Telework at home, on the road or in the neighbourhood― The desire for something that does not exist yet―

Dr. Albert Benschop

17.12.2004

2Background and Outline of Research Project

ESF-projectWhere does it come from?Who are participating?

Starting-pointTelecentres beyond telehomeworkEmancipation perspective: women, unemployed and disabled people

StepsState of affairs based on existing material: Country ReportSurvey – websurveyCase Studies: Moneypenny & ING

WebsurveyToday: first results websurveyData just withdrawn from computerProcessing by Belgian colleagues: Michel Walrave & Marijke de Bie

Don’t be impressedA lot of dataToday: selection of most reliable resultsA lot of data as illustration – Don’t be impressedI will guide you through themIf I go too fast ..... Ask questions.

3

Employers 3.8Managers 8.6Self-employed 11.0Professionals 1.6Employees 32.9Civil servants 23.3Job-seekers 4.4Homeworkers (houseman or -wife) 1.4Students 8.6Non-actives 0.2(Pre)pensioners 1.4Others 2.8

Profile of Respondents

Number of respondents = 442 Average age = 41.7 jaar

60% female and 40% male

48,4% with children and 51,6% without.

Rest of demographic data –such as marital state and living situation – are ‘normal’.

%

4

Level of education Valid %

Primary education 0,5

Lower secondary education (MAVO-VMBO) 6,5

Initial professional education (VBO) 0,5

Higher secondary education (HAVO) 6,0

Pre University education (VWO) 4,2

Intermediate vocational education (MBO) 15,8

Higher vocational education (HBO) 28,4

Higher education (WO) 37,7

I do not know 0,5

Total 100

Employees

Nearly 82% of the employees have higher education degrees (MBO, HBO en WO)

5

Size Company % employees

1-10 3.8

11-19 2.3

20-49 9.9

50-249 24.4

250-499 8.5

500 or more 51.2

Size company and sector

Most important sectors of employment

%

Public administration 25,1Education 24,6Business service 8,7Health and social work 8,7Financial intermediation 4,1

6Teleworkers & non-teleworkers

Teleworkers = 69.2% Non-teleworkers = 30.8%

Average age of teleworkers and non-teleworkers is about equal. Non-teleworkers are slightly younger.

No significant differences in gender, civil state and living situation

Significant difference in level of education: the higher the degree, the higher the proportion of teleworkers

E.g. 30.8% HAVO to 80.2% teleworkers with a Higher education degree

7

Kinds of Teleworkers

Number of days of telework %

Incidental teleworker – 1 day or less per week 57,4

Part-time teleworker – 1-3 days per week 30,9

Full-time teleworker – More than 3 days per week 11,7

Most men and women telework at home

On average more men than women work in satellite offices

Types of Telework

Telework Location %Home 66,0Office customer 10,1Mobile work 10,1Satellite office 6,2Telecentre 2,2Internetcafé / Public location

1,3

8Who takes the initiative to telework?80.2% by employees ― 15.7% by employerNo difference between men and women.

Is telework officially taken care of? 90.4% telework informally. 9.6% of the teleworkers has an official contract in which telework is regulated.

Who pays for the computer and internet connection of the teleworker?

Who pays for the costs does not depend on size of company.

Who pays? Self Employer Together ThirdComputer 63,2 26,3 9,8 0,8

Internet connection

71,5 15,4 11,5 1,5

9

Why people do not telework

Their job /function does not allow it: 40,9%

Their company / organization or boss does not allow it

Contact with colleagues and other people: 37,9% Contact with customers or clients: 27,6% Job requires specific machinery or materials: 17,2%

36.4% company 11.4% direct manager / leidinggevende

Yet, their interest in telework is huge

10

Interest in teleworkHow high is the interest in telework among non-teleworkers?

77.5% is interested in telework — only 22.5% is not interested.(no significant differences between men and women, nor in education level)

A lot of interest in telework, but is it realistic to begin with it? 63,8% —Telework is possible in my job36,2% —Telewerk is impossible in my job(no difference in education level, size company or sector of work)

How many hours per week would it be possible to telework? 22,2% — less than 1 day (1-7 hours)44,4% — 1 or 2 days (8-15 hours)33,3% — more than 2 days (>= 16 hours)

Do employers allow telework? 55,6% — employer will not allow it44,4% — employer will allow it2% — employer will not allow it anymore

11

Desired time and formsHow much time would non-teleworkers want to telework themselves?

Which forms of telework do non-teleworkers prefer?

Less than one day per month 3,3%

Less than one day per week 6,7%

1 day per week 36,7%

2 days per week 23,3%

3 days per week 10,0%

4 days per week 10,0%

Full-time 3,3%

No significant differences between men and women

Most popular

Telework location %

Home 83,3

Satellite office 53,9

Mobile work 28,6

Telecentre 35,6

Nearly 2/3 of respondents do not take telecentre into consideration.But more than 1/3 does.

12Desired combination of telework forms

Preference work location (own choice) Valid %

(Main)office 10,0

Home 26,7

Satellite office 3,3

Combination (main)office & home 53,3

Combination (main)office & telecentre 6,7

Little preference for some combination with telecentre: 72% doesn’t take the combinations office + telecentre or home + telecentre into consideration. But nearly 1/3 of non-teleworking respondents does.

Preference work location (consideration) Valid %

Combination (main)office & home 88,7

Combination (main)office & satellite office 66,0

Combination satellite office & home 37,5

Combination (main)office & telecentre 28,0

Combination home & telecentre 28,0

There are no significant differences between men

and women for certain combinations.

If people were to choose their work location freely, 1 out of 2 chooses for the combination of (main)office and telehomework..

13Employers and telework

Conditions to telework?Most employers (60%) attach conditions to telework: specific position: teleworkability teleworker has to fit a personality profile minimum level within company seniority (years of employment)

1 out of 5 employers (22.2%) only allows employees to telework when they have been employed 3-5 years or more than 5 years

Why no experience? %

Jobs not feasible 41,7

Too little knowledge about advantages & disadvantages telework

33,3

Lack of employee oversight 25,0

Experience with telework?

%

Yes 65,6

No 28,1

Quit offering telework 6,3

TW in company

Implemented Extended

Telehomework 80,0 13,3

Mobile work 45,5 18,2

At clients 44,4 11,1

Elsewhere 33,3 4,8

Satellite office 27,3 27,3

Telecentre 11,1 11,3

14Increase of employment opportunities

Telework increases employment opportunities

Disagree Agree

Disabled 2.2 97.8

Women with children 4.3 95.7

People from rural areas 16.7 83.3

Women 20.9 79.1

Seniors 28.4 71.6

Long-term unemployed 54.5 45.5

Ethnic minorities 64.0 36.0

Employees (TW & NTW) do not believe that telework has a positive effect on employment opportunities of long-term unemployed and ethnic minorities.

Gender difference: women are much more positive in this respect than men.

Do companies stimulate particular groups in their employment policy? Do they have a specific policy to encourage applications of these groups?

Do companies stimulate employment of particular groups?

%

Don’t know 23,9

Women 24,9

Ethnic minorities 24,2

Long-term unemployed & disabled persons 9,4

People from rural areas 0,7

15

Important or unimportant reasons to telework

Total percentage of TW and NTW Not important Important

Finish work after hours 11.8 88.2

No disturbance during work 13.1 86.9

Better balance private – professional life 18.8 81.3

Less commuting 20.6 79.4

Greater work motivation 35.5 64.5

Greater job autonomy 40.7 59.3

Easier to look after children 44.2 55.8

Job requires it 51.4 48.6

Medical reasons 65.4 34.6

Easier to look after person needing aid 65.7 34.3

Employer requires it 67.4 32.6

Closer to (potential) customer 77.6 22.4

Feelings about telework: reasons, advantages, disadvantages

Teleworkers see great advantages in the fact that their commuting time is increasingly reduced: for 74.5% it is an important reason to telework. Non-teleworkers are even much more positive about this advantage of telework: 94.1%.

16

Important or unimportant reasons to telework at homeFeeling about telehomework:reasons, advantages and disadvantages

Total% of TW and NTW Unattractive Attractive

Free choice working hours 3.8 96.2More flexible organization working day 4.0 96.0Domestic chores in between 7.6 92.4Finish work after hours 8.8 91.2Better combination work & care 16.9 83.1Less commuting 10.5 89.5Greater job autonomy 18.4 81.6Easier to look after person needing aid 50.6 49.4Closer to (potential) customers 67.6 32.4

Yet, teleworkers are not on the same wavelength as far as certain advantages of telehomework are concerned.1) Better management of care tasks: if sound more important by teleworking women and teleworkers with children. Teleworkers with older children are less convinced than teleworkers without older children. 2) Flexible organization of working hours: the more children teleworkers have, the less they they are convinced that telehomework has this positive effect. Teleworking women, however, do believe so. Teleworkers with older children are less convinced than teleworkers without older children.

Aspects of telehomework that are seen as less important (not as an advantage)

No significant differences between the experiences of teleworkersthe opinions of non-teleworkers as to the advantages of

telehomework

17Influence of telework on professional life

% Disagree Agree

Independent decision working hours 3.4 96.6

Less traffic-jams 5.1 94.9

Work autonomously 9.3 90.7

Less pressure of work 16.4 83.6

Increase of job security 19.8 80.2

More positive reactions of colleagues (main)office 20.5 79.5

Increase work motivation 23.1 76.9

More negotiation with unions 30.5 69.5

Positive effect on promotion 32.7 67.3

Leads to lack of information from company 43.2 56.8

More involvement in corporate activities 70.3 29.7

More social contact with colleagues (main)office 86.3 13.7

Employees doubt this, but teleworkers are less

pessimistic

Drawback to telework?

