Umm, studies have shown that telecommuters (often called "work from home" these days) work more hours than those in the office for THE LAST 20 YEARS. Where's the new insight?
A more interesting aspect of telecommuting behavior is the use of instant messenger-type applications by telecommuters. Those in the office use IM for quick, brief exchanges, e.g., "Do you have last month's income figures?" or "What's Joe's cellphone number?". Telecommuters tend to engage officer workers in prolonged chats that span a variety of topics. My guess is that they are lonely.
Office worker by choice
Telecommuters may enjoy working from home in their PJs and slippers, but they’re likely working just as hard as — if not harder than — their office-dwelling peers.
At least that’s according to a new study from the University of Texas at Austin in which researchers examined the 24 percent of Americans who work from home.
The study found that those who telecommute (i.e. those who work from home regularly) are actually more likely to work overtime compared to traditional office-goers, adding an extra five to seven hours on top of the usual 40-hour workweek.
Rather than free up time around the house, telecommuting tends to blur the boundaries between work and play, actually increasing work-family conflicts.
The authors, Mary C. Noonan and Jennifer L. Glass, write:
Telecommuting has not permeated the American workplace, and where it has become commonly used, it is not helpful in reducing work-family conflicts; telecommuting appears, instead, to have become instrumental in the general expansion of work hours, facilitating workers’ needs for additional worktime beyond the standard workweek and/or the ability of employers to increase or intensify work demands among their salaried employees.
Read the full article here (PDF).
[via Scientific American]
Image: Logan Ingalls/Flickr
Related on SmartPlanet:
