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Teleworking in the UK
... Pyöriä decides to exclude the self-employed in the Finnish study, whilst Baines and Gelder focus exclusively upon them. Previous research has suggested that self-employment forms a substantial part of the telework experience (Gillespie et al., 1995;Baines, 2002;Hotopp, 2002). We believe that the extent to which self-employment is relevant to the occupational basis of telework remains something that has to be explored, although definitions are also a problem here. ...
... 38 New Technology, Work and Employment Several things of significance are not revealed in the above: the role of selfemployment, the amount of time spent teleworking and the amount of time teleworkers use technology. Taking self-employment first, although the Hotopp report (Hotopp, 2002) claims that the predominance of self-employment in telework in Britain is declining (i.e. telework is spreading to employees), it nevertheless continues to account for a large part of teleworking. ...
... Excluding the self-employed, the male bias remains strong in the three teleworking categories. More generally, the Hotopp (2002) study makes the point that the occupational and industrial distributions of men and women fail to explain away the gender difference in teleworking in the UK. ...
A flexible definition of teleworking suggests that it is more widespread than is generally believed. However, is telework technologically driven? This is tested with data from six countries. As the categories of the definition have distinctive social characteristics, telework seems to reflect traditional occupational practices rather than a major technological shift.
... There is a long history of research documenting the intricate relationships between work arrangements, telework, and activitytravel demand (Mokhtarian, 2009;Moeckel, 2017;Lavieri et al., 2018;Shabanpour et al., 2018;Wang and Ozbilen, 2020). With work arrangements (also referred to as work modalities) experiencing dramatic changes over the past three years in the wake of the arrangement of working remotely one or more times over a specific time period such as a week or a month; see, for example, Hotopp, 2002, Vana et al., 2008, Ettema, 2010, Lila and Anjaneyulu, 2013, and Kazekami, 2020. A more limited number of studies have also investigated the frequency of telework (that is, the number of days of telework over a specified time period; see, for example, Popuri and Bhat, 2001, Webster-Trotman, 2010, Singh et al., 2013, and e Silva and Melo, 2018. ...
... Interestingly, though, the After COVID studies also do suggest a narrowing of the heterogeneity in telework adoption and frequency compared to the Before COVID period, with fewer sociodemographic and work-related variables having an impact (or as substantial an impact) on telework adoption/frequency in the After COVID period relative to the Before COVID period. For example, prior to the pandemic, employees in the healthcare industry consistently had lower telework adoption rates than those in other occupations (Hotopp, 2002;Sener and Bhat, 2011;Melo and Silva, 2017). But, since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a rapid rise in telework opportunities for healthcare employees. ...
With work arrangements experiencing dramatic changes over the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the possibility that altered work arrangements may persist well into the future, the implications of teleworking on activity-travel behavior are potentially profound. This paper aims to substantially add to the body of knowledge about the present and future of telework in the wake of the pandemic through a rigorous analysis of telework arrangements between two distinct time periods. The paper focuses on three key aspects of telework, including whether to telework or not, frequency of telework, and location of telework. Behavioral data for this study is derived from a workplace location choice survey conducted across Texas in February-March 2022, which included a recall component to obtain workplace location choice information in the pre-pandemic period. The evolution of telework arrangements between the pre-and after-pandemic periods is explored through a joint model system estimated using a joint multivariate methodology. Results show that, After COVID, the population of workers is generally inclined toward a hybrid work arrangement, with an overall tendency to engage in a higher frequency of teleworking than Before COVID. Finally, teleworkers have a higher propensity to work only from home as opposed to working only from a third workplace or from a combination of home and a third workplace. Overall, our results indicate that telework arrangements may remain at an elevated level into the future, with home serving as the dominant telework location. These findings suggest that transportation demand forecasting models need to be updated to reflect higher levels of teleworking, as well as the heterogeneity across individuals in teleworking adoption, frequency, and location.
... Although some definitional differences may have developed in the past century, it is clear that the composition of homeworkers changed by 2003; men were more likely to work from home than women (14 per cent and 8 per cent respectively) and the majority of these homeworkers reported that a telephone or computer were necessary for their work. Hotopp (2002) found that one significant contributor to the higher proportion of men working at home was the predominance of selfemployment among men as compared with women. And unlike in 1901, the occupations for men in which working from home was most often reported, such as construction trades and functional managers, were also among those that employed the highest proportion of men. ...
