The Teleworking Handbook: The Essential Guide to Working from Where You Want [Paperback]

'Read it before you take the plunge' - Mail on Sunday

"Read it before you take the plunge", (Mail on Sunday 1999) "A perfect example of how teleworkers around the country can collaborate a comprehensive guide to the perils as well as the benefits - it does not pull punches", --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

"A Godsend I particularly appreciated the really useful bibliography and an even more useful list of contacts and URLs" Horace Mitchell, Programme Director, --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

This book is a reference guide for anyone intending to work away from the office. Chapters are devoted to the self-employed individual, to the people running telecentres and to the companies wanting to introduce teleworking into their organisations. The authors begin with a comprehensive guide to the pros and cons of teleworking, offering an in depth analysis of the current opportunities and services. From keeping the family happy to installing the latest software, this handbook tells you everything you need to know to get the best results when working from home. 'Read it before you take the plunge' - Mail on Sunday

New technology has changed both the way people work and where they work. Teleworking allows people to bring the work hey do closer to where they live - whether at home, on the road or in a telecentre. This book is a reference guide intended for anyone intending to work away from the office, for people running centres and for companies that want to introduce teleworking into their organisations. The Teleworking Handbook is published by the TCA, a not-for-profit organisation set up to spread the word about the benefits of teleworking. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Imogen Bertin is manager of Cork Teleworking and has worked from home since 1985. Alan Denbigh became executive director of the TCA (Telework Association) in 1993. The Telework Association is based in Kenilworth, Warwickshire.

Teleworking is working at a distance from the people who pay you, either at home, on the road, or at a locally-based centre. Teleworkers use email, phone and fax to keep in touch with their employers or customers. Teleworking is part of a range of flexible work practices which are becoming widespread and also include flexitime, part-time working, job sharing and career breaks. Various terms are used to describe the new forms of work, including teleworking (the catch-all term for workers who use tele-technology), telecommuting (often used to describe those who work for one employer and spend only part of their time working from home), distance working, flexible working, flexiplace working and remote working. The terms 'telecommuting' and 'teleworking' are attributed to US academic and consultant Jack Nilles, who in 1973 worked on the first documented pilot telecommuting project with an insurance company.Computerworld, the American computer magazine, publishes an annual "100 best places to work in IT" survey. In June 1999 the survey found that of the 100, 97% offer flexitime, 89% offer telecommuting and 69% offer a fitness centre. During the same month, as US telecommuting consultant Gil Gordon points out on his website (gilgordon.com), the HR consultants Hewitt Associates published their annual survey of 1,020 general employers and found that 79% are offering flexitime, 66% part-time employment, 40% job sharing and 35% telecommuting. The old saying is that when America sneezes, Europe catches a cold. The best European employers, particularly in the high-tech and IT sectors, are looking seriously at the teleworking option as we move into the new millennium and a predicted IT skills shortage. The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions sponsored a 1998 survey of 30,000 Europeans about their preferred working conditions. They found that: - Nine percent of people work mainly at home. A further 23% do some of their paid work at home. But to meet people's preferences these figures would nearly need to double; - One in four people (25%) would like to be self-employed but in reality only 13% are; - Nearly one-third (30%) of people would like to work part-time (less than 30 hours a week) but in reality only one in five (20%) work part-time; -Most people would prefer a working week of 34 hours but in reality the average working week is 39 hours. Europeans are looking for fewer hours spent at work, autonomy, self employment and the flexibility to work from home. In Britain the government has set up a website to look at work-life balance issues (dfee.gov.uk/work-lifebalance), and a #1.5m Challenge Fund to help employers explore work-life balance policies. At the same time, a report by IDC for Microsoft, Europe's growing IT skills crisis, estimates that the skills shortage in Western Europe will reach 1.7 million IT professionals by 2003, amounting to about 13% of the total demand. Datamonitor estimate that this will cost the European economies over 100 billion Euros a year for the foreseeable future. The IDC report is based on 12,000 interviews with IS managers, surveys of recruitment agencies and factors in reskilling of workers for IT from other sectors such as manufacturing. IDC predicts that the shortage will be worst in 2000 and 2001 but will ease slightly from 2001 to 2003 as companies address the skills gaps by adopting the Application Service Provider (ASP) model where computer software is accessed from centrally managed resources over the web, cutting down to some extent the need for companies to maintain their own IT support staff. IDC points out that the UK is particularly affected due to its dependence on distributed IT environments demanding greater IT resources and skills. Teleworking is one possible way for companies and self-employed people to manage the stressful changes in traffic congestion, property costs, skill shortages, and family duties affecting working life. Teleworkers help AA and Prudential provide flexible response (Case study) The AA takes calls from motorists requiring service assistance. Details of the calls and motorists' locations have to be entered into computers by call centre workers. Since 1997, some of this work has been done from people's homes. The staff working from home have ISDN lines and PC workstations provided by the AA, connected to the central automated call distribution system which routes incoming calls to teleworkers. All standard call centre functions are available, including the facility for supervisors to listen in on calls and check performance. The AA's interest in teleworking began with a recruitment problem. Its Leeds call centre was suffering competition from neighbouring centres for a limited number of workers in the "call centre capital" of Europe. They also wanted to make their shift times more flexible because most calls happen in two peaks - 7.30 am to 11 am and 4.30 pm to 8.30 pm - corresponding to the rush hours. Split shifts are a lot easier to manage for staff who don't have to travel to work. The teleworkers can also provide backup staff temporarily available to manage peaks in demand. A pilot of nine people, which included four registered disabled teleworkers, was so successful that the AA decided to close its Leeds call centre and move the staff entirely to teleworking. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.