• Working From Home is Good for Business and People
Posted by Tom Harnish on April 15th, 2008
Ravi Gajendran and David Harrison with the Department of Management and Organization at Penn State conducted an meta-study, reviewing 46 other studies involving almost 13,000 employees that work at home. No surprise to us, they found that working from home is good for business and for people; but now we have quantifiable proof.
One key benefit of telecommuting, they found, is that it lets workers take control over their work and work environment. They can control when they take breaks, what they wear (hey, this is Undress4Success, after all!), and how they arrange their office space. They can choose decor, temperature and ventilation, lighting and even music. Most of all they get to decide when and how they do their job as long as the work gets done
Another real advantage of working from home is people can decide when they are going to work and what their going to do. But more, they, they can combine work and family obligations and reduce the tension inherent in those competing demands. Taking time to go with the kids to sports or pick up groceries can be scheduled into the day along with work “to-do’s”.
One surprising finding of the super-study was that researchers found that telecommuting had a positive effect on supervisor-staff relationships. Apparently both employer and employee apparently make an extra effort to keep each other informed. Working from home may mean supervisor and subordinate see each other less, but the quality of their contact evidently increases.
Stress reduction is another plus: less heart pounding traffic jousting, less out of pocket lunch money, less spent on business clothes, better supervisor-staff relationships, combined with less tension at home make working from home less stressful.
No surprise this, but people who have more control over their work, who can spend more family time, and who enjoy autonomy are more satisfied and less likely to quit their jobs. Having the opportunity to work at home also promotes a sense of loyalty to the organization, it turns out.
In fact, people who are ready to quit most often say it’s because of tensions between work and family, lack of employer flexibility and difficult supervisors. But by finding a way for people to do their job working from home and lower their stress, companies can keep valued, experienced people on the payroll.
Employers who oppose work-at-home arrangements often claim productivity will decrease, but the contrary is true. People who work at home are actually more productive. The researcher clearly contradicts the concern that not being seen in the office is career limiting. In fact, participants in the studies did not consider their work arrangement a liability, ands reported that working from home work may actually help advance their careers.