... Homeworking was also briefly mentioned. For a more complete discussion of homeworking in the UK, see Hotopp (2002). Over the coming months a number of articles examining non-standard work will be presented. ...
The proportion of women in the highest ranked female occupation (in terms of numbers employed) has dropped from 31 per cent in 1901 to 9 per cent in 2001. For men, the corresponding proportion has increased 2 percentage points to 6 per cent. ● In 1901 women were more likely to work from home: 9 per cent of women and 2 per cent of men did so. In 2003 the situation was reversed, and 14 per cent of men worked from home compared with 8 per cent of women. ● Almost one-quarter of men voluntarily working part-time said that they did so because they could afford not to work full-time, whereas 41 per cent of women voluntarily working part-time wanted to spend more time with the family. ● Although temporary employment accounts for roughly the same proportion of those in employment in 2003 as in 1993, 28 per cent of those in temporary employment could not find a full-time job – a decrease of 15 percentage points over the decade; 30 per cent of temporary employees wanted this type of work in 2003. ● Young people aged 16 to 19 showed the most significant increase in the proportion working shifts, which rose from one in ten in 1993 to one in five in 2003. Key points Patterns of work are changing, and there may no longer be a standard model. Part-time and temporary work, shift work and a range of flexible working practices are examined in the UK and internationally.
... For this reason 37 per cent of employers in the US offered a teleworking arrangement in 2001, up from 20 per cent in 1997 (Potter, 2003). However, these results proved too optimistic (Mokhtarian, 1991) e recent surveys indicate that teleworkers constitute an impressive 25 per cent of the labour force in the US, around 15 per cent in Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands, around 5e8 per cent in the UK, Japan and Germany, but less than 5 per cent in Italy, Ireland and Spain (Harpaz, 2002;Higa & Wijayanayake, 1998;Hotopp, 2002). 21 One reason seems to be that researchers have underestimated the importance of complex social interactions in the take up of technology (Salomon, 1998). ...
... Overall, teleworking appears to have some potential for reducing carbon emissions in developed countries if the current trends continue e in the UK 2.4 per cent of carbon emissions from cars may be reduced due to teleworking by 2050 (Anderson, 2003, in Gross et al., 2009 and in the US the national energy savings will be at most 1 per cent in an optimistic scenario (Matthews & Williams, 2005). However, since most teleworkers are in managerial and professional occupations (Hotopp, 2002) this potential for energy saving and pollution reduction may be limited in developing countries. ...
Without questioning the fact that to achieve efficiency emitters should pay for the true costs of their actions (a core principle of economic policies such as pollution taxes), we find sufficient evidence in the literature to demonstrate that many other policy instruments can be used in combination with taxes and permits to ensure that the transport needs of the present generation can be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet any needs of their own. The policies and policy aspects considered in this paper broadly fall into three categories: physical policies, soft policies, and knowledge policies. All three aim to bring about changes in consumers' and firms' behaviour, but in different ways. The first category includes policies with a physical infrastructure element: public transport, land use, walking and cycling, road construction, and freight transport. We also consider the particular challenges for mobility in developing countries, and how these may be addressed. Soft policies, on the other hand, are non-tangible aiming to bring about behavioural change by informing actors about the consequences of their transport choices, and potentially persuading them to change their behaviour. These measures include car sharing and car pooling, teleworking and teleshopping, eco-driving, as well as general information and advertising campaigns. Finally, knowledge policies emphasise the important role of investment in research and development for a sustainable model of mobility for the future. The main findings can be summarised as follows.Physical policies An increase in the use of public transport, combined with a decrease in the use of private cars, can reduce traffic congestion and, more importantly, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as public transport generally causes lower CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre than private cars. Public transport fares are subsidised in most places, which can be justified by economies of scale and by the fact that public transport can reduce total road transport externalities. London, Singapore, Portland and Curitiba are all examples of good practice at government level, having achieved reliable, frequent and integrated public transport. Policies to increase public transport use must be part of an integrated policy. Integrated policy refers to integration across different modes of transport, different government objectives (such as the economy, health and the environment), considering the needs of different social groups, and coordinating action between the relevant government institutions. There is evidence that a lack of coordination can jeopardise the achievement of policy objectives. A sustainable model for transport policy also requires integration with land-use policies. These may be somewhat limited within the bounds of existing cities, but as cities grow and new cities are built, urban planners must put more emphasis on land use for sustainable transport in order to reduce congestion and CO2 emissions. Sustainable land-use policy can direct urban development towards a form that allows public transport as well as walking and cycling to be at the core of urban mobility. Walking and cycling, which improve general health and produce no tailpipe emissions, constitute an