Touchstone 3.2

Nathan Daleo

Sophia Learning

English Composition II

02 February 2023

Remote Work: Virtually Impossible or New Reality?

Many companies across the globe have pushed for an increase in productivity by

implementing a work-from-home strategy, especially given the protective measures put in place

during the beginning phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to McKinsey & Company’s

American Opportunity Survey from the spring of 2022, 58 percent of Americans had the

opportunity to work at least one day a week remotely, while 35 percent reported they could work

remotely five days a week (para. 3). This survey also identified that when given the opportunity

to work remotely, 87 percent accept (para. 4). This highlights the interest in remote work for

Americans, but many believe that working remotely is not without detriment. According to Intuit

(2022), opponents of the remote work strategy argue that there is an increased likelihood of

overworking and social isolation can have negative impacts as interactions with managers and

coworkers are limited to video conferencing (“Social Isolation,” para. 24; “Overworking,” para.

25). The preference for remote work varies by employee; some prefer the freedom to work from

home, while others prefer to work on location. Employers with the capacity for remote work

should offer the option to work from home because of the increased productivity, work-life

balance, job satisfaction, and organizational benefits that remote work provides.

The first reason that many employers should offer the option to work from home is that it

has been shown to increase the productivity of some employees. A study by Worhrmann &

Ebner (2021) on the effects of telework showed that employees working remotely had more

Commented [EJ1]: Hello, Nathan! I’m eager to see how your rough draft turned out!

Commented [EJ2]: Your heading is formatted perfectly, and your have a clear title!

Commented [EJ3]: Nice hook!

Deleted: McKinsey & Company, 2022

Commented [EJ5]: Good! Since you already let the reader know the source and the year, you simply need the missing page (or paragraph) numbers in the in-text citation.

Deleted: O

Commented [EJ6]: Great, and it’s helpful to introduce sources before we cite from them to signal the beginning of a paraphrase. The in-text citation signals the end.

Deleted: Intuit, 2022).

Commented [EJ8]: You’ve clearly outlined both sides of the debate.

Commented [EJ9]: Your thesis is a single sentence that expresses both an arguable stance and clear, valid supporting reasons. Nice work!

Deleted: Having

Commented [EJ10]: Your topic sentence matches the flow of the supporting points nicely, and I wonder if it could also provide a transition and re-assert the thesis’s stance as well.

control over their working time, which resulted in greater working autonomy (p. __/ para. __).

They also found that working from home limited the number of disturbances and interruptions

typically seen in an office environment (p. 364). This would suggest that working from home

benefits the organization as productivity increases. The Forbes article, 5 Proven Benefits of

Remote Work for Companies, found that “teleworkers are an average of 35-40% more productive

than their office counterparts, and have measured an output increase of at least 4.4%” (Farrer,

2020, para. 5). With higher productivity and performance, these employees are more engaged,

showing 41% lower absenteeism (para. 5). When employees have more control over their

working hours and locations, their productivity increases, which supports the argument for

employers to offer remote work if they have the capacity to do so.

While the increase in productivity from remote work benefits the organization, job

satisfaction and work-life balance improvements are benefits that directly impact employees.

Forbes reported that a FlexJobs survey of employees working from home revealed that 73% felt

as though working from home improved their work-life balance (Pelta, 2022, as cited in Spiggle,

2020). Working from home allows mothers with newborn children to return to work sooner

while also tending to their children. According to Shepherd-Banigan et al. (2015), mothers who

had just given birth reported lower levels of depression when they were allowed to work from

home (p. 109). Having schedule autonomy while working from home has also been shown to

positively affect job satisfaction (Golden & Veiga, 2005, as cited in Wohrmann & Ebner, 2021,

p. 355). It is reasonable to assume that increased job satisfaction reduces employee turnover

intention. Golden (2006a, as cited in Allen, Golden, & Shockley, 2015) noted that

“telecommuting is positively associated with organizational commitment and negatively

associated with intent to leave the organization” (p. 45). Knowing that job satisfaction improves

Deleted: Wohrmann and Ebner, 2021

Commented [EJ11]: Keep going with this source integration technique for paraphrasing and direct quotations.

Commented [EJ12]: Great clincher sentence! It reflects the topic sentence very well.

Commented [EJ13]: Great, and continue to revise the topic sentences in similar fashion to the first one!

