Dont hype telework as route to better work life balance

The phenomenon of ìteleworkingî has been overexaggerated, is unlikely ever to be a prospect for the majority of workers, and may be overshadowing far more effective means of improving work-life balance, according to a new report published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) today.

The CIPD report highlights the fact that many studies on teleworking artificially swell the numbers of teleworkers by including ìwhite van menî ñ tradesmen and other self-employed people who happen to use a computer and telephone as at least part of their work.

Dr John Philpott, the reportís author and Chief Economist at the CIPD, commenting on the report, says:

ìMany people may have done the odd days work from home over the summer to help manage the childcare conundrum, but as the schools go back, the majority of the summer homeworkers are likely to trudge back into the office for the long haul to Christmas.

ìWhile government ministers and opposition politicians increasingly join forces with work-life balance campaigners and IT businesses to extol the economic, social, and environmental benefits of teleworking it is important not to hype the potential for growth in this kind of flexible work pattern.

ìThough teleworking has many merits and is likely to become more common in the future, it is currently far from as widespread as popularly perceived and unlikely ever to be a realistic prospect for the majority of workers. The likelihood is that any major breakthrough on flexible working will for most people take the form of reduced hours, flexi-time or changes in shift patterns ñ all good for work life balance but largely developments in fairly mundane existing approaches to managing working time rather than a step toward an entirely new world of work.ì

The report ñ Teleworking: trends and prospects ñ highlights the fact that only 4 per cent of UK employees are full time teleworkers as defined by the Office for National Statistics.

Although the percentage of people teleworking rises significantly if the definition is loosened to include anybody who ever uses a computer or phone at home to do some work, say in the evening or at weekends, Dr Philpott argues that casual teleworking of this kind conveys potential disadvantages as well as advantages:

ìWhatever the difficulties employers face in managing regular teleworkers these can be compounded if workers swap the office for home on an irregular basis. And casual teleworkers without a clear routine which delineates work from home life are possibly those most prone to the perils of workaholism.î

The report notes that the rate of increase in teleworking since the late 1990s has been far faster for the self-employed. The fact that this occurred during a period when growth in self-employment was slow suggests that much of the observed increase in teleworking is simply due to more self-employed people making greater use of information and communications technology.

The report finds that the preponderance of self-employed teleworkers also helps explain their other characteristics. More than two-thirds are men, mostly in their forties and fifties, three quarters of whom are working full-time. Almost 9 in 10 are in managerial and professional or skilled trade occupations ñ i.e. doing the kinds of jobs often undertaken by self-employed contractors. By contrast, few teleworkers are engaged in personal service occupations, sales and customer services and manufacturing related occupations.

Dr Philpott continues:

ìThe typical full-time teleworker is far more likely to be a mature male, white van driving, self-employed jobbing plumber or bricklayer than, as commonly portrayed, a techno savvy post-modern office worker.

ìAmongst employees the scope for expansion of teleworking is likely to be confined largely to those engaged in the kinds of managerial and professional occupations which currently have an above average incidence of teleworking. By contrast potential for telework could be limited in occupations currently with below average incidence of teleworking ñ admin and secretarial staff, those providing personal services, sales and customer services staff, process, plant and machinery workers, and those undertaking elementary occupations necessarily i.e. jobs that are either necessarily central office or factory based or directly customer or client focused.î