IT and the Worklife/Homelife Balance - Essay Example

The business environment of the 21st century has changed a lot largely due to the fact that technology has revolutionized the ability of companies to communicate and interchange information instantly. Advances in computing technology and software capabilities have helped increase the productivity of employees. There have lots of benefits associated with the arrival of technological advances, but there have been consequences as well. In the past employees enjoyed the freedom of knowing that once that clock hit the 5:00 P.M. the workers were out the door and into their comfort of their homes.

People could totally forget about work and enjoy their leisure time with family and friends. In our times this is not longer the case in corporate America and in many other business cultures across the world. Suddenly technology has given companies the ability to locate their workers and on many instances delegate work to them to be done at home. Telecommuting is one of the hottest trends in the workplace. Telecommuting can be defined as the act of working from a remote location usually the location being a person’s home (Wisegeek).

Telecommuting is achieved with the assistance of information technology advances such as fax machines, telephones, internet, PDA’s, smartphones, and websites. Due the pressures associated working at home the topic has become an ethical business dilemma that must be address by corporations. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze whether is ethical to use information technologies to extend work into people’s homes. The use of information technology offer several advantages from the perspective of the employer.

Its application can help companies reduce cost, increase efficiency and profitability (Lane). The ethical considerations associated with these decisions depend on the arrangement that the worker has with the company. For instances if a person has a contract with a company in which the person works exclusively as a telecommuter this person does not have any problems working from home since the person willingly choose this arrangement. This scenario depicts a situation in which working from home is not unethical at all.

Instead the company is providing the person with a unique opportunity to develop their professional skills by become experts at working within a virtual environment. In the 21st century people that have are capable of working in a virtual environment open up their door to work opportunities in new marketplaces. The website Tjobs.com provides its users a database that can be used to apply for telecommuting jobs. Other benefits associated with working from home include savings in commuting expenses and food.

There are other situations in which the use of technology has become a hassle for people as companies abuse those privileges and invade the privacy of a worker. A person that works for an hourly rate is supposed to be compensated for each minute of work that is performed. Such a worker does not have a high fix salary and most are considered blue collar workers. When a company starts to call this worker at home for anything other than offering an extra shift the person is incurring in a time use that is outside the boundaries of the workplace.

There is no reason for the company to be calling the worker to any work related matters at home. The level of responsibility associated with an hourly worker does not merit in any way for the company to force the employee to realize any telecommuting type work. If a firm did force workers to do extra work at home such an act would be unethically and possibly illegal if the employee is not getting compensated for the work even if is a small task. There are other positions that require the workers to perform work beyond the norm for other people in different professions.

Doctors may be called at any time of the day and night to go to work at the hospital. A profession that requires a lot of responsibility is managers. Managers are responsible for the work performance of the workers. A manager is an exempt employee that gets paid a fix salary. Most managers make very good money and receive excellent fringe benefits. Due to the level responsibility associated with the manager position it is not uncommon for a manager to be contacted at home for work related matters or for the manager to take work home.

I do not think that it is considered an unethical act to use information technology to contact or give work to a manager for home. Despite this opinion I would consider it unethical for the company to abuse that privilege. A company that forces a manager everyday to work at home with the assistance of information technology is not acting in an ethical manner. The only way that doing so might be acceptable is if the company lets the manager go home early with the expectation that additional work will be complete at home.

There are social norms that should not be abused by corporations. People are used to separating work and home life. Forcing any employee including managers to work at home on a recurrent basis when the person already has a full shift at the company is not fair and falls into the charts of unethical behavior. There are other issues associated with information technology that have ethical considerations. For example when a company gives an employee a smartphone the smartphone might be the property of the corporation, but the employee will customized spending money on applications and has a lot personal information in the chip of the phone including text logs, photos and call history (Ella).

Nowadays corporate phones serve the dual purpose of being used for business and personal calls since it does not cost firm any extra for the extra usually when they purchased unlimited plan. At the employees departure taking the phone away from the employee might be considered an ethical act due to the emotional attachment people have with their smartphones. A lot of people considered the smartphones a threat to their way of life because smartphones have given companies the capability to reach find a work and send information to the smartphone via the internet instantly.

“There is a palpable sense that home has invaded work and work has invaded home and the boundary will likely never be restored” (Meece). Work Cited Page Ella, J. 5 February 2010. “Best Buy Counsel Speaks on Data Privacy” 25 June 2011. Lane, S. 2011. “11 Resolutions for Business Growth in 2011” 25 June 2011. Meece, M. 5 February 2011. “Who’s the Boss, You or Your Gadget? NY Times. 25 June 2011. Wisegeek.com. 2011. “What is Telecommuting?” 25 June 2011.