Assessment Questions

10.1 More Telecommuting or Less?

Remote workers save themselves the time and cost of a commute and are better able to balance work and home life. Companies often benefit from the higher productivity and lower turnover of telecommuting employees, and they can also provide a social benefit by permitting employees to avoid commuting, reducing traffic congestion and pollution. Some challenges of telecommuting for the manager are maintaining the privacy of the firm’s data, transmitting corporate culture, defining performance objectives, and encouraging collaboration. Employees have the challenge of remaining focused on work when they are working elsewhere. Ethical companies support their remote workers by developing and encouraging trust and guarding against abuse. They also set clear and equitable expectations and rewards to ensure fairness and keep open the lines of communication.

10.2 Workplace Campuses

Traditional office buildings with separate workspaces for each worker are giving way to multifunctional worksites where employees are encouraged to actively collaborate. Some companies have expanded the workplace to include restaurants, recreation facilities, and convenient amenities to attract and retain employees. Other companies are building villages around their campuses to assist employees seeking to balance work and home life. These all-encompassing work environments have some potential downsides for employees, however, including a risk of tethering them to their workplaces. Their effects on local communities are being questioned as well.

10.3 Alternatives to Traditional Patterns of Work

When undertaken with equity and fairness, job sharing and flextime can create flexibility for workers who need or want to limit their hours. These practices allow employers to recruit more diverse employees, help them meet employees’ need for work-life balance, and, in the case of job sharing, bring more than one person’s perspective to problem solving. However, employers must clearly spell out expectations and procedures for each employee to ensure success. Given flexible hours and job-sharing arrangements, the traditional employment-based U.S. economy appears to be in transition toward new business models that offer many opportunities but also serious challenges. Ethical issues in the access economy include the responsibilities of each of the parties in a sharing transaction and the character of any regulation, including taxes, that may be passed. In the gig economy, they include workers’ insecure positions and lack of benefits, employers’ responsibility for paying their fair share of social insurance (payroll) taxes, and the fair treatment of interns.

10.4 Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and the Workplace of the Future

Initially, robots and AI inspire both intrigue and fear in most of us. Fear of losing jobs is a reality, but so too is intrigue about what the future holds. A key for companies is to help workers retrain to become part of that future.

1 . Which of the following is not a prospective benefit to the firm of implementing a telecommuting program? a. higher productivity of telecommuting workers b. greater connectivity and collaboration among employees c. lower operating costs d. more satisfied workers 2 . A successful telecommuting program would include which of the following? a. a written policy that spells out expectations b. an oral policy the manager can change at will c. subjective criteria for each individual worker d. preference for some people to telecommute over others 3 . Telecommuting presents some difficulties for on-site technology departments providing security and technical assistance. a. True b. False 4 . Some telecommuters may be penalized by a perception that they are lazy. a. True b. False 5 . How can an employer develop trust in a telecommuting employee? 6 . In what ways does telecommuting help companies recruit and retain employees? 7 . When considering the issue of work-life balance, which of the following points does not apply? a. Each employee probably assesses this differently. b. Managers and workers as cohorts often have different perspectives on it. c. Workers with families at home should be entitled to a "better" balance. d. All employees have a right to pursue this. 8 . Which of the following is not a potential downside of a corporate campus? a. Impaired productivity b. Reduced ability of labor markets to adjust to changing conditions c. Adverse impact on local businesses d. Increased fiscal burden on local government 9 . The design of corporate campuses is meant to enhance opportunities for employees to collaborate. a. True b. False 10 . Why do some companies provide free or inexpensive meals for their employees? Are they behaving ethically by doing so? 11 . If you were designing an office building for a mid-size advertising firm, what ideas could you incorporate from this section to enhance collaboration? 12 . Some employers allow workers a compressed work week as long as ________. a. the work can be put off until the next week b. the workplace is a store c. it is a week in which a holiday falls on Monday d. the employee can completely finish the work in a shorter time 13 . The primary reason small-business entrepreneurs might want to hire mostly contract labor is that ________. a. the cost of fringe benefits is reduced b. only contract workers can be part-time but employees must be full-time c. only employees can file workers compensation claims d. it improves the company's stock price 14 . One drawback to job sharing is that employees may become competitive with one another, which could cause communication difficulties. a. True b. False 15 . The terms "sharing economy" and "access economy" both refer to a marketplace that differs from the traditional, more capital-intensive, shareholder-owned corporations. a. True b. False 16 . How could offering a shared job help an employer recruit more employees? 17 . Participating in the gig economy often means working for a company as a part-time worker with no guarantee the job will last. Why would someone do it? 18 . What advantages does a company gain from hiring gig workers? 19 . Robots have usually been operated by a human at the controls but now are becoming more independent. How? 20 . Artificial intelligence and robotics in the United States are thus far largely unregulated. Do you see more regulations coming? Why or why not? 21 . The use of robots at work ________. a. can reduce the exposure of humans to dangerous working conditions b. costs more than human labor c. must first be approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration d. is unlikely to affect the number of people in the overall workforce 22 . Worker displacement is a problem that companies have a legal duty to address when implementing the use of robots. a. True b. False 23 . Worker retraining programs for employees who lose their jobs to robots ________. a. are a "Band-Aid" solution most of the time b. will be needed only for a small minority of the workers who lose their jobs c. are offered and funded by the employers only if a sufficient number of workers are displaced d. are an obligation taken on by ethical companies