MLA Formatted Paper Needed By This Evening. /english
For Research Project #2, you are to write an original paper on a topic of your own choice, so long as the essay tackles a problem/solution local problem you have identified in your community, city, workplace, university, etc. that has impacted you directly in some way (i.e., an issue in the dorms in which you reside, an issue with the streets where you ride your bike, etc.). That is, to clarify: for this paper, it will not be enough to simply present historical information, compile data on a topic, or otherwise just inform on a subject.
Instead, your paper may explore the causes of the problem, the effects of it, contrast various solutions, argue for the best solution, etc.
Avoid topics that don’t impact you directly and for which it will be difficult to incorporate personal experience and/or locate a primary source for an interview you will conduct yourself.
During and after completing the necessary textbook reading, exercises in your textbook, reviewing of course lessons and materials, and participating in collaborative learning via the Discussions board, you are to draft, revise, and ultimately submit a paper of at least 1500 words in length.
Your paper must properly integrate source material. For Research Project #2, to gain experience working with different research methods, you must conduct your own primary research. This research needs to take the shape of an interview. Additional supporting evidence should also still be used, and for this paper, that should come only from reliable Internet sources – webpages and websites – (as opposed to books/database articles/indexes/etc., with which we will work on a later project).
Your paper must make use of proper MLA formatting and documentation; papers submitted without accompanying Works Cited pages will automatically earn 0’s. Do not use more than 5 sources altogether, and even though you are writing research papers, do not as a whole allow the research to make up more than 30% or so of your paper’s content. For these papers, you are to rely mainly on your own thoughts, ideas, interpretations, etc. on your chosen topic to construct the argument, using the research to support your claims, but not to replace them.
With this final submission, remember to also submit:
Please do not submit as multiple files (paper, Works Cited, CoA, Self-Reflection, etc.). All documents should be submitted as a single documented, properly formatted according to MLA rules, as a .docx, .doc, or .rtf file only.COMP 2000: Advanced College Writing
Date
The Efficiency of Telecommuting
People can easily imagine waking up on a rainy Monday morning only to realize it will take over an hour to commute to work, dreading the commute ahead. In contrast, they can also imagine having the option to save on time and fuel expenses by simply logging on to a computer and working from home. This is all possible through the concept of telecommuting. Telecommuting is a work arrangement by which employees and their managers come to an agreement on being able to work remotely from home. Virgin Group’s infamous Richard Branson declared that “to successfully work with other people, you have to trust each other,” and telecommuting creates trust. Telecommuting is proven to be beneficial for both the employer and employee because it boosts morale, it is cost effective and productive, and it is also environmentally preferable. By offering telecommuting as an option, Intelstat – a provider of satellite services worldwide – positions itself as a supportive employer committed to meeting the needs of its employees.
By allowing employees to telecommute, employers are encouraging a better work-life balance. For example, an employee who is able to stay home and work from home while caring for a sick child is more likely to feel valued and appreciated; this feeling has a direct effect on a worker’s productivity and attitude. A study from Pennsylvania State University shows that telecommuters are generally happier and less stressed than those who work out of the office (Parris, 2014). In fact, happiness in the workplace is likely to cause employees to be more invested in the company, resulting in fewer turnovers and better retention of valuable employees. Intelsat is a satellite service company with over 53 satellites in orbit providing service to many major vendors, such as DirecTV and Comcast, and to networks such as HBO and Discovery. Those surveyed at Intelsat all agreed that of all the intangible benefits offered, being able to telecommute was the most important (survey, October 28, 2014). This is because telecommuting allows them to get their job done while having the flexibility to take care of some personal matters that do not disrupt productivity. Employees deemed this ability to balance work and family life as one of the most important factors in their loyalty to the company. When employees are happy with employers, they are less likely to go looking for new jobs. When an employee quits because he/she is unhappy, it can cause the company a lot of money; resources would need to be spent on the recruiting process, resulting in potentially thousands of dollars. Being able to telecommute, therefore, has positive effects for both the employer and the employee: employers save money on hiring and training and employees’ stress may be reduced as a direct result of a happier home and work office working environment.
