Home-based Telework Research Articles

An Orchestrated Negotiated Exchange: Trading Home-Based Telework for Intensified Work

In this paper, we explore a popular flexible work arrangement (FWA), home-based telework, in the Indian IT industry. We show how IT managers used the dominant meanings of telework to portray telework as an employee benefit that outweighed the attendant cost—intensified work. While using their discretion to grant telework, the managers drew on this portrayal to orchestrate a negotiated exchange with their subordinates. Consequently, the employees consented to accomplish the intensified work at home in exchange of telework despite their opposition to the intensified work in the office. Thus, whereas the extant studies consider work intensification as an unanticipated outcome of using FWAs, we show how firms may use FWAs strategically to get office-based intensified work accomplished at home. While the dominant argument is that employees reciprocate the opportunity to telework with intensified work, we show a discursively orchestrated negotiation that favors management. A corrective policy measure is to frame telework as an employee right.

The effects of home-based telework on household total travel: A path analysis approach of British households

Abstract The initial enthusiasm for home-based telework as an attractive travel demand management strategy has been countered by recent research pointing to its inductive effects on travel. This paper develops path analysis models for one- and two-worker households in Great Britain, using data from the National Travel Survey (2005-2012), to study the effects of teleworking frequency on household weekly trips and travel distances by mode and purpose. The results indicate that for one-worker households teleworking increases travel by all modes, particularly travel by car, while it does not appear to significantly increase household travel for two-worker households. The policy implications of these results are that home-based telework does not contribute to reducing travel, especially travel by more polluting modes. At best it has a neutral effect in the case of two-worker households.

Home-based telework in France: Characteristics, barriers and perspectives

The aim of this article is to explain the gap between high social expectations, particularly in terms of reducing commuting frequency, increasing productivity and improving work-life balance, and the reality of home-based telework. We use three French databases which give information about employers but also employees. We highlight that telework is not only a fairly restricted phenomenon but also one that lacks impetus; it is mainly an informal working arrangement. The main reasons raised by both employees and employers are the uncertain advantages coupled with immediate disadvantages. The conclusion examines different contextual factors that could alter this cost-benefits dilemma and foster the development of home-based telework.

Couples’ Work Schedules and Child-Care Use in the Netherlands

Various aspects of parental work schedules affect the opportunities and constraints that parents encounter when arranging care for their children. This study examined the extent to which the combination of couples’ work schedules was associated with their use of different types of child care, focusing on parental, formal, and informal child care. We considered multiple dimensions of couples’ work schedules, namely, the timing of work, schedule flexibility, and home-based telework. Data from a recent Dutch survey were used, including information about 1599 dual-earner couples with children aged 0–6 years. The results indicated that paid work during nonstandard hours increased the amount of parental child care that was provided by one parent while the other parent was working, whereas work during evenings, nights, and weekends decreased the likelihood of using both formal and informal child care. Results further revealed gender differences for nonstandard hours and schedule flexibility. We found stronger effects of mothers’ work schedules, indicating that a gender-neutral approach to parental work is not justified. These results indicate that the timing of parental work is important to consider when examining not only parental child care but also formal and informal child-care use. We provide recommendations for future research, specifically regarding the possible consequences for parental well-being.

Disrupted work: home‐based teleworking (HbTW) in the aftermath of a natural disaster

Natural disasters disrupt the nature of work, promoting an urgent review of where work is performed. Home‐based telework (HbTW), a common form of telework, is increasingly promoted as a means to ensure continuity of operations in an emergency situation. While widely advocated, little is known of the challenges and outcomes of HbTW when employed in disaster situations. This article explores the organisational and employee experiences of HbTW in the aftermath of a disaster, drawing on data from over 240 public sector workers and their managers who worked from home following a series of earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand. Findings point to critical factors shaping the experiences and outcomes of HbTW in disaster situations. Significant variation in the experiences and perceptions of HbTW for team leaders highlights their pivotal role and heightened pressures to maintain control in complex disaster situations.

