CONTRIBUTOR’S COLUMN
The Contributor’s Column is an ongoing feature in FOCUS. Experts and representatives from various fields relevant to employee work/life and wellness may use this space to let readers know about initiatives and resources, or to share a perspective. The column may or may not appear in every issue. Please contact the FOCUS editor if you’d like to contribute to this column.
TELECOMMUTING TO STAY PRODUCTIVE AND REDUCE STRESS:
TELECOMMUTING MIGHT BE THE REMEDY FOR WORKING PEOPLE
STRUGGLING TO BETTER BALANCE WORK AND LIFE RESPONSIBILITIES
by Roberto Ruiz, Jr.
Telecommuting Policy Analyst,
Clean Air Council
2001 is a good time as any to reflect on the last decade’s interaction and disconnect between employees’ work and personal lives and the continuous advancement of technology throughout the 1990s.
During the last decade computing power and office-related software developed to the point that one employee could accomplish what only a few years earlier would have taken many.
Due mostly to these technological changes, from 1995 to 2000 per hour productivity in the U.S. rose to a robust annual average of 3 percent according to the 2001 Economic Report of the President. At the same time that technology and the business structure positively intersected, the same was not necessarily true of technology and its potential to improve workers’ personal lives; productivity gains did not parallel gains among workers ability to better balance life and work.
At the same time that businesses enjoyed a strong 3 percent annual productivity growth since 1995, employees experienced the negative consequences of too much and not enough free time: According to a 2001 survey by Families and Work Institute, Feeling Overworked: When Work Becomes Too Much, 28% of workers feel overworked, 28% feel overwhelmed with their workload, and 29% feel they lack time to reflect on their work. Likewise, a 1999 survey by Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) USA found that 62% of American parents think they lack enough quality time with their children.
The fact that many workers feel concerned about too much stress can partially be explained as a result of an increase in the amount of hours worked by Americans. The Winter 1999 Heldrich Work Trends Survey— although not comparing its figures with those of previous years — reported that 18% of U.S. employees on a weekly basis worked 51 or more hours, 16% worked 46 to 50 hours, 12% worked 41 to 45 hours, and 35% worked 40 hours. Similarly, the 2001 survey by Families and Work Institute found that 24% of workers reported that they spend 50 or more hours working each week, 22% of workers worked six or seven days a week, and 25% don’t take advantage of their vacation time.
For working couples, this is magnified because of a paradigm shift in the distribution of work practices among the sexes. Whereas in the 1950s and 1960s sole-breadwinners, mostly men, could afford to leave child-rearing and home upkeep to a stay-at-home spouse, mostly women, today a large number of both married men and women work outside the home. This change has been dramatic: According to the 2000Economic Report of the President, sole breadwinner families made up 67 percent of all families in 1952. By contrast, in 1999, according to this report, only 27 percent of families fit the sole breadwinner model. As a consequence of these societal changes the proportion of households where both parents work rose from 32 percent in 1968 to 48 percent in 1988.
The work stress witnessed in the studies above no doubt served as a motivator in the increased offering by employers of telecommuting as an alternative work option throughout the 1990s. According to Dr. Carl E. Van Horn and Duke Storens’ analysis of Telework America data in Telework: Coming of Age? Evaluating the Potential Benefits of Telework, persons who work from home for an employer increased from 11 million in 1990 to 19.6 million in 1999. Although this growth in telecommuting has been very healthy, it needs to grow further in order to be commensurate to need.
Technology has had a profound impact in making employees more productive. Yet some believe telecommuting has not fully realized its potential to help all working couples better balance work and family responsibilities or be of use to those who seem to need it most, working mothers.
No doubt many individuals and parents hope that in this new century there is a growing positive interaction between technology and parents’ ability to better balance work and family. Otherwise, some predict, the price to pay will be the status quo of sacrificing important functions such as sleep to fit family, errands, and work into a schedule — 87% of workers according to the Heldrich Work Trends Survey were "concerned about getting enough sleep."
The good news about telecommuting is that although it is not a panacea against stress, it allows employees to reduce a long or congested commute to and from an on-site office and facilitates the accomplishment of responsibilities outside the workplace.
The needs of working individuals and couples for more flexible schedules are so great that it seems probable that an even more telecommutable future is on the horizon. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is doing its part to see that this happens. Under Section 359 of the 2001 Transportation Appropriations bill, OPM is charged with assisting Federal agencies with establishing telecommuting policies and see to it that all Federal employees are covered under such policies, where appropriate, in the coming years.
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