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Telework
SusTel
SustainIT's SusTel (Sustainable Telework) project has provided some of the world's most comprehensive research on teleworking and sustainable development. The final report is available now along with case studies and business guidance materials at www.sustel.org
About Telework
Telework can be defined as work that is undertaken
at a distance from the employer’s main office that
uses Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to
overcome that distance. ‘Telework’, ‘ework’ and ‘remote
work’ are often used synonymously. SustainIT’s
recent SusTel (Sustainable Teleworking) report identified
three main types of teleworker:
- Alternating - who alternate between home and
office-based work in a fixed pattern.
- Mobile - here people work in a variety of locations, including
home and office, in a very flexible pattern.
- Supplementary - where people supplement office-based
work with ad hoc work from home.Telework is most often
associated
with working from home, for at least part of the working
week, but for many this is not a viable option. This may
because of a lack of space or equipment, non work-related
distractions in the home, or because of a fear of becoming
socially isolated.
Various factors, including legislation
and the desires of organisations and their employees, have
spurred a growth
in more flexible ways of working. Technological advancements
and the falling cost of enabling Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) have made it possible for a wide range
of
work-related activities to become independent of location.
Consequently the number of occupations that can participate
in remote working, or teleworking, has grown. Research
suggests that interest in remote working is high amongst
employees
in the UK and across Europe. Recent figures show that 11%
of the UK working population occasionally works from home
and 65% are interested in at least one type of telework.
Telework, or ework, offers potential environmental and
social benefits, for example by:
- Reducing the number of commute journeys
- Reducing the
number of business miles travelled each year by replacing
face-to-face meetings with telephone
and video-conferencing
- Opening up work-related opportunities to those who
are unable, or unwilling, to travel great distances
- Allowing
workers to better manage work and non-work related activities,
thereby promoting a more satisfactory
work-life balance
SustainIT is a leading authority on the environmental
and social aspects of Teleworking. Our work in this area
includes:
- Ework Centres
– SustainIT completed a feasibility study into
neighbourhood-based Ework Centres – a new breed of telework
centre that offer a new, flexible and affordable alternative to
existing remote and mobile working facilities. Such centres would
complement the existing provision and open up remote working opportunities
to those that are, for whatever reason, unable to work from home,
or travel long distances to work. The final report is available
here.
- SUSTEL – Sustainable Teleworking - The
largest research project on the social, environmental and
economic
impacts of teleworking. The final report, case studies,
business guidance materials, and online assessment tool
are available
at www.sustel.org.
- Surveys of teleworkers for the AA, BT and other
organisations.
- Conferencing at BT - Results of a survey on
the Economic, Environmental and Social. Click here.
- Conferencing at DFID - THe Economic, Environmental and Social Impacts . Click here.
- Teleworking and Transport – Results
of the transport impacts of teleworking at BT. Click here.
- Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council - local
authority teleworking scheme and category winner in the 2002 eWell-Being Awards. Click here
to read the case study.
The SustainIT research aims to address questions such as:
- What are the quantitative benefits of telework?
- How
can organisations encourage working practices that incorporate
telework?
- How can communities use remote working to
regenerate areas and improve well being?
- What will the
workplace of the future look and feel like?
- What are
the rebound effects and how can we minimise them?
- What
is the role of government in promoting telework?
- What
will be the long term impacts of more flexible ways of
working?
Mobility
What impact can information and communications technologies
(ICT) have on the transportation of people and goods? What
evidence is needed to prove the case that ICT can make a
positive contribution to sustainability through its impact
on mobility?
The idea is that use of ICT can have a positive impact by
allowing for the substitution of travel journeys. For example,
if people can carry out activities online that avoids a journey
being made, then there is a transport, and therefore, environmental
impact. Telework is one way in which ICT can make a positive
contribution in this way, specifically by reducing work-related
travel miles.
Other examples of where ICT can reduce the negative environmental
impact of transportation is through the delivery of a number
of ‘online’ services. They include e-commerce,
home shopping, where a transport journey is avoided by ordering
goods by phone or over the Internet, and the delivery of
public services online, commonly referred to as e-government.
ICT can also improve travel information through the delivery
of online information and real time travel data. Such services
can be delivered to a PC via the Internet or to mobile devices,
such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
using GPRS or 3G servcies.
To date research on the impact of ICT on mobility limited,
however it is clear that the relationship between ICT (and
related online activities) and transport is extremely complex.
Some questions that arise in this area include:
- What are the LONG TERM transport impacts of teleworking,
audio and video conferencing, e-commerce and other online
services?
- How robust is that data that we currently have?
- Is the
current evidence enough to inform policy?
- What are the
rebound effects, and how important are they?
- Would improvements
in mobility, enabled by ICT, lead to increased demand
in the long term?
- What are the implications
of travel substitution e.g.
for planners, transport companies, public transport,
government?
- What empirical evidence do we need to be able to
fully assess the impact, and potential impact, that
ICT can have in reducing the negative environmental impact
of
transport?
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