It’s not everyday that you come across a working practice that can be used to cut costs, increase productivity and keep employees happy, but teleworking enables companies to achieve all of these goals and more.
Teleworking has also been cited as a help in rejuvenating economically deprived regions, encouraging people to rejoin the workforce and helping individuals to achieve a better work-life balance.
Given this, you’d imagine that firms of all shapes and sizes would have rushed to implement teleworking practices within their organisations years ago, particularly now that most businesses are wired. However, the reality is somewhat different.
Despite the fact that teleworking has long been heralded as a panacea to many of our modern work-related problems, Irish companies have so far been reluctant to allow their employees to work away from the office.
No doubt part of this reluctance is due to practical considerations such as the lack of broadband infrastructure in the country. Moreover, some types of work just aren’t suitable for teleworking. Nonetheless, this still doesn’t quiet explain why Irish firms have been wary of introducing teleworking in their organisations.
Part of the problem is defining what exactly teleworking is. Most of us still tend to think that if someone teleworks then they’re based at home all the time. But, while this may be true for a few individuals, the vast majority of teleworkers still tend to spend a certain amount of their working week in the official workspace.
Teleworking is essentially about flexible working arrangements and since the rise of the Internet there really is no valid reason why companies shouldn’t allow their employees to work away from the office if they wish. If anything, staff should be encouraged to work from home where it’s appropriate because it means that businesses can save on workspace, cut down on their expenses and see productivity rates soar.
The real reason why Irish companies are reluctant to introduce teleworking is simply because most employers don’t trust their staff enough to let them work away from the office. A large number of company bosses still tend to think that unless their employees are sitting in front of them that no work will get done, therefore the idea of managing people remotely is something they find hard to comprehend.
However employers may soon have to learn to trust their employees a bit more if they want to keep them. There’s growing evidence that people have had enough of the nine to five merry-go-round and that they want things to change. A study conducted in the US last year for example found that a third of American employees would rather forego a pay rise in order to be able to work from home. I suspect that a similar number of Irish workers would also opt for flexible working arrangements over a salary increase.
Modern working life means that most of us no longer need to be tied to a particular location or time schedule. Instead of seeing this as problematic, employers should begin to see the advantages of managing their workers remotely and more importantly they should see teleworking as an important tool in helping companies to meet their business goals.
Charlie Taylor, Editor, Smart Company
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