🔒Telecommuting in CT growing, despite Aetna’s high-profile departure

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Aetna's recent decision to curtail telecommuting to improve employee collaboration and innovation shouldn't affect overall growth in the work-from-home approach in Connecticut, according to telework proponents.

Although the popularity of telecommuting has leveled off nationally in recent years, according to one study, the practice has grown slightly more popular in Connecticut, said Russell McDermott, project manager at CTrides, a program of the state Department of Transportation that helps commuters and employers with information and resources for travel options, including telecommuting.

When larger organizations like Aetna make such a move, it makes news, he said, but doesn't necessarily mean others will follow.

“I really don't think it's going to have a huge impact as to the trends that we're seeing for teleworking; but again, we do recognize that every company … is going to adjust their policies differently,” McDermott said.

Aetna recently informed employees of changes to its telework policy, with the goal of increasing collaboration and driving innovation, according to company spokesman Matthew Clyburn.

“We do not plan to end telework at Aetna,” Clyburn said, “but more opportunities to work together in person can help make a difference by providing an environment for innovative thinking and sharing of ideas among teams.”

Other big national companies have taken similar steps as Aetna in recent years, including Yahoo and Best Buy, but overall statistics show telecommuting has become more common. The practice's growth rate, however, has begun to level off, according to a 2015 Gallup work and education poll, which found 37 percent of U.S. workers said they have telecommuted, up from 30 percent last decade and four times greater than the 9 percent found in 1995.

Telecommuting can range from an hour or two a week to several days a week or more and can occur during regular business hours or before or after.

It's unclear how much more prevalent telecommuting can become because it's really only feasible for office workers who primarily use computers, Gallup added. It also acknowledged the debate over whether telecommuting is more beneficial or detrimental to worker productivity.

“The majority of Americans, including both those employed and not employed, believe workers who work remotely are just as productive as those who work in a business office,” Gallup said.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), in its 2016 annual survey of employee benefits, found that 60 percent of companies offered telecommuting, up from 20 percent in 1996. Telecommuting on an ad-hoc basis increased from 45 percent in 2012 to 56 percent in 2016, whereas fewer organizations offered it on a part-time basis, 31 percent, compared with 36 percent in both 2012 and 2015. Full-time telecommuting, at 20 percent, has remained consistent over the past five years, SHRM's report said.

For Connecticut, the 2014 American Community Survey showed about 4.2 percent of the state's 1.7 million commuters worked from home for the period 2010 through 2014, up from 3.9 percent for the period 2006 through 2010.

CTrides is working with 387 companies on commute options, from car- and vanpooling, to public transit, telecommuting and more to try to reduce the number of people driving alone to work, McDermott said. Companies typically offer a mix of commute options to their employees.

“Even without CT Rides, most companies are offering some form of teleworking, whether it be large implementation or just kind of more informal, ad-hoc offerings if you will,” said McDermott, who thinks telecommuting will continue to increase. “I think one of the primary reasons for that is, No. 1, technology and, No. 2, I think a lot of companies are starting to see the benefits that they can have, as far as recruitment or business continuity and employee retention, especially with the younger generation.”

Jim Stutz, transportation supervising planner for the state Department of Transportation, who helps manage CTrides' business partnerships, also doesn't see negative fallout from Aetna's telecommuting adjustments.

“I think technology is moving in a way that makes it easier for companies to implement it even if a company is making a more global move to get employees back into the office,” he said. “There's still going to be that need when weather happens or when some kind of business impact happens that they really need to be flexible. Technology has made that possible and I think it's going to … continue to be a very significant factor in how companies work with their employees.”

Legal pitfalls

Daniel Schwartz, an employment law partner at Shipman & Goodwin LLP in Hartford who also publishes the Connecticut employment law blog said, in general, companies he's seen reduce telecommuting haven't eliminated it.

“I'm certain that many of these companies continue it, but on a more … as-needed basis rather than just a blanket allowance of it,” Schwartz said. Under federal law — the Americans with Disabilities Act, for example — telecommuting might be a good accommodation to someone who has a disability, so he doesn't advise getting rid of it entirely.

Schwartz wouldn't speculate about telecommuting trends, but said technology is allowing more people to work outside of normal working hours and locations, a situation largely fueled by smartphones.

Part of the telecommuting retrenchment among some companies, which he declined to call a trend, is an effort to maintain more control over the office setting, Schwartz said.

“Obviously, part of what we hear about is maintaining a certain culture and making sure that things are done perhaps with the same speed and quality that it might be in the office — at least that's the concern that's expressed,” he said.

While telecommuting is here to stay, Schwartz can't say it will grow since it depends on the industry and types of jobs. Also, there are telecommuting legal issues companies must think about, he said.

Data security and data privacy comprise a huge issue with more employees calling in or working from home, he said. Other issues include workers' compensation and what happens if a worker is injured at home, and how to compensate employees who get overtime when they can't be managed or monitored as easily as if they were in an office.

“There are all those issues that we've seen and you want to think about that ahead of time rather than after the fact,” Schwartz said of areas his firm addresses for companies, including how to set up a telecommuting policy, managing it legally and dealing with issues of reasonable accommodation when an employee requests telecommuting as a work option.

“The telecommuting relationship in 2016 looks very different than it did in 2006, just with the advances in technology,” he said. “So I think you're going to see it sort of continue to develop over time and maybe in some industries it will become more acceptable and in others it might not be as sought after as it once was.”