18Experiences of teleworkers &

Views of non-teleworkers on telework

The less one teleworks, the more one is convinced that telework goes together with more negotiation opportunities with unions: occasional: 74.3%; part-time: 72.7; full-time: 25%.

Men are more convinced than women that telework will lead to positive reactions and appreciation from colleagues and superiors. Men are therefore more optimistic about positive effect of telework on promotion opportunities than women.

Only 1 out of 4 teleworkers (25,9%) without small children experiences a decrease in work pressure, whereas NONE of the teleworkers with children between 3-6 speak of a decrease. They have experienced an increase in pressure (27,3%). Only 3,7% of the teleworkers without small children have the feeling that the work pressure has increased.

% Teleworkers Non-teleworkersNot afraid of negative effect on promotion opportunities

75 40

More work autonomy 100 88

19Telework and Household work

Women and domestic chores

Total % women (TW+NTW) domestic chores

Self (woman)

Partner Together Aid

Cleaning 54.3 2.5 18.5 24.7

Shopping 59.3 9.9 30.9 0

Cooking 58.0 13.7 28.4 0

Laundry 71.3 7.5 16.3 5.1

Gardening / odd jobs 41.0 23.1 29.5 6.4

Paperwork/administration 65.0 7.5 27.5 0

Administer money / controlling finances 60.0 7.5 32.5 0

Most domestic chores are done by the women themselves and not so much by their partners.

Remarkable is:

the proportion of women with a free or paid aid to clean the house.

most women (65%) do the administration themselves and take care of their finances (60%).

no significant differences between teleworking and non-teleworking women.

20

Men and domestic chores

Total % Men (TW+NTW) domestic chores

Self (man)

Partner Together Aid

Cleaning 11.8 26.0 40.9 21.2Shopping 23.6 13.4 61.4 1.6Cooking 22.8 25.2 48.0 4.0Laundry 18.1 44.1 29.9 7.9Gardening / odd jobs 46.0 6.3 44.4 3.2Paperwork/administration 59.8 3.1 35.4 1.6Administer money / controlling finances 50.4 3.9 44.9 0.8

Men confirm that their partner, more than they, does the cleaning, cooking and laundry. No significant differences between teleworking and non-teleworking men.

The difference with women is: that more men do the shopping themselves than their partner (24% man vs. 13% partner). Most of the employees shop together (61%) great contrast between men and women when it comes to paperwork/administration, gardening/odd jobs, and managing finances. Different view on domestic chores than women!

And now … the men!

21

Are there differences between teleworkers and non-teleworkers?Teleworkers are more satisfied than non-teleworkers with their share of domestic

chores: teleworkers 96.7% satisfied vs. non-teleworkers 85.4% satisfied.

Are their differences between men and women?Women are clearly less satisfied with their share of domestic chores than men: satisfied men: 97.2% vs. women: 86.7%

But there are no significant differences between male and female teleworkers in mate van tevredenheid.

(Dis)satisfaction with share of domestic chores

6.5% of the employees is not satisfied with their share of domestic chores, whereas 93.5% is satisfied.

Measure of

adaptedness?

22

Effect of telework on private life % agree

Plan timetable freely 98.7

Less time commuting 97.5

More time to look after people needing care 95.6

Easier to make private appointments 90.2

More convenient circumstances domestic care/family 89.4

Increases quality life 88.3

Offers men possibility to do more domestic chores 84.7

Enhances combination private/professional life 84.0

Positive effect on health 80.6

Creates less stress 74.8

Offers more spare time 56.0

Offers women possibility to do more domestic chores 53.8

Division between private and professional life grows dim 15.2

Many important advantages, but not everyone agrees that telework leads to more spare time, or makes it easier for women to take up domestic chores.

Greatest risk connected with telework: The division between private life and profession life grows dim (84.8%)

Here no significant differences between men and women, nor between the experiences of teleworkers and the feelings of non-teleworkers.

Balance work and private life

23Problems with telehomework

We have seen that 2/3 of the teleworkers work at home.Which problems occur?

What are the main disturbance factors?

1. Separate homework-officeA large minotiry (48,8 %) of the telehomeworkers has a separate homework-office, but a small majority (51,2%) doesn’t. No significant differences for teleworkers with children.