Enjoying New Ways to Work: An HRM‐Process Approach to Study Flow

AbstractThis article investigates the relationships between human resource management practices associated with New Ways to Work (employee empowerment, home‐based teleworking, and creating trust relationships) and work‐related flow as experienced by employees (absorption, work enjoyment, and intrinsic work motivation). Hypotheses, based on a combined perspective integrating insights from the HRM‐process model and the job demands‐resources model, are tested using multiactor multilevel data comprising employees (N = 1,017) and their line managers (N = 89), across 89 job categories in 30 organizations. Although organizations may implement management practices aimed at empowering employees in particular job categories, this study showed that anticipated effects on work‐related flow (particularly work enjoyment) are not achieved when employees themselves do not experience being empowered, and when they do not use and experience their working conditions as job resources (home‐based teleworking and trust relationships characterized by supporting leadership, collegial support, and collegial commitment). The article concludes with recommendations regarding organizational change aimed at implementing New Ways to Work and suggestions for future research. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Lessons from the trenches: How to make self-employment work for people with disabilities

Teleworking and home-based self-employment can enable a person with disabilities to more easily participate in the work force by offering greater flexibility than traditional work settings. Teleworking may help people with disabilities overcome transportation problems and barriers related to physical fatigue and provision of personal assistance services [1], while self-employment can eliminate employment discrimination, reduce obstacles such as transportation to work, lack of needed accommodation in the workplace, and the negative attitudes of employers and coworkers. It can provide people with disabilities a career they love where they can be creative and be their own boss. At any one time, the number of individuals actively pursuing self-employment is quite small. There are, however, people with disabilities who see entrepreneurship as a path to social and economic independence [1]. However, it’s not easy to start a business, especially when you have little capital of your own to invest. It’s not easy to keep a business running, especially when you have little business experience and have never written a business plan. To address this problem and provide financial support for these efforts, the New Freedom Initiative for people with disabilities established the Telework Financial Loan Programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration [1]. In fiscal year (FY) 2003, twenty states, includingWashington State, were awarded Telework Program grants that include state-based loan programs to aid individuals with disabilities in purchasing equipment to facilitate goals related to either homebased self-employment or teleworking from home for an employer. These programs not only provide funding for purchasing assistive technology (AT) so that people with disabilities can obtain or maintain employment, but also provide loans for business equipment to create self-employment opportunities. These financing opportunities are often not available anywhere else. Aspiring entrepreneurs must overcome additional barriers related to the challenges of operating a successful business. Telework programs often must help potential borrowers to see their way through these barriers, which include developing a business idea into a viable business plan, understanding personal finances and how they affect the business, business licensure and registrations, and determining the impact of the business on the person’s benefits. Programs often invest a great deal of resources in a consumer far before a loan application is even made [1]. The Washington Access Fund Telework Program is unique in that, in addition to our low interest business loan program, we offer an in-house, comprehensive microenterprise development program that includes business plan development classes, technical assistance webinars, one-on-one business counseling, resource referral, microloans, and Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). The business planning classes

Good to be home? Time‐use and satisfaction levels among home‐based teleworkers

Home‐based teleworking (HbTW) has the potential to provide significant benefits to both employer and employee, but also presents considerable challenges. This paper considers HbTW among UK employees, specifically exploring distinctions in the time‐use of men and women home‐based teleworkers and the impacts of HbTW on employee satisfaction levels, using cross‐section fixed effects panel regression analysis of the British Household Panel Survey. Findings reveal that total time‐use in work activities among men and women home‐based teleworkers is relatively comparable, but the distribution significantly different. For women, housework represents a particular time constraint, reflecting continued presence of the ‘double‐shift’. Homeworkers report greater levels of satisfaction, yet they are more pronounced in respect to paid work than leisure time. Extensive hours of housework reported among women may explain these differences. Nevertheless, home‐based teleworkers report greater levels of satisfaction than other workers, suggesting considerable benefits especially for working mothers.

Telework Configurations and Labour Productivity: Some Stylized Facts

The development of information and communication technologies has led to the rise of new working forms in firms, some of which are temporally and spatially dispersed, such as telework practices. However, ‘telework’ is a broad concept, including different forms of remote work as well as diverse reasons and performance implications for the separation of work from the firm's premises. Following this consideration, this paper has explored two sides of telework: 1) the main types of telework practises adopted by firms in relation to their technological, organizational and environmental context; 2) the association between the adoption of telework practices and labour productivity. Specifically, analysing data gathered through a survey analysis conducted from 2005 and 2009 on Italian enterprises, we identified two main typologies of telework: 1) firms using forms of home-based telework; 2) firms using mobile forms of telework. Whereas firms prevalently using the first type of telework modality do not exhibit a superior endowment of information systems and do not exhibit higher labour productivity, firms deploying “mobile work” practices are characterized by a higher adoption of information systems, deal with more dynamic business environments and exhibit higher labour productivity with respect to firms that do not use telework practices.