Deleted: , p. 109

Deleted: , p. 45

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Commented [EJ14]: Great quotation integration!

with the availability of remote work, companies with the capacity to offer remote work should

consider offering this option to their employees.

The organizational benefits of offering remote work for employees are not limited to

increased productivity and engagement. Farrer (2021) also noted that organizations could expect

to see an increase in employee performance. According to their data, workers with stronger

autonomy through location independence produced results with 40% fewer quality defects. This

suggests that working remotely allows employees to focus more on their tasks. This could be

directly related to the decrease in interruptions and disturbances that are associated with working

on location. Employers that offer a remote option could also see higher levels of retention. 54%

of the employees surveyed expressed that they would change jobs for one that offered (para. 5).

Farrer noted that this results in an average turnover reduction of over 12% if a remote work

agreement is offered. Profitability is another potential organizational benefit of offering remote

work. As evidence, Farrer offers that remote-work “organizations save an average of $11,000 per

year per part-time telecommuter, or 21% higher profitability” (para. 5). With increases in

productivity, performance, engagement, retention, and profitability, it is difficult to understand

why more companies with the capacity to offer remote work do not.

Contrasting the advantages of remote work, opponents claim that this employment model

is not without its challenges. Mint’s blog post, “Pros and Cons of Working From Home: Is It

Better for You and Your Wallet,” highlighted a lack of social interaction as one of the challenges

of remote work (Mint, 2022, para. 23), which is supported by Wohrman & Ebner (2021, p.359),

who found that although employees who telecommute do not experience as many disturbances

and interruptions, the quality of relationships with coworkers was lower. Mint also claimed that

there is the possibility of overworking (para. 24), which is also supported by Wohrmann &

Commented [EJ15]: Excellent, and how might you ensure the essay segues into all quotations?

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Formatted: Font: Not Italic

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Commented [EJ16]: I think with some of the previous and subsequent about citation styles, you’ll be able to catch and fix all the errors in your revision.

Ebner’s findings that telework is related to increased boundaryless working hours (p. 359).

Another common counterargument is that results on job satisfaction are inconsistent. Golden

(2006b) noted that when analyzing the consequences of remote work, results with job

satisfaction have been consistent (p. 327). These counterarguments might seem concerning to

some organizations, but they should not deter organizations from considering the remote option

for employees that express interest. This is because there are workarounds for employers that are

concerned with the possible negative outcomes of remote work. One option would be to offer a

hybrid schedule that allows employees to work from home for part of the week. This could

mitigate the social isolation that full-time remote work can create for some employees, allowing

them to build meaningful relationships with their coworkers. The hybrid model could also help

with the potential for overworking, as employees’ working hours can be more strictly enforced in

the office. Another option would be to provide high-performing employees the option to work

fully remotely so long as their performance is consistent. This would allow those employees who

benefit from remote work to continue performing for those benefits. Businesses could also

monitor the effectiveness of either of these models to determine what works best for that

organization. Monitoring the effectiveness of remote work would allow organizations to gain

insight into what conditions work best for which employees, specifically regarding job

satisfaction.

Interest in working remotely has increased and continues to do so. The potential benefits

of offering remote work greatly outweigh the possible disadvantages, especially since the

benefits expand to both employees and the organization. Employees are able to enjoy greater

autonomy with working hours and establish a greater work-life balance, while organizations

benefit from greater productivity, performance, profitability, and employee retention. With less

Deleted: , p. 327

Commented [EJ17]: I would suggest combining these paragraphs and adding a transition to show the logical sequence of ideas here.

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Commented [EJ18]: Great counterarguments and rebuttals!

disturbances and interruptions in remote work, employees are more likely to perform better than

their office counterparts, which is one of the reasons why employers with the capacity for remote

work should offer the option to work from home.

Commented [EJ19]: Nice conclusion! I think it’s interesting, though, that nowhere in this essay do you discuss the climate impacts of remote work. Since the essay is now a short one paragraph (and shy of the six-page requirement), wouldn’t it make sense to develop another body paragraph about how it’s better for the environment to work from home? This would help corporations offset carbon footprints, wouldn’t it? That sounds like another perk to me. Of course, if you add that paragraph, you’ll need to add it as a supporting reason to your thesis, too!

