Telecommuting in the Public Sector

• Author: Donna R. Kemp
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X9501500302
• Published date: 01 July 1995
• Date: 01 July 1995
• Subject Matter: Articles

15

Telecommuting

in

the

Public

Sector

An

Overview

and

a

Survey

of

the

States

DONNA

R.

KEMP

Every

day

a

growing

number

of

Americans

engage

in

home-

based

work

instead

of

commuting

to

a

central

workplace.

This

article

examines

the

development

of

telecommuting

and

its

effect

on

productivity

and

reports

results

from

a

survey

of

state

government

involvement

in

telecommuting.

very

day

an

estimated

39

’ million

Americans

engage

in

home-based

work/tele-com-

muting

and

almost

one-third

of

them

are

self-employed.

The num-

ber

of

home-based

workers

has

increased

over

56

percent

in

the

last

five

years

(Link

Resources,

1992).

Home

workers

include

any

person

who

performs

any

income-

producing

work

at

home,

but

telecommuting

involves

working

one

or

more

days

each

work

week

from

home

or

from

a

satellite of-

fice

near

home

instead

of

com-

muting

to

the

central

workplace.

In

1992

it

was

estimated

that

there

were

6.6

million

telecommuters,

plus

an

additional

8.6

million

em-

ployees who

did after-hours work

for

their

employers

at

home

(Link

Resources, 1992).

In

1990

the

esti-

mate

for

employees

doing

some

of

their

work

at

home

was

3.6

million

(Betts,

1990).

Telecom-

muting

is

promoted

for

improv-

ing

productivity,

reducing

park-

ing

and

traffic

problems,

conserv-

ing

fuel,

reducing

air

pollution,

and

improving

the

work/family

balance.

Norbert

Wiener

(1950)

was

one

of

the

first

to

perceive

the

benefits

of

telecommuting.

He

de-

scribed

a

hypothetical

situation

involving

telecommuting

by

an

architect.

In

the

1970s,

with

the

decline

in

computer

prices

and

the

development

of

integrated

communication

and

dataprocess-

ing

systems,

telecommuting

be-

gan

to

be

seriously

considered.

In

the

1980s

Alvin

Toffler

included

telework

as

one

of

the

basic

ele-

ments

of

the

emerging

&dquo;Third

Wave&dquo;

(Toffler,

1981).

Telecom-

muting

is

an

innovation

which

has

experienced

a

long,

slow

but

steady

introduction

period,

and

now

the

rate

of

growth

is

increas-