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The Pros and Cons of Telecommuting for Employers

Guest post by: Dianne Shaddock

Article Overview: If you’re wondering what it’s like to let your employees or yourself work at home, you might want to consider these pros and cons about telecommuting. This article outlines the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting.

The Pros and Cons of Telecommuting for Employers

Whether you're a manager interested in boosting productivity or a new parent who wants to find a way to work while spending time at home, telecommuting has become very popular in the workplace. But for employees and employers alike, telecommuting can be challenging; especially for those accustomed to traditional office settings. As with most things, there are both pros and cons. Let's start with the pluses of telecommuting:

Recruitment & Retention Tool

When it comes to telecommuting pros and cons, one overlooked advantage is telecommuting can be a great tool for attracting and keeping employees within your company. Attracting high quality staff is always a challenge, no matter the state of the labor market. By giving staff the option to work from their home, it becomes easier to attract those prospective employees searching for the right balance between work and home life.

Increased Productivity

Telecommuting arrangements decrease down time for employees. After all, taking a few steps from the kitchen into a home office is more productive than sitting on the freeway for an hour. Telecommuting also allows employers to access staff outside of traditional working hours, which is critical in some sectors, such as IT. In addition, work-from-home arrangements benefit employees, who may find the wider range of work hours adds flexibility to their schedule. For instance, a team member may be able to attend an aging parent's morning doctor appointment and catch up on business later in the evening.

Financial Savings

Companies that allow employees to work from home can save on overhead costs such as lights, heat, office space, office furniture, even office supplies.

Some cons of telecommuting include-

Potential Decrease in Satisfaction Among Co-Workers

No matter how advanced technology becomes, it still doesn't quite beat face-to-face interactions. In a traditional office setting, employees engage each other in a lunch room, chat in a hallway, or interact in any number of ways. And they don't just talk shop either. Small talk when limited, can be a healthy part of the office culture.

Telecommuting limits these vital communications. In fact, one study by the Lally School of Management & Technology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute found that in-office staff reported a decrease in satisfaction with work-at-home colleagues. Why the dissatisfaction? Perhaps because office-based employees perceive telecommuters have more freedom. For telecommuting employees, then, one of the disadvantages of working from home may be dealing with the misconceptions and grumblings of in-office colleagues.

Lost Opportunities for Team Building

Another disadvantage of working from home is that it can eliminate bonding time that is essential for building a cohesive team. Managers with a blended staff may need to schedule face-to-face time to nurture the team culture.

Lack of Clear Guidelines for Employees

Some companies that support telecommuting may not have clear guidelines in place. It's important to have clearly written and communicated policies related to telecommuting. If employees aren't told that they should be reachable during business hours, or that they may need to come into the office for scheduled meetings, it can create frustration and misunderstandings about the role of the employer and the employee in a telecommuting situation.

Is Telecommuting Right for Your Business?

The answer is, quite simply, do your homework to learn more about the pros and cons of telecommuting based the mission, vision, values and culture of your company, your recruitment and retention goals, and workplace productivity and customer service.

If you carefully consider telecommuting advantages and disadvantages and decide that it is the right choice, you may just find that work at home arrangements can be a very productive and profitable arrangement for both you and your employees.

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Article Tags: advantages of telecommuting, disadvantages of telecommuting, outsourcing, telecommuting, telecommuting tips for employers, Telecommuting tips for managers, telework, work from home

About the Author: Dianne Shaddock RSS for Dianne's articles - Visit Dianne's website Dianne Shaddock is the Founder of Easy Small Business HR.com, a website which provides “Quick and Simple Human Resources Strategies for Small Businesses, Non Profits, and Entrepreneurs. Go to EasySmallBusinessHR.com for more tips on how to hire and manage your staff more effectively. Easy Small Business HR, Your Personal HR Consultant! Click here to visit Dianne's website More from Dianne Shaddock Preparing For the Interview A Manager Is Only As Successful As Their Most Challenged Employee Setting The Stage For Your Interview Building Rapport Hiring Tip How to Phone Screen Job Candidates The Pros and Cons of Telecommuting for Employers

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Re: Template of Service Agreement/Contractor Agreement - Shimmy- I, too, would be happy to share my template contract for a service provider. But beware, a template agreement may not be sufficient to properly address your needs. Some key differences between Employees and Service Providers: 1. Tax Status. Employers are responsible for withholding tax on employee's earnings. Independent Contractors are responsible for reporting their income/taxes. There is a significant reporting burden and liability associated with this. 2. Confidentiality/Intellectual Property. Often times, employee handbooks will specify an employees confidentiality obligations and many states impute a duty of loyalty. Contractors are under no such obligations absent a written agreement. Same thing for IP/Creative works. The copyright Act draws a sharp and significant distinction between employees and contractors when it comes to ownership of creative works. 3. Liability for tortious acts. Generally an employer is liable for the tortious acts of its employees under the theory of respondeat superior. An entity hiring a contractor may/may not be liable, but without a written agreement for the contractor to indemnify/defend the hiring entity, their may be little recourse against the contractor. There are many other subtle differences too numerous to mention. I hope you find this helpful.
Re: Template of Service Agreement/Contractor Agreement - [quote="Dave_Adler":21fe7egl]Shimmy- I, too, would be happy to share my template contract for a service provider. But beware, a template agreement may not be sufficient to properly address your needs. Some key differences between Employees and Service Providers: 1. Tax Status. Employers are responsible for withholding tax on employee's earnings. Independent Contractors are responsible for reporting their income/taxes. There is a significant reporting burden and liability associated with this. 2. Confidentiality/Intellectual Property. Often times, employee handbooks will specify an employees confidentiality obligations and many states impute a duty of loyalty. Contractors are under no such obligations absent a written agreement. Same thing for IP/Creative works. The copyright Act draws a sharp and significant distinction between employees and contractors when it comes to ownership of creative works. 3. Liability for tortious acts. Generally an employer is liable for the tortious acts of its employees under the theory of respondeat superior. An entity hiring a contractor may/may not be liable, but without a written agreement for the contractor to indemnify/defend the hiring entity, their may be little recourse against the contractor. There are many other subtle differences too numerous to mention. I hope you find this helpful.[/quote:21fe7egl] I was thinking these same points as I was reading the earlier posts. I've been working with independent contractors for years - first as one, and then hiring many of others. These are three of the key things to be sure you include in your agreement. If they are truly an independent contractor, they are reasonable to handle their own taxes. I always include a confidentiality clause and very few have tried to break it. Liability can be a huge issue, depending on the sort of business you are in. In the US - there are all sorts of tax rules for state and federal government to distinguish if a person is or is not an independent contractor. If you make the wrong choice there are all kinds of penalties to be paid. Another thing that should be considered is that your business worker's compensation and/or liability insurance may have to cover these people. I know in construction, I'm charged for any independent contractor and their employees if they don't have their own insurance. That can get really pricey. If you're in a similar situation, talk with your insurance company, some will allow an independent contractor to sign an agreement that they will waive your responsibility to insure them. You would still need to pay for their employees, but it does save some money during an insurance audit. Chris

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