5 Reasons Your Boss Hates Telecommuting
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 8:21 am
It isn’t just the employee that benefits: Perhaps surprisingly, working from home also raises productivity. Some companies report that employees actually put in more hours from home, using their usual commute time for extra work. The pressure group 1 Million For Work Flexibility states that telecommuting reduces turnover, enhances a company’s green credentials and is cost-effective, saving the company money on office space and other associated costs.
Despite the benefits, and the fact that over 50% of employees are in roles that are at least partly compatible with working from home, under 3% of the workforce telecommutes for more than half the time. So, what is it that is stopping employers from letting their employees work remotely?
High Profile ‘Failures’
One reason that companies cite for their reluctance to try telecommuting is the failure by high-profile companies, like Yahoo! The pioneering web services provider banned remote working for employees when Marissa Mayer became lithuania phone number resource their CEO in 2013 – and she wasn’t alone. A number of other well-known corporations did the same. (It’s worth noting that even Yahoo! allows working from home now, they just needed to get the system right for them.)
A matter of security
Employers may have concerns about cyber security when it comes to remote working. If you consider an employee taking a work laptop home and connecting to the office servers via a secure connection with all the latest patches installed it seems low risk but there are other factors to consider. If a worker uses their own equipment, it may not be as well secured and could introduce malware or a virus to the network. Copies of confidential files downloaded to a laptop or
If a worker uses their own equipment, it may not be as well secured and could introduce malware or a virus to the network. Copies of confidential files downloaded to a laptop or smartphone are no longer secure – anyone who can access the device can read them. Although all these issues can be addressed by a combination of technology and policy, you can see why IT managers might be reluctant to open that can of worms in the first place.
Despite the benefits, and the fact that over 50% of employees are in roles that are at least partly compatible with working from home, under 3% of the workforce telecommutes for more than half the time. So, what is it that is stopping employers from letting their employees work remotely?
High Profile ‘Failures’
One reason that companies cite for their reluctance to try telecommuting is the failure by high-profile companies, like Yahoo! The pioneering web services provider banned remote working for employees when Marissa Mayer became lithuania phone number resource their CEO in 2013 – and she wasn’t alone. A number of other well-known corporations did the same. (It’s worth noting that even Yahoo! allows working from home now, they just needed to get the system right for them.)
A matter of security
Employers may have concerns about cyber security when it comes to remote working. If you consider an employee taking a work laptop home and connecting to the office servers via a secure connection with all the latest patches installed it seems low risk but there are other factors to consider. If a worker uses their own equipment, it may not be as well secured and could introduce malware or a virus to the network. Copies of confidential files downloaded to a laptop or
If a worker uses their own equipment, it may not be as well secured and could introduce malware or a virus to the network. Copies of confidential files downloaded to a laptop or smartphone are no longer secure – anyone who can access the device can read them. Although all these issues can be addressed by a combination of technology and policy, you can see why IT managers might be reluctant to open that can of worms in the first place.