CIPD - Homeworking and teleworking

HR practice

Revised July 2008

This factsheet gives introductory guidance. It:

looks at the growth in teleworking and working from home
discusses the managerial challenges raised by working remotely
includes the CIPD viewpoint.

The growth of teleworking or working at home

For the purposes of its Labour Force Survey, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) defines teleworkers as ‘people who work mainly in their own home or mainly in different places using home as a base, who use both a telephone and a computer to carry out their work at home’.¹Teleworkers are also variously described as mobile workers, remote workers or homeworkers.

Between 1997 and 2005 there was a rise in the number of people classified by the ONS as teleworkers of more than 150%. By spring 2005, there were just under 2.4 million teleworkers in the UK, roughly 8% of all people in employment. This is about double the proportion in 1997 (the first year for which comparable statistics are available).

The CIPD’s annual Labour Market Outlook survey for 2008² finds that teleworking or working from home is offered by 60% of employers, up from 33% in 1999. However, our survey also reveals a gap between policy and practice. It finds that more than two thirds of employers (69%) never or occasionally accept employee requests to work from home.

Working from home has grown in recent years because of:

Technology - Teleworking could not have developed without the ablity to communicate with the office base via computers and mobile phones. The spread of broadband and cheaper digital technology means that this ability has increased and will continue to do so. And, of course, the general population is becoming much more IT-literate.
Cost savings - Some employers introducing homeworking hope to be able to save on office space and ‘hot desk’ employees on their visits to the office.
Improving productivity - There is evidence that working from home improves productivity, and reduces absence and labour turnover.
Work-life balance - By cutting travel, reducing stress and enabling people to work when it suits them, it is argued that working from home is a means of harmonising work and family commitments.
Green issues - Reducing travel should reduce pollution. With growing concern about global warming, this is likely to be increasingly cited as a further reason for introducing homeworking, and will be used by organisations wanting to promote a green image.

Who are the teleworkers?

Almost two-thirds of teleworkers (as defined by the ONS) are self-employed. Only around one in three teleworkers is an employee while only four per cent of employees are teleworkers. And the rate of increase in teleworking since the late 1990s has been faster for the self-employed, suggesting that some of the increase in teleworking is simply due to more self-employed people making greater use of information and communications technologies.

How far might teleworking grow?

There are clearly limits to the growth of teleworking. Many jobs, such as those in factories or shops, can only be performed on the spot. The type of work lending itelf most obvously to teleworking is self-employment since the choice to do so rests primarily with the individual involved. However, only one in eight UK workers are self-employed (this proportion having been relatively constant since the end of the 1980s) and more than two-fifths of these already telework which limits the possibility of further expansion.

John Phillpott, the CIPD’s chief economist, therefore argues that the scope for expansion in teleworking ‘is likely to be confined largely to employees engaged in the kinds of managerial and professional occupations which currently have an above average incidence of teleworking. By contrast, telework could remain beyond the reach of the 50% of employees in occupations with below average incidence of teleworking – admin and secretarial staff, those providing personal services, sales and customer services staff, process, plant and machinery workers, and those undertaking elementary occupations.’³

The managerial challenges raised by teleworking

For employers, teleworking can help to save office space, which more than offsets the cost of setting up home offices. Organisations that have introduced teleworking report that it improves productivity and quality of work, while reducing absenteeism and labour turnover. For example, BT says that its teleworkers are between 15 and 31 per cent more productive than office-based staff⁴. In certain jobs requiring people to be on the road, teleworking may also save travel costs and time because staff do not have to divert to an office.

For employees, teleworking should improve work-life balance by offering greater flexibility. Increased job satisfaction and reduced stress are also reported. However, the proximity of work at home may mean that certain people feel unable to stop, leading to overwork. Some employers have run workshops to help their employees ‘cut off’. Certainly, avoiding overwork and maintaining a proper balance between working and non-working hours should be impressed upon employees before they begin to telework.

Teleworking can also benefit women returning from maternity leave, and people with disabilities. Indeed, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 obliges employers to make ‘reasonable adjustment’ to employees’ workspaces and/or working arrangements if the disability would place them at a disadvantage compared with non-disabled employees. Thus an employer faced with a disabled job applicant (or an existing employee who becomes disabled) has to treat seriously any request to telework.

Introducing teleworking and selecting teleworkers

Some organisations that have introduced teleworking have tested it through pilot schemes which enable them to iron out problems before its wider introduction. Once the pilot has taken place, volunteers are usually sought. The advantages and disadvantages will need to be explained so that employees can make informed decisions about whether to apply to work from home.

Not everyone is suitable for teleworking. By temperament, some people need to go into work regularly or may be judged by their managers to be unsuitable for working independently. Younger single people may not wish to work at home, and in any case managers may take the view that people without much experience of work need closer supervision and will develop better in a more traditional environment. In other cases, there may be insufficient or inappropriate space at home. Visits will need to be made by managers to employees’ homes to assess suitability.

In most cases, the decision as to who works at home is made by line managers, on the basis that they know their staff best. Employees need to be able to demonstrate (for example) time management skills, the ability to work without close supervision, self-motivation and flexibility.

Usually teleworkers have volunteered to work this way, but if it is decided that an entire category of staff is to work at home, careful thought will be needed as to how to ‘sell’ the concept; people will need to be involved from the start and special consideration will need to be given as to how new employees are acclimatised to the organisation’s culture.

