Telecommuting

Telecommuting

Telecommuting, or in other words Location Independent Working (LIW), can be explained as a process where an employee works for a business from home or any other remote location. There are three types of Telecommuting workers: entrepreneurs, freelancers and telecommuters. However, the website will concentrate only on telecommuters which are individuals working for a business from a distance. “Developments in information technology mean that people can now work from almost, any geographical location: from head office, a satellite office, a shared access telecentre; or from their home, hotel room or car” (Laurie Mullins, 1996: 541). Even with the improvements within information technology not every job is appropriate for location independent working (teleworking). However, usually even if the entire role is not, some part of it may be, likewise not every person in the organisation is suitable for independent location working / telecommuting. People who have little knowledge about their job and have very poor organisational and time management skills are especially unlikely to be able to work according to the Telecommuting model. “Not all who try working at home have the required self-discipline or all of the infrastructure required to work effectively in a home workspace” (Johnson, 2002: 23).