Co-workers who telework and the impact on those in the office: Understanding the implications of virtual work for co-worker satisfaction and turnover intentions

Abstract

Telework and other forms of virtual work have experienced dramatic growth over the last decade. While research is beginning to understand its impacts on teleworkers themselves, studies to date have not looked at its effect on those who remain in the office. This study therefore shifts the focus to non-teleworkers in offices where telework is present, to investigate if the prevalence of teleworkers in an office impacts the work outcomes of non-teleworkers. Using a sample of 240 professional employees, results suggest teleworker prevalence is negatively associated with co-worker satisfaction, and that this relationship is influenced by the amount of time co-workers telework, the extent of face-to-face interactions, and job autonomy. Moreover, a non-teleworker's satisfaction with co-workers was also found to be negatively associated with turnover intentions. Together, results suggest the need to consider the full range of telework's impacts including the potential adverse consequences for non-teleworkers.

Telecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of South Africa: More content, productive, and healthy?

“…In fact, much of prior research on telecommuting has been weakened by two assumptions, namely that telecommuters form a homogenous group and that telecommuting involves only the telecommuter (Bailey & Kurland, 2002;McCloskey & Igbaria, 2003). Also, aligned with the views of Bailey and Kurland (2002), Cooper and Kurland (2002), Golden (2007), Duxbury and Neufield (1999), Fritz, Narasimhan, andRhee (1998), andMcCloskey andIgbaria (2003), few studies have examined the potential impacts of telecommuting holistically, or investigated it from a nontelecommuter and/or student perspective and how this practice affects work outcomes and student satisfaction. With the foregoing as background, this article reflects on the aim, scope, and outcome of the first higher distance education telecommuting study in South Africa that was conducted among both home-and office-based academics, managers of academic departments, and students who received academic support from part-time (home-based) telecommuting academics and/or full-time (office-based) nontelecommuting academics.…”

Mixed methods to the rescue: Addressing the problem of employee turnover using marital research

“…Employees' turnover intentions and behaviour are affected by many of their inter-personal relationships in their workplace. While there is no doubt that an employee's relationship with their supervisor is important (Ballinger, Lehman, & Schoorman, 2010;Brunetto, Farr-Wharton, & Shacklock, 2010;Dupré & Day, 2007), employees' relationships with their organisations, as well as their turnover intentions and behaviour, are also affected by their co-workers (Brummelhuis, Bakker, & Euwema, 2010;Golden, 2007;Hershcovis & Barling, 2010), their subordinates (Harris, Kacmar, & Witt, 2005), and their customers (Hershcovis & Barling, 2010). In addition to the effect of these inter-personal relationships with individuals, employees' turnover intentions and behaviour are also influenced by their interactions with groups within the organisation, which are perceived holistically, and not as a collection of separate individuals: co-workers (Groysberg & Lee, 2010), work-group (Whiteoak, 2007), and management (Bélanger, Edwards, & Wright, 2003).…”

The spatial implications of homeworking: a Lefebvrian approach to the rewards and challenges of home-based work

“…Space is an important element when considering the context and influence of different individuals and different homeworking outcomes and adaptations; it is, at root, the fundamental difference between the experience of those people who work in an office or other non-domestic setting and those conducting similar work from home (Golden, 2007). The existing studies briefly discussed above highlight the ways that space is impacted upon by workers' decisions to co-locate work and domestic roles.…”