Telecommuting is supposed to make workers happy, more productive and less likely to quit their jobs, right? Not necessarily. A new study finds that job satisfaction among telecommuters varies widely.

The study, by the University of Connecticut, found that job satisfaction initially increases as the extent of telecommuting increases; however, this satisfaction tapers off at higher levels of telecommuting and eventually reaches a plateau.

One big factor that impacts job satisfaction: The telecommuters’ actual job responsibilities.

The study was done by Professor John Veiga of the School of Business Management Department, in collaboration with UConn colleague Professor Zeki Simsek and Professor Timothy Golden of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. They found:

1. Employees who need to rely on one another to perform their tasks are less likely to gain job satisfaction from extensive telecommuting. The same goes for workers who have less autonomy in performing their jobs. The researchers’ conclusion was that folks who need a lot of direction to do their job are unsettled and anxious if they don’t have face time and feedback with their manager.
2. In a second study, Veiga and his colleagues examined the relationship between telecommuting and work-family balance. The natural assumption is that working from home would improve a worker’s work/family equilibrium. Not necessarily. The researchers found that although the telecommuters’ work interfered less with their family demands, family demands interfered more heavily with work. In fact, the more individuals worked from home, the greater the demands of family became. For example, family members who would be reluctant to interrupt someone at work, had no problem barging in on that same employee working at home. (The research, for example, asked this question, “If I am working from home during the week and an ailing parent needs to be driven for regular medical visits, would I feel comfortable saying no?”) Workers who allow these kinds of interruptions can suffer a loss of productivity when telecommuting.

This means that employees who have a tough time saying no to requests, or people who are easily distracted and disorganized, or who need regular direction to perform their duties, may not be good candidates for telecommuting.

The study also found found that for telecommuters with larger households, family demands seriously conflicted with work demands.

While telecommuting has become wildly popular with both employers (because it reduces the cost of maintaining an office and often boosts productivity and job satisfaction) and workers, it’s not for everyone.