Health trade-offs in teleworking: An exploratory study of work and health in computer home-based working

Abstract

Working at home using computers, the typical setting for many indexers, has often been associated with improvements to health, as suggested by evidence of reductions in sickness absence. This study explores the meaning of work and health for teleworkers, identifying a number of potential health risks and benefits for this form of work. However, it also suggests that teleworkers engage in complex trade-offs between the relative advantages and disadvantages of this form of work at different stages of their personal, family and career lifecycles, making simple predictions of health effects difficult. However, if the trend to redefine illness as malaise and to work through illness becomes the norm, there may be wider implications for public health.