Telecommuting

By Nick Howard

Telecommuting(远程办公)will have major effects on the worlds of work and family life.However,its biggest effect will be in the area of individual freedom,responsibility and time management.

Work and workplaces will change greatly.Offices may become smaller,as fewer desks are needed.There will be greater need for high-speed Internet connections to link the office and the home,and even homes to other homes,as other employees also begin working at home.Hours spent in traffic jams,and fights for parking should diminish,as workers travel less.

Family life will also change.Both husbands and wives will be able to arrange their work around family commitments such as taking children to school，cooking，spare time activities,and so on.However,households（家人）will also have to set aside areas for work—particularly if more than one person is telecommuting.

However，although the ideas of more time at home and less time traveling are attractive，there are some drawbacks to telecommuting.People may feel that they cannot escape from work,work longer hours,or become less social.The quality of work may suffer because of fewer face-to-face interactions with other employees,and there may be delays if other workers are not immediately available.Telecommuters may also feel isolated.A major change will be in the way people think about work as a place or an institution.Instead,they will focus on the task or the product.Workers may feel less loyal to a company.

In conclusion，the effects are difficult to predict because they depend on the extent to which telecommuting becomes popular.At the same time,however,telecommuting could be the start of a major societal shift,possibly as big as the Industrial Revolution which created our present ideas of work.?