excellent alternative to motorised transport on short-distance trips within towns and cities. The policies which can incentivise walking and cycling include crime reduction to make streets safer, well-maintained and clean pavements, attractive street furniture, safe crossings with shorter waiting times, dedicated cycle paths, showers in offices, and lower speed limits, to name but a few. Road construction and expansion used to be seen as one of the most promising ways to reduce traffic congestion. However, in the mid-1990s, the issue was reassessed and it was found that building and expanding roads, increased, rather than decreased, congestion, and ultimately induced higher levels of travel demand. The reason for this is that the extra capacity reduces the general cost of travelling and the less expensive the travel, the more it will be demanded. Regarding freight modal shift, road transport is much more polluting than rail per tonne-km of goods transported and therefore a shift towards greater use of rail in freight transport is desirable. Inadequate infrastructure is the main obstacle preventing this modal shift taking place. Developing countries face great mobility challenges: rural areas are often extremely poorly connected to transport infrastructure, such that, in contrast to the situation in developed countries, the benefits of road construction can strongly outweigh the total costs (including environmental ones). The main challenge, however, is to develop a solution to the problems arising from the combination of urbanisation and motorisation. Integration of transport and land-use policy will be key to rising to this challenge.Soft policies Car sharing and car clubs can also potentially reduce CO2 emissions, although the aggregate reduction in congestion and emissions has not been measured with an adequate degree of precision in the literature. Teleworking and teleshopping can potentially reduce congestion and also CO2 emissions. However, the evidence for this reduction is rather mixed, as it is unclear whether these measures lead to overall reductions in road transport. Eco-driving campaigns aim to inform and educate drivers in order to induce them to drive in a fuel-efficient and thus environmentally friendly way. There seems to be some consensus in the literature that eco-driving could lead to reductions in CO2 emissions of around 10 per cent. Information and education policies have often been advocated as instruments which may affect behavioural change. We find in this paper that these types of measures are necessary, but not sufficient for behavioural change. Advertising and marketing may go a long way in changing peoples' behaviour. In California, for example, Kahn (2007) finds the "Prius" effect: the Toyota Prius is preferred by consumers relative to other similarly green vehicles, probably due to extensive marketing and celebrity endorsements. Family life changes are also found to trigger changes in behaviour ([Goodwin, 1989] and [Goodwin, 2008]). People whose lives are being changed by some important development (birth of a child, retirement, etc) tend to respond more to changes in the relative attractiveness of different transport modes. Advertising campaigns promoting a modal shift towards public transport, for instance, may thus be more successful if targeted at people in the process of important life transitions.Knowledge policies Research and Development is crucial for developing sustainable and low-carbon transport for the future, and it is essential that governments provide incentives to undertake R&D, so that new low-carbon technologies in the transport sector can be demonstrated and applied at a large scale. Finally, we consider the issue of policy combination and integration. There is evidence that the combination and integration of policies can lead to positive side-effects and synergies. Policy integration is crucial in order to rise to the challenges we face in moving towards a sustainable mobility model. We conclude that classical economic policies may be successfully combined with a number of policy measures discussed in this paper in order to achieve sustainability in transport.
... Advancement in information technology, personal computers, virtual platforms, and organizational structure have accelerated the expansion of teleworking [1,5,6]. Using different models and perspectives, researchers have examined the potential benefits, pitfalls, and trends of teleworking in different parts of the world [7][8][9][10][11] and personal, motivational, and situational factors that affect teleworking [12][13][14][15][16][17]. There are also comprehensive literature reviews on the experience, challenges, directions, health effects, and other implications of teleworking [18][19][20][21][22][23]. ...
A growing literature has pointed out disparities in teleworking among different racial
and ethnic (hereafter racial) workers. This study estimated racial disparities in teleworking due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the extent to which these disparities were mediated by four-year college education and occupation in the United States. The data source for this study was the Current Population Survey, May 2020 through July 2021. The results showed that in the reduced model, the odds for Black and Hispanic workers to telework were 35% and 55% lower, respectively, and for Asian workers 44% higher than for White workers, controlling for covariates. When four-year college education and occupation were included as mediator variables in the model, the odds for Black
and Hispanic workers to telework were reduced to 7% and 16%, respectively. Overall, disparities in four-year college education and occupation explained 83% and 78% of the variation in the odds of teleworking for Black and Hispanic workers, respectively. Between the mediators, occupation explained more than 60% of the total effect. The results of this study could not rule out the possibility of racial discrimination in teleworking. Ultimately, reducing racial disparities in four-year college education and in different occupations might be a long-term solution for reducing racial disparities in teleworking.
