where computers and machines perform our tasks. According to Gajendran, & Harison (2007), telecommuting refers to the practice of working from home for a given company whilst communicating using media such as personal computer. It has four concepts: location of the work, employment of ICT, distribution of time and diversity of employer-employee relationship. This essay therefore aims at expressing the positive effects of the growth of telecommuting to society.

Computers have penetrated and now dominate nearly all sectors of society, and one of its uses is in telecommuting. Telecommuting has been embraced in sectors ranging from sales, marketing, computer and IT, administrative e.g., Amazon, Apple, Delloite, Convergys, IBM etc. Telecommuting has its advantages. Firstly, it saves the company extra costs in terms of purchase of furniture, commuting allowance, increasing profit margins. It improves employee productivity since they are able to work from the comforts of their homes, avoiding hectic traffic snarl-ups to work or distractions from co-workers (Hill et al., 1998). Through flexibility of working hours, the employees are happy enough to stay longer in the company thus retaining the most valued workers.

In conclusion, telecommuting is a necessity to the ever growing and dynamic world. With the increasing workforce, it relieves the pressure of overcrowding in offices and traffic jams which are synonymous in every city. The relieved pressure from the offices and cities has positive impact on the business and the country’s economy as well. The country earns more revenue from the economic activities that would otherwise have been delayed due to pressure thus causing losses. Therefore, the essay concludes that the growth of telecommuting has a positive effect on the society.