From Teleworking to E-Work :: essays research papers

From Teleworking to E-Work The following was an invited contribution to The West Berkshire Labour Conference, which was held in July 2000 by Thames Valley Enterprise (the predecessor of the Business Link business development agency). Over the last few years improvements in portable computers and mobile communications (boosted by services from locally based Vodafone) has seen a growth in the use of virtual working and e-working (electronic working). Much of this has happened in an ad-hoc way as managers and professionals simply adapt to working in a location independent manner - in hotels, airport lounges, at home and on the move. This e-conference is an example of virtual working, where previously there would have been a real conference. In other words, business activities that once would have been specially earmarked as telework are now becoming part and parcel of everyday work - but not fast enough. The Aspiration Gap Various surveys show that about 5 per cent of UK workers are classified as teleworkers i.e. they spend significant time working away from offices using telecommunications. Yet the most remarkable finding is that some two thirds of employees would like to telework if their bosses would let them. The challenge, as always, is one of management. Managers must learn to manage at a distance. They must plan and develop work methods that allow - even encourage - employees to work in the most effective settings, which may be at home or in a shared satellite office away from areas of high rents and labour shortages, like West Berkshire. They must learn how to gauge employee's performance by outputs not by inputs (i.e. time spent sitting in the office). None of this is new. There is now over a decade's worth of proven cases where organizations, such as Siemens, Sedgwick, Oxfordshire County Council, have gained significant benefits from telework, and many practical guidelines (see Resources at e nd). Formal Telework Programmes Companies that have fully achieved significant benefits have done so through a formal telework programme. While ad-hoc or informal teleworking will have some benefits (mostly for the employee!), only a systematic approach will gain the organization-wide benefits that are achievable. Simply because someone can use a mobile telephone and portable computer does not mean a) that they are effective as they could be; and b) that the organization's work system as whole is optimized. A typical formal programme has the following elements:  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A focused programme team with representatives from different parts of the business and specialists in the disciplines needed - technology, change management, work design etc.