Who Should Capture Telecommuting's Benefits?
Random blog day continues: Here's a post from Microsoft blogger Moz, about the recent survey that found many workers would take a pay cut in return for being allowed to telecommute. Moz makes the not-unreasonable point that telecommuters should get paid more, not less, since they save the company money. Which raises the larger question: Just who is telecommuting supposed to benefit?
I know, I know, the "right" answer is: Everybody. The company wins because it can rent out less office space. The telecommuter wins because he or she doesn't go broke buying gas. Both sides win together because the employee is a better and happier worker.
I couldn't see any particular reason, in the first place, for that recent survey to be posed as it was: Who has ever said you should take a pay cut for the privilege of telecommuting? No real-life employer I've ever heard of.
But there may be scenarios where companies will have some balancing to do, precisely because emerging communications technologies change the possibilities. This may apply less if the scenario is telecommuting; you can sit at your desk at home just as easily as at the office. But consider scheduling applications that have been built around IP telephony and Unified Communications.
I remember seeing an integration between scheduling software and outbound dialing, where if a fast-food chain was short-staffed at one location, it could dynamically call and reassign the employees from another location where sales were reporting slow that day. I'd assume retail would also find such an application valuable.
An application like this could be a real benefit to the restaurant owner--and a real burden on the employee. I saw this demo a couple of years ago, when probably nobody would have minded the switch very much. Today would be another story.
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