Do You Know what your Telecommuting Employees are up to?

With the amount of money saved on physical plan and utilities costs, it makes sense for many employers to offer telecommuting opportunities to certain workers. But the number one downfall (from the employer’s perspective) is that there is no direct supervision of what people are actually doing while on the clock. The following is a list of data obtained by a survey from OnlineDegrees.com and reflects the most common behaviors for off-site workers and a general overview of the status of telecommuting within the modern workplace:

• Over the past 30-plus years, the percentage of people working from home has almost doubled, jumping from 2.3 percent in 1980 to nearly 4.5 percent in 2012. A full one-third of companies now allow some employees to work from home on a regular basis. One out of every 10 Americans works from home at least once per week.

• The most common reasons telecommuters reported for wanting to work from home included: needing to finish work (48 percent), fewer distractions (44 percent), increased productivity (35 percent), and a better work/life balance (35 percent).

• Work-from-home employees confessed to a number of non work-related activities while on the clock at home. These activities included: watching television/movies (43 percent), doing household chores (35 percent), cooking dinner (28 percent), taking naps (26 percent), drinking alcohol (24 percent), and playing video games (20 percent).

• Most bosses still aren’t on board with the idea of telecommuting with 50 percent of polled employees reporting that their boss completely opposed working remotely, 35 percent would tolerate it, and 15 percent encourage it.

• The most common problems bosses have employees working from home included: lack of face time (49 percent), less focus (26 percent), lack of accountability (22 percent), and slacking off (22 percent).