Telecommuting in the tax department.

• Author: Green, David L.

Introduction

In 1995, nearly 9 million American employees telecommuted at least one day a week, up from about 7.6 million in 1993.(1) Factors contributing to the increase include advances in technology, the pursuit of increased productivity, concern for the environment, and the desire to help employees balance work with family needs. Nonetheless, telecommuting can be a complicated and controversial issue. Many jobs are well suited to telecommuting, but even telecommuting advocacy groups and consulting firms concede that telecommuting is not appropriate for every job or, for that matter, every person.

The rise in telecommuting adds a new dimension to the management of the corporate tax function. In early 1997, a survey of corporate tax departments was conducted among members of Tax Executives Institute in the San Francisco and Santa Clara Valley Chapters.(2) The response rate was nearly 50 percent, and data were formulated to answer the following questions:

* How widespread is telecommuting in San Francisco and Santa Clara Valley tax departments and what is the profile of the telecommuting tax professional?

* What are the most significant concerns about telecommuting in corporate tax departments?

* What are the benefits of telecommuting for corporate tax departments?

* What positions and job duties are most suitable for telecommuting?

* How often can tax professionals telecommute without jeopardizing personal productivity or department objectives?

This article presents the survey results as well as the author's experiences and research from secondary sources. It also explores ways to overcome the major barriers and concerns that were highlighted in the survey. Although the survey was only distributed to members of two California chapters of TEI, the data are useful for corporate tax departments nationwide.

Definitions

Telecommuting is defined as working at least one day per week outside of the primary workplace. The alternative workplace can be an employee's home, a satellite office, or a neighborhood work center. A satellite office is a remote office location that is sponsored by the employer and houses only that company's employees. A neighborhood work center is an office location where employees of unrelated companies share space, equipment, and perhaps secretarial support.

Survey respondents reported no telecommuting from satellite offices or neighborhood work centers. The home has evolved as the telecommuting location of choice, so this article focuses solely on issues involved with telecommuting from home.

Profile of Telecommuting Tax Professionals

The survey revealed that slightly more than 5 percent of the respondents and their co-workers are telecommuters. This percentage is not significantly lower than that for workers nationwide. The current best estimate is that 6.1 percent of all American workers telecommute at least part time.(3)

Telecommuters from corporate tax departments have a few things in common, but do not easily fit into a single profile. For example, the survey data do not support any strong correlation between telecommuting and age or gender. Furthermore, a formal telecommuting policy makes little difference on whether a person telecommuted. Half of those who telecommute do so under their company's formal telecommuting policy, while the other half telecommutes by special arrangement. Long commutes play a role, but are not common to every telecommuter. Although some telecommuters reported round-trip commutes as long as four hours, the average is a more bearable 70 minutes. There is no clear trend among managers or staff. Almost half of the telecommuters supervise others, and some supervise other telecommuters.

One of the most surprising survey findings was that telecommuting rates in the San Francisco and Santa Clara Valley Chapters are roughly equal. Before the survey data were compiled, there was a general expectation that the high-tech environment of Silicon Valley spawned the kind of attitudes and computer literacy that would make telecommuting more common in the Santa Clara Valley Chapter. The survey did not bear this out. Those who work for high-tech companies are no more likely to telecommute than people who work for other companies.

Three clear trends emerged from the survey data. First, no matter what type of company they work for, telecommuters from corporate tax departments are generally computer literate, use computers at home, and are generally Internet users. Second, with only a few exceptions, telecommuters from corporate tax departments telecommute one day each week. Third, telecommuters from corporate tax departments all reported increased productivity.

Concerns About Telecommuting in Corporate Tax Departments

Eighty-three percent of survey respondents believe that telecommuting will increase in corporate tax departments as technology improves. Nevertheless, tax professionals have many concerns about the adoption of telecommuting as an alternative work arrangement. Using a scoring range of 1 to 5, the survey asked respondents to assign a score to each of several concerns. A "5" means the concern is extremely significant, while a score of "1" means the concern is relatively insignificant. The scores were averaged and the seven most important concerns are ranked below from most significant to least significant:

* Telecommuters have difficulty accessing supplies and information.

* Telecommuters have difficulty participating in work teams. Telecommuting inhibits teamwork and team building.

* Telecommuters have difficulty supervising people.

* There is a loss of management control when people telecommute.

* Telecommuters encounter too many personal distractions when working out of the office.

* Telecommuting programs cannot be administered equitably among all employees and telecommuting causes resentment among co-workers.

* Tax work requires too much face-to-face contact for telecommuting to be effective.

Accessing Supplies & Information. Of all the barriers cited by tax professionals, access to supplies and information is probably the easiest barrier to overcome through technology and careful planning. With the right equipment at home, a telecommuter can work with any information that is accessed through the office computer, the telephone, or fax machine. A telecommuter can use a personal computer and modem to access e-mail, tax-return preparation software, on-line or CD-ROM research services, daily tax reports, and anything else that is available through the office computer. With a scanner and printer, the home computer can act as a fax and copy machine.

There are a number of ways for the home computer to access office data. A simple, low-cost solution is the use of remote-control software such as Reachout or PC Anywhere. With a home computer and an ordinary modem connection, this type of software permits a person to operate another computer at a remote location. Keystrokes and mouse commands from the home computer operate the remote computer. Images ordinarily displayed by the remote computer's monitor are displayed on the home computer's monitor. The software also allows file transfer between the home and remote machines and can direct printed output to office printers. A small measure of computer speed is sacrificed, but this solution is quite workable with faster modems. Furthermore, a tax professional can often install and use remote-control software without assistance from company systems personnel.

Another solution is to establish the home computer as a node on the tax department or company network. This involves more set-up issues an(i the support of the network administrator. Connections that are faster than ordinary phone lines, such as ISDN or dedicated lines, yield greater speed and are definitely recommended.

In some cases, it may be possible to use the Internet to access company networks, but there are often problems with this solution. Companies typically implement security measures ("firewalls") to protect internal company networks from the outside world. With current technology, access speed can also be problematic.

Obviously, supplies and paper files cannot be accessed by the home computer. This is where careful planning comes in. The telecommuter has to think ahead about which supplies and files will be needed on days when work will be performed at home. Since any file removed from the office will not be available to other members of the department, coordination with other department members is essential.

Much of the information ordinarily exchanged through face-to-face communication with company personnel, outside advisors, or auditors can still be exchanged by phone, phone-mail, e-mail, and fax. Meetings can be attended by conference call. Nevertheless, total elimination of face-to-face communication is detrimental for several reasons. For example, a telecommuter attending a meeting by phone can be at a disadvantage when he or she cannot see flip charts, white boards, facial expressions, body language, and side conversations. PC-based video conferencing is continuing to increase in quality and decrease in price. Although it may replace some face-to-face communication, it is not in common use and is therefore not workable as an everyday solution.

In today's world, access to supplies and information is a significant barrier to full-time telecommuting. With the aid of technology and careful planning, however, it is not a bar to part-time telecommuting. Each individual situation is a little different, and there may be some people who can overcome this barrier on a full-time basis. As a general rule, however, tax professionals will find it necessary to work in the office for some portion of the work week.

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