Teleworkers are more likely to be found in Times Top
1000 companies than in smaller enterprises. However, in the majority of companies that do
use teleworking, there are only a few workers who do so. This indicates that there may be
substantial internal obstacles in the way of introducing new flexible-location ways of
working in companies even where there are examples of successful implementation.
| The face-to-face factor |
 |
One problem with surveys such as this one is that - quite reasonably
- they rely on employees and managers perceptions. These perceptions may, however, be
mistaken, or at least based on insufficient experience.
A key example of this is the response mentioned above "Can't
telework because of face to face dealings" - some 30% of respondents. The context of
such perceptions may include not understanding how information and communication
technologies can impact on their work and make them more efficient. Or possibly they do
understand and have (legitimate?) fears that ICT will make their job redundant.
Alternatively they may think of teleworking primarily in terms of home-based working,
rather than seeing how remote access technologies can help to eliminate needless travel
and meetings in work settings.
A wide range of former face-to-face and site-based working can be
transformed using teleworking technologies. Examples range from insurance assessors and
bridge inspectors using remote video to gas fitters using remote communications from their
vans. So while some office based knowledge workers may overemphasise their inability to
telework, other workers outside the scope of the survey are already overcoming the
face-to-face factor.
| A gender agenda? |
|
One interesting finding that merits further study is that amongst
teleworking there is a distinctly male bias in the uptake - 63% are male. Is this a case
of "boys with their toys" being more enthusiastic about trying out new
technologies? The report suggests that it relates to the nature of the work that women do.
Women, the report notes, are "more likely than men to claim they could not telework
because their jobs require daily face-to-face dealings with their staff or clients".
While this is probably to some extent true, it may also be the case
that women knowledge workers are more likely to be employed in office support roles, and
are trapped in regressive working practices by managers not aware of the alternatives.
Interestingly, the report notes that about one third of employers felt that secretarial
and support staff were suitable for teleworking.
But it is also true that men are more likely to want to telework.
40% of men stated a desire to do so, as opposed to 30% of women. One is tempted to say
that this may relate to the home/work balance issue, and reflect the fact that many more
women are part-time workers. It could be that while many women are keen to get out of the
house to work, many men aspire to be in the office less.
| Company policy |
|
The most striking finding of the survey in many ways is how
ill-prepared most companies are for working in the Information Age. The survey found that:
- Two thirds of non-teleworking employees said that the primary reason
for not teleworking was that it was not company policy
- "It's not company policy" was also the reason given by
employers for resisting teleworking: 43% of SME and employers and 46% of Times Top 1000.
- In addition, 27% of SMEs and 21% of Top 1000 employers admit to
having never considered it.
One clear conclusion is that companies do need to consider adopting
practical teleworking policies, based on their business requirements.
Another area of fruitful investigation that could flow from this is
the incidence of "ad hoc" or unofficial teleworking. In companies with no clear
policy individuals and even departments are setting themselves up with various forms of
remote access. I know of several instances where in companies with clear policies against
remote access, individuals install software themselves, bypassing the IT department. In
other cases, the solutions favoured by IT departments are so poor that individuals out of
sheer frustration end up doing their own thing.
| The need for proper support |
|
On the whole, however, the survey found that those employers who
have thought the issues through do provide their teleworkers with the basic necessities,
such as a home PC or laptop, and a mobile phone or dedicated line.
Only a minority of employers however have really equip their remote
workers for optimum effectiveness, for example with efficient home access or a teleworking
intranet, and only one in ten respondents have drawn up a documented teleworking
programme. These are the aspects that need to be addressed if the perceived barriers to
teleworking - such as isolation, difficulties in working as a team, etc, are to be
overcome.
| What this means for the Big Picture |
|
Inevitably there remains a great deal of interest in whether
teleworking is taking off as a whole in the UK, that numbers somehow validate this style
of working. The report concludes that there are now 1.28 Britons teleworking full-time or
pat-time - some 5.1% of the workforce. This compares to 1 million (4% of the workforce)
identified in the 1997 Labour Force Survey. The figure is reached by projecting the
finding in the sample that 30% of knowledge workers are teleworkers to the workforce as a
whole.
One can draw one's own conclusions about the robustness of this
projection. I always tend to think "Interesting, but so what?" The strength of
this survey really lies in its business focus, looking at how and why teleworking is - and
is not - spreading as a workstyle in UK industry. The report's subtitle is "A
study into the adoption and acceptance of teleworking within British business".
In terms of its acceptance in UK business, the answer from the data in this report is,
"Telework is making significant headway".
If more companies begin to investigate best practice, become
convinced of the business benefits and to develop appropriate supportive policies, then
the practice will spread. There is much food for thought in this survey, and it will be of
more practical value to individuals charged with developing telework/remote access
initiatives than the more academic surveys based on government statistics.