... Mówiąc o formie pracy, warto zwrócić jeszcze uwagę na kolejną kwestię, czyli status zatrudnienia osób pracujących na zasadach telepracy. Wśród różnorodnych definicji telepracy obecnych w literaturze przedmiotu spotykamy skrajne podejścia w tej kwestii: z jednej strony wybrani badacze odmawiają uznania samozatrudnionych za telepracowników (Pyöriä 2003), z kolei z drugiej strony inni twierdzą, że ta forma stosunku pracy jest charakterystyczna dla dużej części telepracowników (Hotopp 2002). ...
Autorzy podejmują niezwykle ważny problem społeczny zjawiska telepracy, która ma niejako uelastyczniać rynek pracy. Próbują przyjąć inną perspektywę w badaniach tego zagadnienia. l to jest bardzo istotna innowacja badawczo-analityczna. Patrzą na problem z punktu widzenia jednostki i z wnętrza sytuacji telepracowania tu i teraz. Publikacja pokazuje, jak przestrzeń domowa jest przekształcana wahadłowo w przestrzeń pracy i przestrzeń zamieszkiwania. Praca w domu rodzi wiele problemów i powstaje konieczność negocjacji i renegocjacji obowiązków, a także znaczenia przestrzeni.
Książka ma charakter demaskatorski i krytyczny [...]. Obala ona stereotypy dotyczące telepracy i pokazuje opresję, którą wyzwala ona na poziomie indywidualnym, rodzinnym i szerzej - nawet całego społeczeństwa.
Z recenzji prof. zw. dr. hab. Krzysztofa T. Koneckiego
... For other industrial sectors, teleworking and home-office may play a more important role. However, this is less pronounced in high-tech manufacturing (e.gHotopp 2002, Pérez et al. 2004. ...
We investigate company foundations in the German micro technology industry by means of a spatial-temporal micro-geographic analysis. In order to deal with our unusually detailed data, we develop a new distance-based framework for a logistic regression that is able to present results in a continuous space. Locations of company foundations are investigated with respect to their spatial proximity to similar firms, patent owners, related industries and research institutions and are benchmarked with the overall distribution of company foundations in Germany. We demonstrate that spatial proximity has a clear influence on where new companies are founded. Furthermore, the influence of proximity to different agents is not constant over times but evolves with the industry’s life cycle.
... This paper follows the emerging trend in the literature that introduces telework as a predominately professional practice for knowledge-workers, who produce and disseminate information through telecommunication (Haddon and Brynin 2005;Hotopp 2002;Pratt 2002). This new trend is different from earlier studies that classified telework as part of a larger set of flexible work arrangements, such as traditional home-working, outworking or remote work (Boris and Daniels 1989;Dam et al. 2010;Rowbotham 1993;Weijers, Weijers, and Soelman 1992). ...
Regardless of recent technological advancement in telecommunication, telework adoption rates worldwide are still lower than initially hoped for. The literature relates this to organizational and institutional barriers of all kinds. This paper seeks to identify the aspects of planning systems that hinder telework at the local community scale. It focuses on empirical data collected from two case studies in Australia and the US in which residential communities - under different planning systems - attempt to attract teleworkers. Findings from both case studies identify some shortcomings in the planning systems, and emphasize the key role of land-use policies and tax based mechanisms in teleworkers’ life/work style.
... To address the complexity and diversity of telework population, some studies challenge the assertion of a universally acceptable telework definition, and argue that project-specific definitions for telework are inevitable (Haddon & Brynin, 2005;Sullivan, 2003). This paper follows the emerging trend in the literature that introduces telework as predominately a professional practice for knowledge-workers who produce and disseminate information through telecommunication (Haddon & Brynin, 2005;Hotopp, 2002;Pratt, 2002). This new trend is different from the earlier studies that classified telework as part of a larger set of flexible work arrangements such as traditional home-working, outworking or remote work (Boris & Daniels, 1989;Rowbotham, 1993;Weijers, et al., 1992). ...
