Telecommuting

The phenomenon known as telecommuting began in the 1980s, largely fueled by the development of new technologies that made this unique method of work possible. What was once the stuff of science fiction films is now a reality. The number of people who use telecommuting to work is estimated at 10 million and is expected to increase to 13.5 million by 2003 (Apicella and Jefferson 1). There are many driving forces behind the increasing popularity of telecommuting both with employers and employees aside from new technologies like cell phones with video and email capabilities, the Internet and Intranet, laptops, and other telecommunications devices. One of the biggest drivers fueling the increasing number of telecommuters is economic. Annually hundreds of millions of dollars is spent moving employees back and forth from a workplace that is not essential for them as a place to be in terms of doing their jobs. Between urban over-congestion and environmental damage due to this process, the costs are probably much higher than estimated.

There are also a host of drivers with respect to both the employer and employee perspective. For employees telecommuting is enormously attractive from a variety of perspectives such as spending more time with their family or being able to work the hours of the day that are most efficient or productive for their goals. For employers there are also advantages, from being able to hire the bes

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on a combination of legacy and laptop tools to provide its sales reps with state-of-the-art telecommuting potential. IBM relies on portable, end-user friendly laptops with software applications and security systems on the IBM mainframe. This permits the firm to maximize the use of hardware technologies and the rapid speed necessary for mission-critical applications that occur in remote locations. IBM takes advantage of a Windows-type of application, GUI, which runs under OS/2. Point-and-click access to applications are provided to sales reps on laptops in this manner. The company also offsets the costs employees accrue by installing phone lines for business in homes and other measures. According to John Boudreaux, Public Relations Manager for IBM, "I told executives what he had found. I also told them they could save a lot of money in real estate and facility needs. Today telecommuting is pretty much all around the country and out sales and service customer surveys support our directions" (Shacklett 33). Litton PRC is a McLean-based federal contractor that has enjoyed enormous benefits via the use of telecommuting. PRC deploys a majority of the government's information technology systems. Over 40% of PRC's workforce te

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