Telecommuting, a Solution to Employee Morale and Retention Issues

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We as employers are facing problems retaining key employees and keeping employee morale at a positive working level. This phenomenon is a new challenge seeking an affordable and implementable solution.

I believe that telecommuting is a solution that should be considered to solve both employee morale issues and key employee retention issues. These issues are well documented in the 2008-2009 Northrop Grumman exit survey results. The results of 500 exiting employees of 5 years or less tenure documented their desire for an alternate work schedule and more succinctly, telecommuting.

The definition for telecommuting or telework can be summarized as the process of working from a home environment through electronic methods, utilizing the home phone system, computer, blackberry cell phone, fax machines, net meeting and other modern electronic devices.

Employees indicate an interest in telecommuting, so what are employers to do? A place to begin is identifying potential candidates or job types for consideration. There should be consideration for the standing army of employees who have been commuting to the workplace from their start date of employment. In many cases these are the same employees who have moved 30 - 50 miles away from their work place due to housing affordability. A legitimate argument by employers is that the decision of moving out is on the employee and that it doesn’t fall within their responsibility.

I would absolutely agree with the employer’s position, it’s not their problem that employees have chosen to live further out causing them a long arduous commute. There is data to indicate that the employer has been hurt by the employee’s poor attendance and health risks. Northrop Grumman human resources has assessed fr...

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...now and in the future. I’d like to move to the suggestion that we move away from the staunch traditional management techniques and get on the wagon of this highly energized electronic communication era and implement a telecommuting schedule option today.

Works Cited
Blake, R. (2009). Telecommuting a Quiet Environmental Success Story. Retrieved Nov. 06, 2009. http://greennationtoday.com/telecommuting-a-quiet-environmental-success-story-773.htm

Grensing-Pophal, L. (2001). Telecommuting: Managing Off-Site Staff for Small Business.

Self -Counsel. Retrieved November 6, 2009. http://books.googld.com/books?id=ycyTGwAACAAJ&dq-telecommuting%5D

Yen, J.R, Mahmassani H.S. (1997). Telecommuting Adoption: Conceptual Framework and Model Estimation. Transportation Research Record 1606: 95–102. Retrieved November 7, 2009. http://rff.org/RFF/Documents/RFF-DP-04-44.pdf

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