... Moreover, some studies are concerned about a gendered division of employment status of teleworkers (Haddon and Brynin, 2005;Hotopp, 2002), and discuss the exploitation and marginalization of clerical teleworkers who are mostly women (Gurstein, 1996;Tremblay, 2002). These studies mostly define a genderbased differentiation in the telework population in which men predominate in professional managerial roles and women in clerical ones (Bélanger, 1999). ...
This paper refers to the ambiguity that resides in over three decades of telework research and develops the concept of community-based teleworkers as people who work from home or community-based offices using telecommunications. It investigates three case studies of live/work communities in which different levels of collective telework facilities have been offered to support community-based telework. This investigation promotes further understanding of individual and work-related characteristics of community-based teleworkers, and opens discussion on their spatial preferences. Understanding these preferences could lead the future of live/work community design and planning to fully embrace this flexible work option in the information age.
... The UK has also jumped onto the bandwagon when it comes to telecommuting. The Employment Relations Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry observed that the total numbers of teleworkers in the UK in 2001 was 2.2 million (Hotopp, 2002). This figure was about 7.4 per cent of total employment. ...
Purpose – The paper seeks to show how telecommuting can be employed to advantage in the Jamaican library system.
Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire and a literature review were utilized in this research paper. The primary research tool was a 12-question questionnaire that was administered to all levels of library staff across the island. Articles covered in the literature review ranged from 1988 to 2004. This range was used to give a general idea of telecommuting from early on to present day.
Findings – The paper finds that library staff all over Jamaica were interested in the concept of telecommuting.
Originality/value – The paper provides information as to the benefits of incorporating telecommuting into the Jamaican library system.
... First, it charts the extent to which work is being detached from place in the UK. Previous studies have tended to compare the demographic and employment profiles of 'homeworkers' or 'teleworkers' with those working in the conventional workplace (Felstead, 1996;Hakim, 1998;Felstead et al, 2001;Huws et al, 1999;Mitel, 1999;Hotopp, 2002;Haddon and Brynin, 2005). These studies have done much to focus attention on the home as a place of work. ...
... Very few studies have provided recently an analysis of atypical work in Greece from organisational perspective (Koufidou and Mihail, 1999;SBBE, 2000;Papalexandri, 2000;Mihail, 2003). It is estimated (Hotopp, 2002) that in Greece the home-based teleworkers are 6% (SIBIS, 2002) while the proportion of people in employment that could potentially telework is 10.6% (8.8% for men and 13.6% for women). In addition, only 53.7% of the people who are already working and 61.1% of the unemployed are interested in teleworking (SIBIS, 2002). ...
Teleworking is an alternative form of work organisation that incorporates information technology and human resources. The social and earnings impact of teleworking on the economy are sometimes characterised by simple and dismissive arguments. This research is an initial attempt to quantify the results of primary data gathered in one of the poorest EU regions (East Macedonia and Thrace (EM&T) Region, Greece); the findings will also reveal a profile of companies that could successfully deploy a sustainable strategy for teleworking. Although small or medium size companies prevail in this region, almost 1/3 of them have, or, could easily, acquire the essential attributes to carry out teleworking to a certain extent.
... For example, the results from the ECaTT (European Electronic Commerce and Telework Trends) project (European Commision, 2000) found that the percentage of teleworkers in the workforce was 2.8 percent in Spain, but 7.6 percent in the UK and a higher percentage in the US. The latest estimations by the UK Institute of Employment Studies (Hotopp, 2002) indicate that the percentage of the workforce that could potentially telework is 22.6 percent in the UK and 13.5 percent in Spain. These differences can be explained by the occupations considered suited to teleworking in each country (Huws et al., 2001), but they also may be linked to a number of factors, including affordable access to the technology, the national type of welfare regime, the regulatory climate, the prevailing workplace culture and the degree of urbanisation (Huws et al., 1999). ...
Human resource managers are prime decision-makers in the adoption of teleworking. This paper shows the results of an empirical study of the perceptions of HR managers about the feasibility of teleworking within their organizations. Teleworking feasibility is significantly explained by the percentage of tasks suitable to teleworking, the employees’ involvement in task design and programming, the percentage of salespeople in the workforce, the degree of work-location sharing for teleworking, the use of information and communication technologies, and the degree of innovation. HR managers in small companies perceive a greater feasibility than HR managers in large companies.
