Stay at home worker benefit is universal - report
Stay at home worker benefit is universal - report
Nov 02, 2004: While the process of telecommuting (working remotely) has long been known to offer benefits for the employee, a new report says the activity should be encouraged further as it also benefits organisations and cities as a whole.
According to the IDC report entitled "Australia Telecommuting Services and Equipment 2004-2008 Forecast & Analysis", 2.8 million Australians are mobile workers, with this figure set to increase to 3.4 million by 2008.
The business case for telecommuting in the past twenty years has been focused around soft benefits for the employee, including life/work balance, increased employee satisfaction and cost cutting benefits for the employer, such as reduced overhead costs, and office/parking space savings. The report states that these are all valid reasons to encourage telecommuting in the enterprise, but only represent part of the whole picture.
Reduced pollution and traffic congestion in overpopulated cities, and transportation savings for the employee and the city have emerged as harder benefits associated with increased telecommuting. Other important advantages for the enterprise include productivity gains and business continuity.
"Business continuity has emerged as a strong driver for corporations to set-up a flexible working system in place. Ubiquity of the network and the possibility to work from anywhere at anytime becomes a reality when employees have the tools for remote working," said Susana Vidal, IDC telecommunications analyst.
Service providers, equipment vendors and the local and federal government all have their roles to play in helping accelerate telecommuting adoption.
Service providers should package their remote working solutions under a single bill that includes all the services that are needed for teleworking. These solutions should include high-speed broadband, mobile data when on-the-go, access to corporate network, IP telephony and access to other corporate applications.
The technology advances in recent times have helped to simplify the process of telecommuting. IDC believes that all involved parties, especially government and service providers, should educate the public about the benefits of telecommuting.
Local governments can also play an important part in accelerating telecommuting adoption by offering incentives, such as subsidies or tax benefits, to employers and employees that telecommute.
The report also recommends that service providers and equipment vendors should partner in order to offer telecommuters a complete remote working solution that includes all the necessary hardware and services necessary to work from home or on the move.
"The benefits of telecommuting for corporations, employees and even for the city as a whole can no longer be ignored. All participating parties including service providers and equipment vendors need to invest in further research of these benefits for specific cities in Australia, and build a case that really reflects the total benefits that can be expected from increased telecommuting", added Vidal.
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