The government has been slow to respond to the growth in
homeworking. And while praising the contribution that
homeworking and flexibility can make, ministers have left intact
rules and regulations that discriminate against it or are at
best off-putting. That's according to Tim Dwelly and Yvonne
Bennion, authors of the latest report from the Work Foundation.
The report chronicles the rise of new forms of homeworking.
In this report the authors use "homeworking" to refer to the new
forms of technology-enabled homeworking, rather than the
traditional manual occupations . It is these newer forms
that are on the rise and represent an ever larger proportion of
people working from home. (The authors feel the word "teleworker"
- often used to describe these new home workers - is now
somewhat dated. And so the language turns full circle.)
The authors note that the rise in homeworking is a bottom-up
movement, driven largely by individual workers rather than their
bosses or the government. However, the report outlines the
business benefits for bosses and the social and environmental
benefits that the government should be doing more to promote.
The report covers:
- the myths and the doubts
- homeworking trends
- drivers and barriers
- employer attitudes
- how to make it succeed
- legal and tax issues
- public policy - and how it needs to change.
The report is well-researched and up-to-date, containing
useful summaries of the issues and the regulations to be aware of.
One of the most important sections however is the final one,
a call for reform. This looks at the red-tape that needs
to be removed, and the incentives that the government should put
in place to encourage further and more rapid uptake of
homeworking..
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