2. Working undisturbed78% of the homeworkers is able to work undisturbed, 22% isn’t. Teleworkers with a separate homework-office are able to work more undisturbed. 86,4% of the homeworkers with a separate office can work undisturbed; 68,3% of the teleworkers without a separate homework-office experience

no disturbances of their activities.There are no significant differences between men and women, but there are between people with and without children. Children appear to be an important factor of disturbance and toddlers are a very important element of disturbance.

24

There are no significant differences between men and women, but there are between people with and without children. Children appear to be an important factor of disturbance and toddlers are a very important element of disturbance.

Problems with telehomework (2)

Ongestoord thuiswerken - Een klein kind

A small child amongst the

children - between 3

and 6 Total

No Yes

Working at home undisturbed

Yes 82,8% 47,1% 75,3%

No 17,2% 52,9% 24,7%

8 out of 10 homeworkers without small children (but with children) are able to work undisturbed, in comparison to only 1 out of 5 of the homeworkers with toddlers

3. Additional costs homework-office36,4% of the teleworkers doesn’t have to make additional costs to prepare the homework-office. 63,6% has made additional expenses. 56,6% has paid for the costs themselves, 2% had the costs refunded by the company and 5,1% shared the costs.

25Problems with telehomework (3)

5. Planning of homeworking day

How do you arrange your day when you work at home? %

I do odd jobs or domestic chores in between 18,9

I gear my working hours to the needs of my family/inmates 16,6

During my break I sometimes run errands 12,6

I quit working later 12,6

I start working later 12,6

I stick to the timetable of my office 7,3

I start working earlier 7,0

I quit working earlier 5,0

I take my children to school and pick them up again 4,6

Other factors 3,0

26

Elements of disturbance %

My private and professional life intertwine too much

45,1

Family members disturbing all the time 29,6

No separate homework-office 15,5

Other reasons 5,4

Poor sound insultation inside 2,8

Street noise 1,4

Pollution/odour nuisance 0,0

4. Elements of disturbance 22% of the telehomeworkers are not able to work undisturbed.

What are the most important elements of disturbance?

Problems with telehomework (3)

27TeleWorkCentreFamiliarity: ever heard of teleworkcentres?

A large minority (46.4%) of the employees have heard of a telecentre before, a small majority (53.6%) had never heard of it before the survey.

Which facilities are desired in a telecentre?a. Mobility facilities: which ones are desired?

Nearly all respondents are in favour of a parking lot (92.6%) and public transport (98.6%).

A car from the telecentre is not desired by everyone (53.3% in favour). 7 out of 10 desire a telecentre transportation service (73.8%).

b. Training facilities Group (68.1%) and individual trainings (77.2%) and internetcursussen

(e-learning training)c. General facilities

% Undesirable % Desirable

Canteen 6,3 93,7

Conference room 7,4 92,6

Sports and recreation facilities 28,9 71,1

Day care 33,6 66,4

After school day care 38,6 61,4

Shops 50,7 49,3

Shopping service 68,7 31,3

Department store 71,0 29,0

Dry cleaning 74,8 25,2

Cultural facilities 80,6 19,4

Have to be present

Undesirable

Not unambiguously pro or con. Yet, women are more positive about department store than men (38,2% vs. 22,4%). The overall desire of both of them is low.

TW and NTW

think the

same about this

28

a. Familiarity with telecentre? 57.9% yes — 42.1% no

b. Conditions for working in telecentre 27.8% of the employers will not give their employees the possibility to work in a telecentre.

The other 72.2% states the following conditions: Guarantee of a professional working environment (33.3 %) Safeguard for confidential and personal information (16.7%) Working in a telecentre is separated from the wage agreement (11.1%) Costs for rent of a workplace in a telecentre should be equal to or lower than the costs

of a homework-office (11.2%)

c. Percentage average earnings for rent telecentre Employers would spend on average 2.5% of the wage to make working in a telecentre

possible. 50% is not prepared to pay anything at all. 50% is prepared to pay 10% or less.

Small number of respondents, so caution is called for.

Employers and TeleWorkCentres

29Discussion

1. For whom is telehomework a good solution and for whom and when not?Restrictions or risks of telehomework: no personal workplace; disturbing factors; dimming of division between private and professional life.Advantages of working in local telecentres.

2. How strong is the need for local telecentres – teledocks? Desire for something that doesn’t exist yet .....

2,5% does it — 1/3 considers it — 7% prefers working in a telecentre

3. What should be done to build local ‘teledocks’?Who should take the initiative: private persons, government or together?

Can teledocks support themselves?

4. Which facilities should teledocks offer?General, mobility and training facilities

5. Role of unions, employers (organizations) and management?Allowing and/or stimulating working in local telecentres

6. Which measures should or could authorities take?Cancelling privileges of telehomeworkFacilitating infrastructure for teledocks by local authoritiesNational and European policy

30

% Teleworkers of total labour force

State of the art