Factors affecting the perception on telecommuters' productivity and performance evaluation in Sri Lankan IT industry

Abstract

Telecommuting is a work arrangement which is valued by employers as well as employees as a flexibility enabler for both parties. It facilitates flexibility in work schedule and location for the employee while allowing the employer to have the flexibility in usage of resources such as spaces and assets. Telecommuting population in the Sri Lankan IT industry is growing rapidly, driven by the increasing number of organizations that embrace it. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no formal study conducted on the level of acceptance of telecommuting within the Sri Lankan IT industry. This research focuses on finding the perception on telecommuting in the Sri Lankan IT industry. Specifically, it tries to answer the two ground level questions “What are the factors that influence the telecommuters’, non-telecommuters’ and their managers’ perception on telecommuter productivity?” and “What are the factors that influence the telecommuters’, non-telecommuters’ and their managers’ perception on telecommuter performance evaluation?” The study was conducted as a qualitative research based on ‘Grounded Theory’. Perception of the telecommuters, non-telecommuters and managers (representing employers) were gathered through semi-structured interviews. The main focus was on large scale IT organizations. The interview transcripts were analyzed through ‘Open coding’, ‘Axial coding’ and ‘Selective coding’ methods to identify the major factors that affect the perception on productivity and performance evaluation of telecommuters. Six (6) major factors that influence the perception on productivity and three (3) major factors that influence the perception on performance evaluation of the telecommuters were identified through the analysis. Based on the identified factors, we propose two frameworks that model the perception on productivity and performance evaluation of telecommuters. Moreover, the findings reveal that the overall perception on telecommuters’ productivity is positive, while the performance evaluation of telecommuters is perceived to be unbiased.