Factors that affect accountant's perceptions of alternative work arrangements

Advances in technology have impacted accounting careers with resulting changes in where, when and how accountants perform their job duties. In addition, employee attitudes towards, and need for, better work/life balance has led to more firms offering alternate work arrangements (AWA). Research suggests that AWA programs can lead to many benefits for both employers and employees. Despite the prevalence of these programs there are relatively few accountants working under these arrangements and concerns about work/life balance continue. This study examines factors that shape perceptions of the cost and benefits associated with the adoption and/or support of AWAs across work culture, gender and participation experience. Our results suggest that work environment had a significant effect on perceptions of AWAs. Public accountants perceived greater costs related to career advancement but correspondingly less concern about administrative issues than management accountants. We also found that accountants who have participated (or are currently participating in an AWA), perceived greater benefits and less concern for potential negative consequences to their careers than non-participants. Finally, women perceived greater benefits to result from participation in an AWA and men perceived correspondingly more costs. Regardless, both genders perceived that AWAs were not strictly a women's issue. These findings contribute to our understanding of alternate work arrangements and point to factors that must be addressed to increase the acceptance and success of these programs.     

Impact of telecommuting on mass transit congestion: the Tokyo case

Telecommuting, a dispersed style of commuting enabled by developments in info-communication technology, is becoming increasingly popular among Japanese white-collar employees. According to our estimates, 9–14 million employees will telecommute by 2010, which will result in a 6.9–10.9% reduction in congestion in Tokyo, Japan. Associated cost savings are equivalent to 7.9–26.4% of annual spending on public transportation. Due to the considerable size of these positive external effects, some degree of policy support will be necessary to achieve a socially optimal level of penetration by telecommuting.     

Mindfulness and the challenges of working from home in times of crisis

Many employees unexpectedly were required to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. With this abrupt change came the challenge of blurred lines between career and personal life. Lacking designated home office spaces, countless individuals had to create improvised work setups in living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms—wherever there was space. Moreover, the closure of schools forced many working parents to attempt productivity while concurrently supervising their children. As a result of these changes, numerous employees have experienced lower work productivity, lessened motivation, increased stress, and poorer mental health. One approach that may help employees going through the challenges associated with working from home is mindfulness. Mindfulness may be particularly beneficial as it can (1) help employees mentally disconnect from work when they need to; (2) improve individuals’ attention to work tasks and thereby improve their performance; and (3) allow workers to better manage screen fatigue. In this installment of Work/Life Balance, we elaborate on how mindfulness may help employees deal with these work issues, explain how mindfulness can be cultivated, and provide a list of mindfulness techniques. We also provide a set of recommendations for managers and team leaders responsible for their employees’ well-being and productivity.     

The rural telecommuter surplus in Southwestern Ontario,Canada

This paper asks the question: what kind of economic benefits do rural telecommuters experience in Southwestern Ontario? This is a relevant question in Canada where, according to Statistics Canada (2017) one in 14 people work from home. This paper presents an overview of the current literature on telecommuting. We estimate the telecommuter surplus in Southwestern Ontario where the region is currently deploying one of Canada's largest publicly-funded ultra-high-speed broadband initiatives known as SouthWest Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT). The analysis is based on SWIFT residential and farm surveys (n?=?3948) conducted in 2017. We find that an average telecommuter's surplus in terms of costs saved, including opportunity cost ranges from $8820 to $23964 per annum per telecommuter, depending on the number of days telecommuted per week for home and primary residence dwelling type. The social net benefits of telecommuting differ from its private net benefit (the focus of our paper) since the former includes both positive and negative externalities associated with telecommuting such as reduced traffic congestion, reduced probability of road accidents, as well as some workers shirking their duties (a negative impact). We leave this for future work.     

The digital economy: Where do we stand?

The rapid transition towards a “digital economy” was enabled by a converging set of innovations. Computing saw the development of the semiconductor transistor, integrated circuit, personal computers (PCs), operating systems, and graphical interfaces. The physical layer of telecommunication was enabled via the emergence of optical fiber and new wireless communication technologies, while networking saw the development of the Internet (essentially packet switching) and the World Wide Web. These advances combined to realize a series of new applications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) such as business software, e-mail, and e-commerce. However, progress seriously stumbled with the collapse of the dot com bubble, which among other things revealed a huge amount of misdirected investment that could have been used more productively. The question of the day is thus how to realize new “killer apps” to stimulate a new round of growth. The use of cell phones for communicating text, pictures, and video is a rapidly expanding area, but it seems unlikely that these applications will have a macroeconomic impact. Entertainment is a key industry whose fortunes are entwined with ICTs. Indeed, the application of ICT to innovating entertainment products is an important driver for the continued growth of the industry. Distribution of music and video via the Web could significantly stimulate demand but also raises the thorny question of how to protect intellectual property rights (IPR) of content providers. Another possible killer apps are interactive video-on-demand and telecalls/teleconferencing. The latter would, among other things, stimulate adoption of telework. The current Internet is capable of handing neither one-way transmissions of high-quality video nor interactive video-on-demand. There are bottlenecks both for the “last mile” connection from Internet service provider (ISP) to the home but also the “first miles” from originating server to ISP. The effective first miles bandwidth has not increased along with improvements in equipment, essentially because demand increases with capacity and thus traffic jams on the net continue. Digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies over telephone wires, and possibly wireless networks, will play important roles in getting over the last mile hurdle. Upgrading the first miles will probably require new networking protocols beyond TCP/IP that support multimedia and also changes in the economic model of information transfer via the Net.     

The economic and organizational aspects of telecentres: the Spanish case

In this paper we present the following concept: the economic and organizational characteristics and the main aspects of the development of telecentres or telework centres, in a wide-ranging context of the use of telecommunications as an instrument to aid social-economic development of deprived rural and urban areas. To be more specific, we analyse how these Telework Centres are set up in diverse information related service enterprises aimed at other businesses or individuals. These initiatives are being subsidized by different public organisms as pilot development aid projects on an international scale. We have made an empirical study on a national scale, using 27 sample centres, from which we have obtained, amongst other things, the characteristics, economic objectives and results achieved from the initiatives that are underway in Spain or that are expected to be achieved from the setting up of these centres. Finally, we present our conclusions on the subject and list the literature used.     

Measuring the Measurable: Why can’t we Agree on the Number of Telecommuters in the U.S.?

Using telecommuting as a case study, we demonstrate that definitions, measurement instruments, sampling and sometimes vested interests affect the quality and utility even of seemingly objective and “measurable” data. Little consensus exists with respect to the definition of telecommuting, or to possible distinctions from related terms such as teleworking. Such a consensus is unlikely, since the “best” definition of telecommuting depends on one’s point of reference and purpose. However, differing definitions confound efforts to measure the amount of telecommuting and how it is changing over time. This paper evaluates estimates of the amounts of telecommuting occurring in the U.S. obtained from several different sources: the U.S. Census, the American Housing Survey, several Work at Home supplements to the Current Population Survey, a series of market research surveys, and the trade association-sponsored Telework America surveys. Many of the issues raised here are transferable to other contexts, and indirectly serve as suggestions for improving data collection in the future.