A Ford Foundation study reported the findings of a study on the impact of work family balance and flexible work including telecommuting. It found that companies that offered employees more balance and control over where and how work was done had significantly higher productivity, lower absenteeism, better retention of employees, and were generally viewed as more desirable employers. 7 Companies are formalizing telecommuting programs and seeking to facilitate the move to telecommuting and are promoting it with future recruits. These companies offer more structured telecommuting programs, featuring candidate selection, training, providing computers and equipment, improved remote access communications, and have created support systems for remote workers. Some companies provide a lesser standard of work environment for their remote employees than for their traditional office counterparts.
Some companies ask employees to waive certain rights.
It employed telecommuting as a real estate expense reduction - survival tool. There was very little support for the remote workers other than technology. Due to the economic climate, it worked and they saved millions of dollars in real estate. However, after two years, this same company recognized that many of the better employees were beginning to leave for other opportunities, many of which provided for a better remote environment. This company has quietly, but methodically, made the improvement of its telecommuting program to world class status a top priority.