The Perspective of Non-Teleworkers on the Impacts of Coworkers’ Telework: Assessing Individual and Organizational Outcomes

Our study investigates the perceived individual and organizational outcomes of coworkers’ telework between teleworkers and non-teleworkers in the US federal government. We address two research questions: (1) how are perceived individual outcomes of coworkers’ telework different between teleworkers and non-teleworkers? and (2) how are perceived organizational outcomes of telework different between teleworkers and non-teleworkers? We incorporate the perspectives of non-teleworkers to better understand a wide range of individual and organizational outcomes of telework. In order to answer these questions, we analyze a unique telework survey administered by the US Merit Systems Protection Board. Our findings indicate that compared to teleworkers, non-teleworkers perceive less positive impact of telework on employees and organizations. Besides ensuring fairness in determining employees’ telework eligibility and participation, our findings suggest that managers and supervisors should also be mindful of unfairness and ineffectiveness non-teleworkers may perceive about coworkers’ telework after their organizations roll out telework.