Some employers say teleworking makes staff more engaged

Some employers say teleworking makes staff more engaged

Around the world, the proliferation of broadband and the elusive search for work-life balance have encouraged an exodus of teleworkers out of corporate towers and back to their home offices.

So it was a surprise last month when Hewlett-Packard pulled the plug on a long-standing telework scheme for thousands of staff in its IT department. The company told them they had until next month to report for work at one of 25 offices around the world.

HP's slap in the face for telework was unexpected for two reasons: businesses are increasingly realising the benefits of having staff working out of the office - at least for part of the week - and IT giants like HP are among those who have embraced the practice most whole-heartedly.

The IT industry's leading stance on telework is in part a marketing exercise. As a promoter of tools aimed at boosting business productivity, it realises its own staff - happily and industriously working from remote locations - are its best advertisement for its own technology.

Although as consultant Bevis England points out, telework does not need to involve sophisticated technology. England, who has been working on telework issues since 1989 and is managing director of consultancy Telework New Zealand, says much of the telework that gets done in this country involves a low-tech approach.

While many teleworkers may be spending several days a week working from home via a high-speed DSL link back to their company's server, others might just spend half a day at home reading briefs and transcribing letters - their own use of technology being a dictaphone, says England.

In between are those using a "sneaker-net" - editing files on their home PC which they then transfer to disc and carry back to the office.

England says a well established telework programme will typically deliver a business $300,000 per 100 employees per year in cost savings and benefits.

"As a percentage of the total costs it might not appear to be significant but is does make a huge difference to many organisations," he says.

"Increasingly staff are demanding flexibility. That's being driven by things like work-life balance. It's also being driven by the newer generations that are entering the workforce. The result is that employers that don't offer flexibility could lose staff.

"Where it costs between 100 and 250 per cent of salary to recruit staff, that's a significant cost to a company. If you've got maybe 20 per cent of your workforce prepared to leave to get flexibility - and that figure is backed up by US research - then the cumulative cost to the enterprise could be a few million."