IELTS TOPIC: Telecommuting ; GOOD OR BAD?

Topic:"Telecommuting" refers to workers doing their jobs from home for part of each week and communicating with their offices using computer technology. Telecommuting is growing in many countries and is expected to be common for most office workers in the coming decades. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting? What is your opinion?

The global work field has seen a great deal of radical changes in recent years, among which telecommuting, or "teleworking", stands out as the most remarkable brainchild of this Technology Age. This essay will zero in on the pluses and minuses of this issue.

On the plus side, telecommuting opens a new horizon for working spouses who have to share the household commitments, such as: picking up their children, preparing meals, etc. Also, this idea holds much appeal to those who have to take care of elderly or disabled relatives. Teleworking will allow them to simultaneously fulfill their duties at home as well as at work. Moreover, due to the shift in work place, teleworkers will be liberated from commuting. A huge amount of time, therefore, will be saved. As a consequence, the productivity will improve as people can shun the long tedious hours spent on travelling. This also offers a wider range of choices for both companies and employers. Thanks to telecommuting, international cooperations may hold online conferences and establish cross-continental connection, which will be a big asset in the business world.

However, there are still some drawbacks lurking behind. First of all, if teleworking was widely applied, the practice would egg people on working on contract rather than for a fixed institution. Thus, teleworkers are more inclined to change jobs. Furthermore, as online workers are not frequently present at the offices, they stand less chance of promotion than their on-site counterparts. This daunting prospect may dampen their original passion and enthusiasm for their works. Besides, lack of face-to-face interaction between colleagues may imply the diminished effectiveness of working, which obviously poses a threat to the whole company's performance.

To recapitulate, I am in favor of the view that despite its remaining disadvantages, telecommuting will prove effective once adopted. . Hopefully, telecommuting will gain more popularity in the next few years.

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Looking forward to your comments :)

You have indicated correctly advantages and disadvantages of telecommuting. Telecommuting can be applied only to certain survices such as accountancy. Atmosphere of a office is made for workers to work. So the worker can achieve high effecinecy when he work in the office. Going to work is a kind of change for a person. It gives a new strength to work. Eventhough sometimes people think travelling from home to office and back is a tiring and time wasting process, it gives opportunties to meet people and make new relationships etc. There are people who found their life parteners because of travelling. How many of them start life long relationship with the office colleagues. Hope you can get some more points for your topic from this.

Asoka Palamakumbura

Hello sharkondiet

As Asoka pointed out, you have covered many of the main features and drawbacks of telecommuting. Well done!

I have only a few small comments:

Introduction:


I think it is too early to say if telecommuting is THE most remarkable brainchild, and in any case, to suggest that it is a 'brainchild' is to suggest that it was designed or conceived - I would regard telecommuting more as a (so far relatively minor) phenomenon that resulted from other societal and technological changes. So perhaps I would go with a more laid-back introduction: not all TOEFL or IELTS essay topics are necessarily hugely controversial, outrageous, or burning. I really like the structure of your opening sentence, so I would keep it:

The global work field has seen a great deal of radical changes in recent years, among which telecommuting stands out as one of the most promising and exciting changes in working practices for many decades. This essay will look at some of the potential advantages and the hidden drawbacks of teleworking.

This echoes or predicts your closing ideas where you hope that telecommuting will become more popular. I would also avoid using sentences in the opening paragraph which do not mention or incorporate the topic - examiners may feel that these sentences have been memorized and dropped into the essay.


Here I would be careful to keep your focus: do you mean by telecommuting that workers can work at home, or are you including video-conferencing in the workplace? Videoconferencing is already well established.

Conclusion:


Really, I'd prefer if you just gave your opinion: it's just a few hundred words ago that you started, not 2000! And are you in favor of telecommuting, or are you in favor of views of telecommuting?

- I am confident that despite these disadvantages, telecommuting will prove effective once adopted more widely. Hopefully, telecommuting will gain more popularity in the next few years.

Finally, a couple of minor points:

- However, there are still some drawbacks lurking behind.

- the practice would egg people on working on contract rather than for a fixed institution. To 'egg someone on' does mean to encourage them, but you can't really use it like that here: encouragewould be better, or possibly, force, induce or compel, since I think you may be portraying contract work as something a little negative.

- enthusiasm for their works: work, like equipment, feedback, and software, is singular.

Regards

Enda

As a consequence, the productivity will improve as people can shun avoid the long tedious hours spent on traveling . This also offers..

However, there are still some drawbacks lurking behind. --- good sentence!!Good use of the word lurk.

You write very, very well. I think it will be better if you lengthen the intro and conclusion, the most meaningful parts of the essay.

:-)

@ Asoka:


I really love this idea :)

@ ept1961, you hit the nail on the head! I tended to exaggerate things a little bit :P

@ EF_Kevin: I would like to put my short intro and conclusion down to the constraints of time. It always takes me a huge amount of time to think about an impressive introduction for every essay and as a matter of fact, I always end up with a ridiculously short conclusion. Instead, I decided to cut down time and effort on the two and focus mainly on the body :P However, as you did comment, I will try to do sth different since the intro may give readers (or examiners) some idea about what should be expected in the body :)

Thanks all! I faithfully appreciate your comments!