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Managing the Telecommuting Movement
Aug 20th, 2018
In today’s world of recruiting, employers are consistently looking for the “next best thing” that will attract and retain strong candidates for positions. Over the past few years, the trend of telecommuting, or working from home, has become more prevalent as society has shifted to become more socially oriented once again. Shifting the primary focus from living to work to working to live, employees have begun to demand better work-life balance.
When it comes down to it, employees are traditionally required to work 8-hours days. But this 8-hour day does not include the time spent commuting to and from work. A recent survey by Robert Half discovered that the average Canadian worker spends almost one hour commuting every day. This, now 9-hour work day, can significantly impact an employee’s wellness and their work-life balance.
Clearly, the concept of telecommuting would allow for employees to avoid the commute to work by allowing them to work from the comforts of their home. Other reasons why telecommuting is desirable is the perceived trust that the employer feels towards them, allowing jobs to be results-oriented rather than face-time oriented, and lower operating cost of employers by not having to expense their office space. However, of course with such concept comes a number of pitfalls, including isolation, fear of not being considered for promotion, and risk of not sticking to standard work hours.
With all of this in mind, it’s important that before allowing employees to telecommute your organization sets out clear policies and procedures. Clearly informing employees and managers how the relationship be and the expectations along the way will have a significant impact on the success of a telecommuting relationship.
If your organization would like to discuss ways to improve the work-life balance of your employees, and possibly allow for telecommuting, contact Selectpath HR to help you evaluate the jobs within your organization and to help you build a strategy for successfully making this change.
For more information on Robert Half’s research, check out: https://www.roberthalf.ca/en/successful-in-sweatpants-the-pros-and-cons-of-remote-work