Telecommuting Best Practices Prior and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Telecommuting, a work practice where work tasks are conducted away from a centraloffice, was introduced in mid-1970’s. While the telecommuting practices were steadilyrising during the succeeding decades, they were not brought to prominence till recently.The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns all around the world put many companies andemployees in a position to implement work-from-home (WFH) practices, where most of theactors where not completely prepared. The experiences from these “forced” experimentsrange from completely positive to highly negative. Emerging studies suggest that thepositive experiences motivate the companies and individuals to practice telecommutingeven after the pandemic ends. In this paper we examine evidenced positive and negativeaspects of telecommuting prior and during the pandemic in order to develop a list of bestpractices that could help companies and employees get the most out of the WFH as longas the pandemic lasts and after it ends. The areas of concern important for telecommutingwe observe, include but are not limited to technology use, personal traits, workingschedule, workspace, communication and management issues, work-life balance,socialization and wellbeing etc. The 7 best practices we pinpoint in our research addressissues in one or more of the telecommuting areas of concern.