Telecommuting

Telecommuting or telework are terms often used interchangeably to refer to a work arrangement in which employees enjoy flexibility in work location and hours. A person who telecommutes is known as a "telecommuter" and a person who teleworks is known as a "teleworker." Telecommute generally refers to the elimination of the daily commute to a central place of work. Many telecommuters work from home, while others, occasionally also referred to as nomad workers or web commuters utilize mobile telecommunications technology to work from coffee shops or other locations. Occasional telecommuters — those who work remotely — totaled 17.2 million in 2008. Telework generally refers to any form of substitution of information technologies for work-related travel; moving the work to the workers instead of moving the workers to work. According to the Telework Coalition, people who ask for teleworking or telecommuting arrangements from their employers are "more readily accepted" when they use the term "telework" because it contains the word “work.” In general, although these two concepts are strongly related, there is still a difference between them. All types of work conducted outside a centrally located work space are considered as telework, while telecommuting refers more specifically to work done in the home, whether it is facilitated through broadband connection and a computer or by phone lines or by pen and paper. In particular, as a wider concept than telecommuting, telework has four dimensions of its definition framework: work location, which indicates anywhere else except the centralized organizational work places; the usage of ICTs, which indicates the technical support for the telework; the time distribution, which means the proportion of the replacement of the working time to former amount of time spent in the traditional office; and the diverse type of contractual relationship between employer and employee, such as the self-employed or the regular type.