Telecommuting Overview: In choosing employers, the option for telecommuting is an increasingly important consideration. In its strictest sense, telecommuting normally is defined as working from your home while in the employ of a larger company, by using phone, fax and e-mail in place of face to face contact with fellow workers.
Telecommuting Variations: People who define themselves as telecommuters can range from those who typically work only from home, to those who normally telecommute only for part of the typical week, to those who telecommute only occasionally, when personal matters require them to be away from the office for all or most of the day. Additionally, some people may define themselves as telecommuters if their usual office location is in the home, even though they may travel around during the day to meet with other people, such as clients.
Telecommuting Rationale: Where face to face contact is not essential, telecommuting is a way to reduce the employee’s costs of commuting. These costs are both monetary (gas, tolls, parking and public transit fares) and related to the time lost while commuting. Minimizing or eliminating commuting time can increase productivity, since that time can be redeployed into work-related activities. Meanwhile, reducing both the stress and monetary cost related to traditional commuting can be welcomed by the employee as a substitute for a raise in a pay, saving the employer money as well.
Telecommuting Prevalence: In the financial services industry, telecommuting in its strictest sense tends to be most often found in information technology (IT) functions. Within IT, telecommuting has become a common option across industries.
Apart from IT, jobs with ongoing, regular telecommuting options are relatively limited so far in the financial services industry. People who write brochure and advertising copy are among those relative few.
As a whole, the industry's culture places a great deal of emphasis on face to face interaction. This is particularly so in supervisory level positions, for which working from fixed office locations is pretty much a must. Additionally, the heavy regulatory oversight on the industry has reinforced the general cultural unease with workers who are out of sight. That is, effective supervision often is equated with direct supervision.
Nonetheless, some financial services professionals frequently work from home, although their ongoing need to meet with clients at the latter’s home or office do not make them pure telecommuters. Among these are insurance appraisers, such as auto damage appraisers. Moreover, certain independent, self-employed financial professionals also may work from home in this fashion, for example financial planners.
Telecommmuting Caveats: Telecommuting options can be highly variable in companies that do not have formal, written policies on the subject. This variability is both across departments and within departments. Within a department, a change of manager may bring a change of policy, possibly abrogating prior agreements. Indeed, even if the manager does not change, the lack of formal firmwide policies can allow that manager to change departmental policies on whim.
A prospective telecommuter should be sure of the company's policies in advance, including the assistance that the company will give in purchasing, setting up and maintaining the necessary equipment and communications links in the employee's home. Also worthy of consideration in advance is how technical support, including hardware repair, is to be delivered to a remotely-sited telecommuter.
Telecommuting Career Disadvantages: Telecommuting on a regular basis normally is inadvisable if you have ambitions for promotion or for finding other job opportunities in your firm. Telecommuters have a much more restricted set of personal interactions with peers and superiors alike than employees who are on-site in a traditional office setting. It is precisely these interactions, often random, that typically lead to career opportunities. Indeed, telecommuting can put you in an "out of sight, out of mind" situation that results in your being overlooked for opportunities even within your own department or work group. These are important disadvantages.