References

Allen, T. D., Golden, T. D., & Shockley, K. M. (2015). How effective is telecommuting?

assessing the status of our scientific findings. Psychological Science in the Public

Interest, 16(2), 40–68. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100615593273

Farrer, L. (2022, October 12). 5 proven benefits of remote work for companies. Forbes. Retrieved

January 4, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurelfarrer/2020/02/12/top-5-

benefits-of-remote-work-for-companies/?sh=2b29684716c8

Golden, T. D. (2006). Avoiding depletion in virtual work: Telework and the intervening impact

of work exhaustion on commitment and turnover intentions. Journal of Vocational

Behavior, 69(1), 176–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2006.02.003

Golden, T. D. (2006). The role of relationships in understanding telecommuter

satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(3), 319–340.

https://doi.org/10.1002/job.369

Mint. (2022, June 30). Pros and cons of working from home: Is it better for you and your

wallet? MintLife Blog. Retrieved January 4, 2023, from

https://mint.intuit.com/blog/remote-work/pros-and-cons-of-working-from-home/

Pelta, R. (2022, November 28). Survey: Productivity, work-life balance improves during

pandemic: FlexJobs. FlexJobs Job Search Tips and Blog. Retrieved January 4, 2023,

from https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/survey-productivity-balance-improve-during-

pandemic-remote-work/

Shepherd-Banigan, M., Bell, J. F., Basu, A., Booth-LaForce, C., & Harris, J. R. (2015).

Workplace stress and working from home influence depressive symptoms among

employed women with young children. International Journal of Behavioral

Medicine, 23(1), 102–111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-015-9482-2

Spiggle, T. (2020, October 15). Coronavirus silver lining: A better work-life balance? Forbes.

Retrieved January 4, 2023, from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomspiggle/2020/10/14/coronavirus-silver-lining-a-better-

work-life-balance/?sh=d8502b61fc29

Wöhrmann, A. M., & Ebner, C. (2021). Understanding the bright side and the dark side of

Telework: An empirical analysis of working conditions and Psychosomatic Health

Complaints. New Technology, Work and Employment, 36(3), 348–370.

https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12208

Commented [EJ20]: The sources are formatted correctly and in alphabetical order!

Reflection Questions

01. Provide one example of a place where you have used rhetorical appeals or source

material to support your argument. How does this enhance your essay? (2-3

sentences)

In my rebuttal paragraph, I used the logos appeal to argue why the counterarguments

should not deter companies with the capacity for remote work from offering it as an

option to employees. I used the example of a hybrid model to logically rebut the claim

that social isolation would set in for employees working remotely full-time. I also

proposed monitoring the effectiveness of the two remote working options so that

employers can measure job satisfaction.

02. Touchstone 4 is a revision of this draft. What kind of feedback would be helpful for

you as you revise? Are there parts of your draft that you’re uncertain of? (3-4

sentences)

The most helpful feedback would be related to my in-text citations and my rebuttal. I’m

not sure that citations are formatted correctly, as some of the information came from

sources cited within other sources. My rebuttal covers the solution to the

counterarguments presented in the previous paragraph, but I’m not sure if this should be

included in the counterargument paragraph or stand alone as its own paragraph. Either

way, I am open to any and all feedback you can provide.

Commented [EJ21]: Thank you for these reflections! I hope you found my feedback useful, especially about the counterarguments.

Touchstone 3.2 Rubric and Feedback

Rubric Category Your Grade

Argument Development and Support (40 points) - 40%

Proficient (85%) - The argument is well-developed with relevant details to support it, including the use of rhetorical appeals and source material.

Research (30 points) - 30%

Advanced (100%) - Cites all outside sources appropriately; incorporates credible sources smoothly and effectively through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary.

Organization (15 points) - 15%

Acceptable (75%) - Includes nearly all of the required components of an argumentative research paper; however, one component is missing. Work on adding stronger topic sentences and a fifth body paragraph that addresses environmental impact.

Style (5 points) - 5% Advanced (100%) - Demonstrates thoughtful and effective word choices, avoids redundancy and imprecise language, and uses a wide variety of sentence structures.

Conventions (5 points) - 5%

Proficient (85%) - There are occasional minor errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, formatting, and usage.

Reflection (5 points) - 5%

Advanced (100%) - Demonstrates thoughtful reflection; consistently includes insights, observations, and/or examples in all responses, following or exceeding response length guidelines.

SCORE: 90/100

Nathan,

This is an excellent start! I think if you review my feedback carefully, you'll find some ways to make some big-picture revision and sentence-level edits to your essay. Best of luck, and I look forward to reading it! - James