Many organisations have selection criteria for teleworkers. They might include:

minimum length of service
seniority
good attendance records
satisfactory performance
ability to work independently.

Our Labour Market Outlook survey (see link above) finds that employees are more likely to get a positive response to a request to work from home if they are a manager or professional. In some cases there may be a trial period after which employees or managers can decide to continue with or to end the arrangement.

Individuals’ employment contracts will need to be amended, though not in any major way, to reflect teleworking. If there is a trade union, it will need to be consulted because it will wish to be assured that teleworkers are treated in the same way as other employees. (Unions’ attitude to teleworking is one of cautious welcome⁵.) In any event, potential teleworkers will need to be assured that they will be treated in the same way as office-based staff, with equal access to development and promotion opportunities.

Equipping and running the home office

Teleworkers are generally provided with a computer with an internet connection, a printer, a mobile phone, and office furniture including a desk, chair and lockable filing cabinet. According to our recent Labour Market Outlook survey, 92% of UK organisations provide a laptop. The computer equipment will generally be provided by the employer, but the employee may be given an allowance to buy furniture, sometimes from a list of suppliers approved by the employer.

Some employers provide allowances to cover heating and lighting, although others do not, taking the view that these costs are offset by savings on travel. Employers considering allowances should check the tax position with HM Revenue and Customs (see Useful contacts below).

Computer problems can be more difficult to solve at home, with no technician on hand. Certain organisations have dedicated helplines, and before people are asked to begin teleworking it may be sensible to check their technical skills and, where necessary, conduct appropriate training.

Teleworking does not normally result in changes in insurance premiums or affect the conditions of mortgages. However, teleworkers should inform home insurers and mortgage providers or landlords of their intention to work at home. Some organisations provide their teleworkers with standard letters for this purpose.

Managing teleworkers

The nature of teleworking means that often employees are invisible and work non-standard hours. Thus the emphasis is on task-oriented working – getting defined jobs done - and trust. Clear and effective communication channels are therefore vital, as is the need to keep in touch with colleagues and avoid isolation.

For line managers (who may be office-based or teleworkers themselves), trust becomes more important than control. Some may have problems adjusting to this and training, before a full move to teleworking, may be needed for them - a primary barrier to change is managers not knowing how to manage workers at home.

Organisations seek to keep teleworkers in touch by the following methods:

Regular (sometimes daily) contacts by telephone and/or email
Regular team meetings
Teleconferencing
Intranet chat rooms and discussion forums
Office social activities
Monthly one-to-one meetings with line mangers, face-to-face or by telephone. Face-to-face meetings might be held at the office or the teleworker’s home.
‘Buddy’ networks, in which teleworkers meet office-based colleagues to keep in touch. (‘Buddies’ may also be responsible for forwarding information which cannot be accessed remotely.)
Regular visits to the office, perhaps once or twice a week, which can be arranged to fit in with the other activities mentioned above.

For visits to the office, ‘hot desks’ may be made available or people who are going to be out of the office will be asked to keep their desks clear for use by teleworking colleagues.

Contact arrangements will need to be specified, including normal working hours and hours in which the teleworker can be contacted, by colleagues and by customers, during the standard working day.

Health and safety

The same rules for health and safety as apply at a conventional workplace apply to home offices, so employers need to ensure that the office space and equipment are safe and that teleworkers are sufficiently knowledgeable about health and safety.

The area for the home office should be large enough and the immediate environment should be free of obstacles.
Employers may need to carry out risk assessments of the homes of potential teleworkers and take steps to minimise any hazards.
Training may be needed for managers in home workplace assessments, and for employees to raise awareness.

The Health and Safety Executive has produced a guide to the health and safety issues involved in homeworking⁶.

CIPD viewpoint

Teleworking is growing, but so far as employees are concerned its scope for expansion is mainly limited to managerial and professional occupations. CIPD believes that employers should be more accommodating about accepting requests to work from home, rather than fostering a culture of presenteeism. The allure of homeworking for employees is becoming greater given the stress and rising costs associated with commuting. We also know that employees, particularly younger workers, are increasingly looking to work for organisations with strong green credentials – which can be enhanced by using homeworking to discourage unnecessary travel. Employers and line managers should therefore have more confidence in their staff, policies and in their own management capability to ensure that they recruit, retain and make the best use of the talent they have. Properly managed, teleworking can benefit both employers and employees.

But homeworking does not suit everyone, and some teleworkers may find it difficult to ‘switch off’ from work. Its introduction needs careful planning and some managers will need to learn new skills and behaviours, particularly in terms of empowerment, trust, and moving to task-based working.

Useful contacts

The Telework Association

References

RUIZ, Y. and WALLING, A. (2005) Home-based working using communication technologies. Labour Market Trends. Vol 113, No 10, October. pp417-426.
Focus: working from home. (2008) Labour market outlook. May. pp10-13. Available at: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/hrtrends/_qtrends.htm
PHILPOTT, J. (2006) Teleworking, trends and prospects. Impact. No.16. , August. pp24-27. Reported at http://www.cipd.co.uk/pressoffice/_articles/Telework_
060906PR.htm
BARTRAM, P. (2004) So far, so good. Director. Vol 58, No 5, December. pp54-58.
TRADES UNION CONGRESS. (2001) Telework – the new industrial revolution? London: TUC.
HEALTH AND SAFTEY EXECUTIVE. (2006) Homeworking: guidance for employers and employees on health and safety. London: HSE. Available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg226.pdf

Homeworking and teleworking