It is a myth to believe that working from home means employees will slack off—nothing could be further from the truth. A Human Resources representative at Intelsat revealed that allowing employees to work from home leads to less utilization of annual leave hours and the results are that of higher productivity (survey, October 28, 2014). For example, an employee that needs to stay home from the office one day in order to attend to a home repair issue would benefit from telecommuting because he/she can open the door and grant a vendor access to the property while also completing work from home. Therefore, said employee would not need to use annual leave to simply give access to a vendor. One Stanford study showed increased productivity by 13% when allowed to work from home (Parris, 2014). This clearly implies employees have a sense of commitment and gratitude, or they are simply feeling the need to work extra hard in order for this privilege to not be revoked. And in another study from the University of Texas, telecommuting employees “worked 5-7 hours more than their in-office counterparts” (Parris, 2014). It is no wonder then that with statistics such as these, corporations such as Yahoo have set the trend for other corporations to allow for telecommuting. The article “New Study Shows Benefits to Telecommuting” discusses a new term being used, “corporate citizenship,” to describe the phenomenon that employees who telecommute are more prone to help out their peers, which also leads to a more successful productivity (Ferenstein, 2014). All in all, the benefit of being able to work from home is not being taken for granted; employees are truly putting forth the effort to not lose the privilege, and in fact, everyone benefits from the arrangement.
Cost-efficiency and time-efficiency are other factors that are always being strived for by both employers and employees, and telecommuting is known to do just that—save time and money. According to Megan M. Bhiro, CEO of TalentCulture Consulting Group, with rising real estate and utility bills, more and more companies are attracting employees by offering them the opportunity/benefit to telecommute (Biro, 2014). And according to the “Colonial Community,” employees avoid expenses such as transportation, fuel cost, office attire, etc., while companies also save an estimated $11,000 annually on overhead expenses (n.d.). This is because the company is no longer in need of investing in a larger work space for an employee and can utilize a smaller office with lower utility bills. When surveyed, Intelsat exempt (salary-based) employees all shared similar ideas regarding the high cost/expense of fuel and wasted time on commuting to the office (survey, October 28, 2014). With Miami being a big city and the majority of employees having a 30-minute plus commute, one thing is for certain—telecommuting saves on transportation expenses (i.e. fuel and wear and tear of cars). The extra time saved on driving to work or catching the bus ends up being used on the work itself; this is another reason to believe in the successful productivity reported. The Human Resources director at Intelsat mentioned how the downsizing of the headquarters office was considered because of the positive results revealed with the benefit of telecommuting (survey, October 28, 2014). In essence, because allowing the employees the benefit of working from home yielded great productivity, the corporate office was moved to Virginia because real estate is less expensive and the company was able to develop an open-layout office that placed the majority of employees in cubicles. There was no longer a need to spend thousands of dollars on larger individual offices for most when telecommuting benefited the employer as much as the employee.
By reducing the amount of days commuting to work and releasing less automobile emissions and fuel consumption, carbon footprints are also being reduced. Telecommuting helps support efforts to reduce carbon footprints and conserve fuel. Additionally, it eliminates the need for offices’ heating, cooling, and lighting (in a large office setting vs. an individual private home). A study conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association revealed that telecommuting “saves enough energy to power one million homes in the United States for an entire year” (Parris, 2014). Clearly, telecommuting is greatly benefiting the environment and most importantly, creating a happy workforce when reducing its carbon footprint. With many companies going “green” and becoming more and more environmentally conscious, increased efforts to conserve the environment are at the forefront.
Telecommuting is an attractive benefit to employees that is also beneficial to employers when incorporated effectively. According to Forbes magazine, “especially in tech companies, having remote and virtual employees is not only a way to get things done round the clock, without commuting, and with hard-to-find skill sets but is also a way to meet the needs of employees who don’t want to or can’t live near the mother ship” (Biro, 2014). Intelsat employs some of the highest trained and skilled individuals in engineering and sales, and it is no wonder then that many live in a different city or state because they are allowed to be productive from home. It is important for employers to develop a plan that stipulates eligibility for telecommuting. One way in which this can be done is to require an employee to be employed by the company first for at least three to six months before being eligible to telecommute. Additionally, instilling guidelines that include communication between the employee and manager with mention as to when and how employees will check in with managers is important. Finally, in order to be productive, there needs to be adequate technology (i.e. computer, telephone, etc.) in the home in order to carry out the job successfully. When given the opportunity to telecommute, employees are entrusted to hold the utmost respect for their work and time. In turn, employees value their jobs and work harder, while doing so happily. The combination of trust and respect runs like a well-oiled machine that leads to successful productivity even when telecommuting.
References
Benefits of telecommuting. (n.d.) George Washington University. Retrieved from http://hr.gwu.edu/benefits-telecommuting
Biro, M. (2014, January 12). Telecommuting is the future of work. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2014/01/12/telecommuting-is-the-future-of-work/
Ferenstein, G. (2014, September 20). New study shows some benefits to telecommuting. VentureBeat. Retrieved from http://venturebeat.com/2014/09/20/new-study-shows-some-benefits-to-telecommuting/
Parris, J. (2014, January 7). 5 benefits of telecommuting for employers and employees. 1 Million for Work Flexibility. Retrieved from http://www.workflexibility.org/5-benefits-of-telecommuting-for-employers-and-employees/