The effects of time-spatial flexibility and new working conditions on employees’ work–life balance: the Dutch case

Part-time work, flexible working hours, and home-based teleworking are HR instruments which are used to facilitate reconciliation of work and family life. It can be questioned, however, whether these arrangements really enhance work–life balance. This paper examines whether time-spatial flexibility reduces negative work–home interference, and if so, whether this also holds true for the category of ‘New Employees’ working under so-called ‘New Working Conditions’ which are characterised by professional job autonomy, team working by project, management by objectives, and strict deadlines. Employing survey data collected in 2003 among 807 Dutch employees, it is concluded that time-spatial flexibility does affect the work–life balance of workers positively, also under New Working Conditions. Generally, employees holding a smaller part-time job (12–24 contractual working hours per week) experienced a better work–life balance. In particular, female workers gained from more control over the temporal location of their work. Home-based teleworkers and employees holding larger part-time jobs (25–35 hours per week) did not experience a better work–life balance. In the concluding section, the results of the study are discussed in the context of contemporary Dutch labour market developments.

The employability of older workers as teleworkers: An appraisal of issues and an empirical study

The aging of the population and, concomitantly, of the workforce has a number of important implications for governments, businesses, and workers. In this article, we examine the prospects for the employability of older workers as home-based teleworkers. This alternative work could accommodate many of the needs and preferences of older workers and at the same time benefit organizations. However, before telework can be considered a viable work option for many older workers there are a number of issues to consider, including the ability of older workers to adapt to the technological demands that are typically associated with telework jobs and managerial attitudes about older workers and about telework. Through an integrated examination of these and other issues, our goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges associated with employing older workers as teleworkers. We also present findings from a questionnaire study that assessed managers' perceptions of worker attributes desirable for telework and how older workers compare to younger workers on these attributes. The sample included 314 managers with varying degrees of managerial experience from a large variety of companies in the United States. The results presented a mixed picture with respect to the employability of older workers as teleworkers, and strongly suggested that less experienced managers would be more resistant to hiring older people as teleworkers. We conclude with a number of recommendations for improving the prospects for employment of older workers for this type of work arrangement.

An evaluation of part-time, home-based telework using role sets: A model for ICTenabled savings in emissions

This article was submitted without an abstract, please refer to the full-text PDF file.

An evaluation of part-time, home-based telework using role sets: A model for ICTenabled savings in emissions

An evaluation of part-time, home-based telework using role sets: A model for ICTenabled savings in emissions

Mr. Dithers Comes to Dinner: Telework and the merging of women's work and home domains in Canada

Studies of home-based telework by women yield mixed results regarding the usefulness of telework in facilitating work–life balance. Most research on the social impacts of home-based telework focuses on workers—employees or self-employed—who deliberately choose that alternative work arrangement. Labour force analysts, however, predict an increase in employer-initiated teleworking. As a case study of the workforce of one large, financial-sector firm in Canada, this article considers the conditions of employment of involuntary teleworkers, those required by their employer to work full-time from a home office. In-depth interviews were co nducted with a sample of 18 female teleworkers working for the case study firm in a professional occupation. Study participants described the advantages and disadvantages of working from home, particularly with regard to spatial and social aspects of locating work in a home setting. The gendered nature of their jobs, and the caring and supportive functions they provide both through their employment and their household responsibilities are seen to support the relocation of their jobs from office to their homes. In many jurisdictions, telework is promoted as a means of giving women more flexibility to balance their paid work with their household responsibilities; the article highlights some of the contradictions involved in moving the workplace into women's homes.

Work and family conflict: Can home-based teleworking make a difference?

