A Survey of the practice of telecommuting in the banking industry in Kenya

Abstract

Telecommuting is the use of telecommunications and information technology to allow work to take place from a location other than the actual office of the employer. There are more technical definitions that are used but the common element across all aspects of telecommuting though, is the use of computers and telecommunications to change the accepted geography of work.

While telecommuting continues to very rapidly develop as a normal way of working in many parts of the world, there is no available information on the extent of telecommuting in Kenya. This study therefore seeks to address this state of affairs. Specifically the objectives of the study was to establish the extent of the practice of telecommuting among banks operating in Kenya and to find out which forms of telecommuting were being used in the banking sector in Kenya.

It is important to state that there was no specific literature available in this particular area of study in Kenya that could be reviewed and so only related material from other parts of the world were examined. The literature review focused mainly on the benefits of telecommuting, technology required for telecommuting, and on the basic requirements for home based telecommuting.

Subjects for the study were selected from the population of banking institutions operating in Kenya and standardized questionnaires were utilized to gather data. The research utilized survey method as the developed data in this area was limited and the objective was the development of hypotheses, and not testing.

The research results show that quite a considerable number of the banks did not respond to the questionnaires. Even so, it can be concluded with a fair degree of confidence that the subject of telecommuting appeared to be a fairly new concept to most of the Kenyan banks and many do not seem to understand or practice it. But given the fact that telecommuting is widely accepted in other parts of the globe due to the benefits derived from it, the findings of this study suggest the need for further exploration of this concept to determine the benefits that can derived from its practice by Kenyan organizations.