One of the joys of being a contractor is the freedom to work from the comfort of your own home, or local cafe, or other random location, without having to commute to an office. And that sense of freedom is something that Comms minister Stephen Conroy was trying to teach to businesses as he announced National Telework week for later this year.
Between November 12-16, Australia will be “celebrating” national Telework week, where companies are actively encouraged to let employees work from home using the wonders of high speed internet. Naturally, the move is to promote the teleworking benefits of the NBN, although it’s still unlikely that too many people working for big companies will be connected by November.
Here’s how Conroy sold the idea:
“An increase in telework can lead to benefits across the economy and community, from big business through to individual workers and families as well as the environment.
“These benefits include cost-savings and productivity gains, increased workforce flexibility, expanded supply of skilled labour, reduced impact on the environment, reduced stress from traffic congestion and increased time available to spend with family and the community.”
Of course, it won’t work for everybody – you won’t see any miners enjoying the benefits of working from home. But depending on your industry, telework is one way to ease traffic and public transport congestion while offering a better work/life balance and boosting productivity.
It will also lead to a massive increase in the number of Australians working without pants on. Trust me… I’m speaking from experience here…
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Barry
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 10:17 AMManay Companies and businesses will always have a terrible time of seeing the benefits for working from home and how they can save money by allowing it. They are always fearful that the remote employee is just stuffing around, they prefer to have that employee (of course this depends on the job and industry) in office where they can see them working.
Of course, time will solve this issue and more and more will slowly come around. It will just take time and the employee to do the right thing by their employer.
Inquisitorsz
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 10:30 AMAs an engineer, I find companies usually dont care how or when you work as long as the work gets done. In some situations it would be easier, more efficient and more flexible to work from home.
Then again… I have far too many games to get any work done at home
Nathan Adams
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 1:00 PMSomeone please tell me Conroy is locked in there, never to escape or fondle our interwebs again!
Timmeh
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 2:42 PMI thought it was called “telecommuting”
Leah Gibbs
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 8:29 AMTelework, telecommute, flexible working, work at home. virtual working, workshifting. These tterms covers some of the ways employers and employees can agree to structure work to accommodate business and individual needs.
Flexible working in Australia and New Zealand is becoming widely accepted and a hot topic. In business today, flexible working isn’t an option – it’s a necessity. There are a numbers of employees wanting to work flexibly in order to achieve a work life balance. Modern Employers are appreciating more and more how flexible working can benefit their performance through improved staff motivation and productivity.
I LOVE it. This is the way of the future. Working from home. I have been advocating this way of working since 2007. Bring the roll out on. Telework here we come.
Lisa Kanarek
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 2:16 PMThis is a great lead-in to Working Naked Day on February 1st. It’s sponsored by my website, WorkingNaked.com. Any excuse to work at home, wearing whatever you want, is always a good idea!
Jason Reed
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 2:58 AMI’ve been working pretty much full-time for virtual organisations with colleagues around the world since June 2010.. sitting in Starbucks right now having a coffee break – work session feels pretty good. I think a key point about teleworking is employers shifting their mind set to an output/outcomes/results focus rather than tracking methods and activities. However this is a big shift….. the tools are there though … onlinecollaborationconsultant.com