Analysis of Engagement of Those Who Telecommute vs. Those Who Do Not

Telecommuting is a program used by many of the successful companies in the private sector, both as a cost savings measure and as a way to recruit and retain quality personnel. Telecommuting has also been used by many companies to adhere to stricter environmental mandates. The public sector, however, has been slow to implement telecommuting programs. Buckingham and Coffman of the Gallup Organization have done extensive research into what they call "engagement," and as to what comprises an engaged employee. They also developed a twelve question survey (referred to as the Q12) to determine if an employee is engaged or not engaged. Documented literature points to telecommuting as a possible way to increase an employee's engagement. This study attempted to ascertain whether telecommuting programs that have been implemented at Wright Patterson Air Force base have increased engagement levels among those who telecommute. The Q12 was administered to both telecommuters and non-telecommuters at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and then a statistical analysis was performed on the mean score of each question and on the overall mean score for each group to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups. No differences were found on eleven of the twelve questions of the Q12.