Telecommuting, professional isolation, and employee development in public and private organizations

TLDR

Both public and private high‑tech firms had active telecommuting programs and sought to make it successful, creating a context to study its challenges even in supportive settings. The study compares how telecommuting affects perceptions of professional isolation among public and private employees. The authors conducted 93 semi‑structured interviews with telecommuters, non‑telecommuters, and supervisors across two high‑tech firms and two city governments. Interviews revealed that telecommuters’ professional isolation is tied to informal developmental activities, and that public employees, who value these activities less, experience less isolation, suggesting telecommuting is less likely to impede public sector professional development than in the private sector. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract This study employs a grounded theory methodology to compare the impact telecommuting has on public and private employees perceptions of professional isolation. It relied on 93 semi‐structured interviews with telecommuters, non‐telecommuters, and their respective supervisors in two high technology firms and two city governments. These organizations had active telecommuting programmes and a strong interest in making telecommuting a successful work option, providing an opportunity to investigate the challenges of telecommuting that existed even within friendly environments. The interviews demonstrated that professional isolation of telecommuters is inextricably linked to employee development activities (interpersonal networking, informal learning, and mentoring). The extent to which telecommuters experience professional isolation depends upon the extent to which these activities are valued in the workplace and the degree to which telecommuters miss these opportunities. Public respondents appeared to value these informal developmental activities less than private employees. Therefore, we stipulate that telecommuting is less likely to hinder the professional development of public sector employees than that of employees in the private sector. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.