Are teleworkers as productive as people who work in an office, or do people goof off when they work at home?
Sonny Butler, Cheryl Aasheim, and Susan Williams from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro Georgia have recently reported on a new study on the productivity of teleworkers (or telecommuters) [see Communications of the ACM, 50, 4 (Apr. 2007), 101-103]. Teleworkers are people who work from home rather than coming into an office every day. There are advantages for the workers, including avoiding long commutes, and advantages for the company, including reduced costs for office space. But is it efficient for getting work done?
This study measured the amount of work done by call center employees who worked at the office or from home. This is a great research environment because it is easy to measure how much work is done (number of calls answered) and the work hours. The results show that productivity increased by 154% for the telecommuter, while productivity decreased by 13% for the office workers. In addition, the productivity increases for the teleworkers continued for more than 3 years, suggesting that this is not a short-term effect.
The study also found somewhat lower absenteeism for the teleworkers, and a net cost savings to the company, even when costs like supplying the teleworkers with computers and data lines were counted.
So, telecommuting can make a lot of sense, for the workers and the company. It is obviously not appropriate for many occupations, but it should be considered where it might work out.
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