Last month, Yahoo's CEO Marissa Mayer made the unpopular choice to stop telecommuting programs for the ISP's employees. Best Purchase was fast to follow suit. However, not one but three recent studies say she may have been too short-sighted. Article resource: Three surveys back telecommuting, in spite of Yahoo

Staples study


On March 8, Boston.com reported on a survey commissioned by Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of the office supplies giant. It polled 150 business decision makers and 150 telecommuting workers about the practice of workers logging in and working at home from their own computers.


About 53 percent of business decision makers said that their employees were more productive when they telecommuted, and 93 percent of the workers like the idea.


Staples the company is the leading office supply retailers, which means the outcome of the survey will impact it.


More telecommuting considered acceptable


About 120 HR executives were polled in a Challengers, Gray & Christmas Inc. survey that asked about whether or not there were telecommuting program plans in place.


These plans were not really being made by most corporations. Of the 80 percent of corporations that responded to the poll, 97 percent said the plans were not occurring.


John A. Challenger, the company's CEO, said businesses pay attention to other business leaders, but are not blind sheep.


"When major companies like Yahoo and Best Buy make notable policy changes, there is no doubt that other employers will take notice and some may even reevaluate their policies," he said. "However, it would be misguided to assume that other companies will follow blindly without considering their own unique circumstances.”


Is it a good idea?


About 1,000 Americans were surveyed by ORC International to find out whether or not they believed telecommuting was a great idea. About 29 percent said they would probably do less work while 65 percent said they thought people would be more productive if working from home.


Of those surveyed, only 11 percent were presently telecommuting. Another 16 percent had done so at some time in the past, while 72 percent had never worked from home.


The split here seems a bit irrelevant to me, since a percentage of workers will always take advantage and make an effort to "goof off" whether they work from home or from the company office. Their effort (or lack of it) shows up in their productivity, and management can see pretty easily who is getting the job done and who is not.


More likely to change


Like it or not, our world is becoming increasingly technological. The internet makes an office on the other side of the world as close as the push of a button. Telecommuting makes sense for many employers in many situations, and, regardless of Yahoo, it is not going away any time soon.


Sources

Los Angeles Times

Boston.com

CNN