Research has shown that, when employees’ work-family conflict levels are reduced, performance in the workplace can increase. How to reduce these levels, however, is a complex task. The purpose of this empirical study was to investigate the differences in work-family conflict between full-time worksite employees and full-time teleworking employees (individuals who teleworked from home at least two days per week). Employees (n = 308) in seven for-profit companies in Minnesota were sampled and surveyed using a slightly revised version of the Carlson and Kacmar (2000) work-family conflict scale. The findings indicate that teleworkers had lower levels of overall work-family conflict as well as most of the other work-family conflict variables explored (i.e., strain-based, time-based, work interference with family, family interference with work)

De invloed van coördinatie- en vertrouwensproblemen op de toegang tot thuiswerken

Samenvatting The influence of coordination- and trustproblems on employees’ access to home based teleworking. A multi actor perspective This study analyses the influence of coordination and trust problems on employees’ access to weekly home-based teleworking from a combined perspective of Transaction-Cost Theory and New Economic-Sociology. Access is more likely when additional coordination and control problems are smaller. Indicators of the ‘telework risk’ are time sovereignty, job autonomy, need for accessibility and outputmanagement, measured both at the job category and individual level. In addition, also ‘trust-enhancing’ effects of the social embeddedness of the employment relation are studied by looking into effects of past and future duration of the current employment relation. Multi-actor data are used, collected in 2003 among 30 Dutch employer organisations, 89 job categories and 1,114 job holders. The research shows that both coordination and trust problems determine employees’ access to telework. However, whereas coordination problems can only be viewed significant job level traits, trust problems play a role at both levels. Moreover, a longer work history with the current employer increases the odds of access to home-based telework.

How does telework influence the manager-employee relationship?

Companies are sometimes reluctant to implement telework in their teams because managers may lose control over their teleworking employees. The question we try to answer in this paper is: Does telework have an impact on the manager-employee relationship and, if so, what sort of impact is it? We first propose a literature review on this theme. We then restitute the empirical results of a case study realised in a salespeople team of home-based teleworkers. Through the analysis of e-mails, in-depth interviews, and direct observation, we show that: telework reduces formal communication between employees and their direct manager while it develops interpretation bias. It facilitates communication between distant hierarchical levels, reducing the importance of professional and social status. Telework increases employees' autonomy towards their manager. One of the only ways for the manager to evaluate teleworkers is to devote their accountability to results. Overall, telework reduces the importance of the manager in the employee’s professional concerns.

The Co-Workplace: Teleworking in the Neighbourhood

Figures and Tables Preface 1 Putting Work in Its Place 2 Situating Homework in Time and Space 3 If You Worked Here You'd Be Home By Now: Pros and Cons of Home-Based Telework 4 Are We There Yet? The Telework Centre Office 5 Your Mother Doesn't Work Here: Learning from Existing Models of Co-Workplaces 6 Where Can I Sign Up? The Demand for Co-Workplaces 7 Planning the Co-Workplace: Six Scenarios 8 Humanizing Home-Based Work with the Co-Workplace Appendix A: Research Methods Appendix B: Research Instruments References Index

Cross Cultural Differences in Managers’ Support for Home-Based Telework

Home-based telework is one of the arrangements organizations can introduce to facilitate a better balance between employees’ professional and private lives. This article focuses on the question of under what conditions managers grant a subordinate’s request to telework and what role national cultures play herein. By looking into managers’ willingness to delegate power and to trust home-based teleworkers we try to explain the slow adoption of home-based telework and the reported differences across Northern and Southern European countries. In doing so we will make use of Hofstede’s writings on national cultures and of the propositions made by the telework literature on how to mitigate the potential trust problem associated with distance working. The purpose of the article is to develop new hypotheses regarding factors that influence managerial decision-making concerning telework and how these interact with national cultures. To test the hypotheses, a cross-national vignette study is proposed.

Impacts of Home-Based Telework on Quality of Life for Employees and Their Partners. Quantitative and Qualitative Results From a European Survey

The study investigates the effects of home-based telework on quality of life (QoL). Four dimensions of QoL were analysed; overall satisfaction with life, sense of belonging, sense of becoming and sense of being. Through cross-national survey data (from 217 job holders and 112 partners) and by means of structural equation modeling, a positive association was found between home-based telework to a worker's sense of belonging (beta = 0.30, p < 0.001). On the other hand, a negative path was detected from the job holder's home-based telework to his or her partner's overall satisfaction with life (beta = −0.27, p < 0.05). After controlling for subdimensions of life quality, home-based work did not affect the job holder's overall life satisfaction. Moreover, the more concentration the job holder reported, the lower the sense of belonging was reported by his or her partner (beta = −0.28, p < 0.05). No simple explanation for the negative effects were found, but our interviews with the group of workers and their families leave us the impression that the problem of overworking and withdrawal was most relevant to the cases, in combination with negative spill-over effects and unclear boundary settings in the home.