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Working From Home Essay
Academic English Skills (ULAB 1122)
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
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Based on a survey of more than 15,000 American working adults conducted by Gallup earlier this year, thirty-seven percent of these respondents say they have telecommuted. The statistics may only show a slight increase of seven percent as compared to the number of American adults working from home in the last decades but it is four times greater than the percentage found in 1995 proving how the trend is increasingly accepted by the workers in America. According to Featherstone (2017), the concept of telework which allows employees to work from an approved work site such as their homes is hardly new. Many millennium companies now offer the privilege of working from home at least one day in each week to their employees in their efforts to create workplace flexibility which is one of the most sought-after aspects in a company by the millennials (Landrum, 2017). The reasons leading to the booming of this trend as well as its advantages and disadvantages will be thoroughly discussed to provide a better understanding pertaining to this increasingly important trend.
The convergence of rapid technological advancement and business trends are said to be the most important factors that are driving the rapid growth of working from home trend. According to Miller and Self (2017), recent advances in computing and telecommunication technologies are the main driver behind the booming of this trend. The rapid growth of the Internet, development of high-speed Internet connection and devices, and the increase in networking capabilities for an examples allow employees to perform their work at home at a computing speed that is equal to or greater than the computing speed at their workplace thus allowing them to be more productive in their works. In addition, the growing traffic jams in major cities around the world due to the rapid increase in the number of vehicles owned and used by the public is also quoted as one of the major factors leading to the rise of this trend. Belgium’s growing traffic jams for an example is the major driver behind the decision made by BNP Paribas Fortis, a bank, to allow all of its employees amounting to 14,000 people to work from their homes occasionally for two days in a week by 2020 as reported by Belga News Agency.
The attractiveness of working from home trend can be assessed by looking at the advantages that it offers to both the employers and employees. There are several important benefits of this trend, one of which is the trend allows companies to recruit or hire highly talented individuals who are located remotely from the companies’ central offices to work with them. In this era of globalization where the world is interconnected and interdependent, working from home allows companies to seek and recruit valuable human resources around
the world to work with the companies without requiring them to move away from their home country since they can perform all their work activities virtually through the Internet. This thus allows employers to explore into a wider set of talent pool without being restricted by the geographical distance (Biro, 2014). Not only that, working from home may also reduce the consumption of employees commuting time and costs. In some companies, it is uncommon to find employees who are commuting for more than an hour each way everyday to work. If these employees are allowed to telework, it would save the amount of time and effort spend by the employee to commute to work as well as reduced the cost for commuting borne by the employee such as fuel costs or public transportation costs. In addition, working from home is also quote to be an effective mechanism to boost employees’ engagement and motivation. According to the findings of the survey conducted by Gallup, the most engaged workers are those who spent sixty to eighty percent of their week which translates to three to four days working from home and spent minority of their time in the office. The study found that those who spent less time working remotely were less enthusiastic about their work as compared to those who were allowed to work from home.
While working from home may be regarded as beneficial trend to both the employers and employees, but there are also some disadvantages that may reduce the attractiveness of this trend. The first disadvantage is the challenge in keeping employees who are working from home fully and regularly engaged in their work. Since these employees will perform their daily work activities at home, it would be uncommon for some of these employees to have issues in managing and dealing with various distractions at home which may distract them from their works. Apart from that, working from home also may kill creativity among the employees by restricting the generation of new valuable ideas among the employees. This is because, the processes involved in developing and generating new ideas are better done through face-to-face interactions, sharing of ideas, and enriching brainstorm sessions instead of virtually over the Internet as it allows for the ideas to be better debated and discussed. Lastly, the trend of working at home may significantly reduce the opportunity for ad-hoc learning among colleagues. Gregory (2016) argues that office workers are constantly in position where they can learn from their colleagues and peers during the office hours. When the employee works at home, he will need to make an extra effort on his own to seek out networking and new learning opportunities which may help him with the work which could otherwise be earned from his colleagues.
LIST OF REFERENCES
Biro, Megan M. 2014. "Telecommuting Is The Future Of Work". Forbes. forbes/sites/meghanbiro/2014/01/12/telecommuting-is-the-future-of-work/ #1feb61e83c86.
Featherstone, Tony. 2017. "Working From Home Trend Must Be Part Of Urbanisation Policy". The Sydney Morning Herald. smh.com/small-business/managing/the- venture/working-from-home-trend-must-be-part-of-urbanisation-policy-20170404- gvdfwa.
Gregory, Alyssa. 2016. "The Pros And Cons Of Working From Home". The Balance. https:// thebalance/the-pros-and-cons-of-working-from-home-2951766.
"In U., Telecommuting For Work Climbs To 37%". 2017. Gallup. news.gallup/poll/184649/telecommuting-work-climbs.aspx.
Landrum, Sarah. 2017. "How Millennials Are Making Work From Home Work". Forbes. forbes/sites/sarahlandrum/2017/03/31/how- millennials-are-making-work-from-home-work/#454ba53952d2.
Miller, Jim, and Rebecca Self. 2017. "Telework Boom Driven By Business Strategies, Not Employee Preferences". Fmlink. fmlink/articles/telework-boom-driven-by- business-strategies-not-employee-preferences/.
"Traffic Jams Make Teleworking Boom In Banking Sector". 2017. Gopress Mobility. https:// gopressmobility/2017/07/07/traffic-jams-make-teleworking-boom-banking-sector/.
Working From Home Essay
Course: Academic English Skills (ULAB 1122)
University: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
