For people who telecommute, their workspace may be adapted to fit their lifestyle, allowing them to work in various settings such as outdoors, on the floor, or on a couch with family members.

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Telecommuting refers to a situation where an employee is working off-site but still is required to come into the office at some points for purposes such as taxation. The employee is able to establish their own schedule, enabling them to work at various times of the day and spend part of the day with their family. Team building occurs more frequently in telecommuting than traditional remote work because employees are less globally located.

Telecommuting

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Lapierre and Allen (2006) found that telecommuting made coping with work-family conflict worse, perhaps because being at home makes family demands more evident.

Telecommuting Can Worsen Work–Family Conflict

Workspace Adaptation in Telecommuting

In October 2019, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the end of a six-year telework pilot program affecting about 12,000 employees. Although the decision was made in 2019, the official termination date was set for March 2020. Following the program's end, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the U.S. Congress to request a review of the SSA's telework policy, questioning if it should be reinstated as a measure to slow the virus's spread.

Social Security Administration's 2019 Telework Program Termination

As an example of shifts in corporate remote work policies, Yahoo! previously had a policy allowing employees to telecommute, but the company later rescinded it.

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