... For example, the results from the ECaTT (European Electronic Commerce and Telework Trends) project (European Commision, 2000) found that the percentage of teleworkers in the workforce was 2.8 percent in Spain, but 7.6 percent in the UK and a higher percentage in the US. The latest estimations by the UK Institute of Employment Studies (Hotopp, 2002) indicate that the percentage of the workforce that could potentially telework is 22.6 percent in the UK and 13.5 percent in Spain. These differences can be explained by the occupations considered suited to teleworking in each country (Huws et al., 2001), but they also may be linked to a number of factors, including affordable access to the technology, the national type of welfare regime, the regulatory climate, the prevailing workplace culture and the degree of urbanisation (Huws et al., 1999). ...
Teleworking as an integration of information and telecommunication technologies with human resources management, means a new job organisation paradigm for companies working in the new economy. However, there are very few empirical studies that have analysed the teleworking adoption issue from an organisational theory perspective. This paper contributes, with empirical data from industrial and service companies, to the analysis of teleworking diffusion based on hypotheses developed from the agency, institutional and resource-based view theories.
... The findings of our study were based on the results of semi-structured interviews with eight self-employed home-based workers in a rural part of the UK. Teleworking definitions are confused when it comes to a consideration of employment status: although some studies do not consider self-employed workers to be teleworkers (Pyöriä, 2003), others claim that self-employment accounts for a large part of teleworking (Hotopp, 2002). We suggest, however, that there is no reason to exclude selfemployed teleworkers at this stage. ...
This empirical paper analyzes data gathered from self-employed tele-workers, matching this against tele-working's defining characteristics, which appear in the literature. Our evaluation leads us to question whether the term tele-working has lost much of its value in today's working world. We therefore suggest the new term home-anchored worker as a less complex and more useful replacement.
... It is often associated with home-based working, but includes site-to-site electronic working, mobile working, etc." (www.flexibility.co.uk). It may be used with particular reference of people who undertake paid or unpaid work through use of a telephone and computer in their own home (Hotopp, 2002) -A European project evaluating the economic, environmental and social sustainability of tele-working across Europe, using case studies, identified tele-working as a way that "people can more easily optimise their work and non-work requirements." (James, 2004, p31) The examples cited in the report illustrate the positive impact tele-working can have on work-life balance, in enabling: o parents to spend more time with their children o working partners the ability to maximise their schedules o people to "seize opportunities, such as taking time off on a sunny day". ...
This research analyses the current focus on family-friendly offices and develops a set of recommendations for office providers and operators to help them facilitate this new scenario. The main drivers of change towards family friendly offices are social policy, employers and employees.
Demographic changes such as the later transition to parenthood and an increase in the number of older people in society have changed the balance between work and family. Changes in society's values and particularly in gender roles have also driven changes in working practices. Offices are adapting to demands for family-friendly workplaces.
The report concludes with a number of recommendations for action which stakeholders can implement in both the short and long term to promote better work-life integration.
... Note that information about co-workers' effort may depend on features of the work environment which are likely to differ from firm to firm: consider, for example, the phenomenon of teleworking, (i.e. working in locations that are remote from centralised office), which is an emergent and fast-growing trend in labour markets (see, e.g., Hotopp, 2002;Ruiz and Walling, 2005). ...
We investigate the effects of pay comparison information (i.e. information about what co-workers earn) and effort comparison information (information about how co-workers perform) in experimental firms composed of one employer and two employees. Exposure to pay comparison information in isolation from effort comparison information does not appear to affect reciprocity toward employers: in this case own wage is a powerful determinant of own effort, but co-worker wages have no effect. By contrast, we find that exposure to both pieces of social information systematically influences employees’ reciprocity. A generous wage offer is virtually ineffective if an employee is matched with a lazy co-worker who is also paid generously: in such circumstances the employee tends to expend low effort irrespective of her own wage. Reciprocity is more pronounced when the co-worker is hard-working, as effort is strongly and positively related to own wage in this case. Reciprocity is also pronounced when the employer pays unequal wages to the employees: in this case the co-worker’s effort decision is disregarded and effort decisions are again strongly and positively related to own wage. On average exposure to social information weakens reciprocity, though we find substantial heterogeneity in responses across individuals, and find that sometimes social information has beneficial effects. We suggest that group composition may be an important tool for harnessing the positive effects of social comparison processes.
Key Concepts in Work clearly and concisely explains the central ideas, debates, and theories of work. Authors Paul Blyton and Jean Jenkins offer a broad overview of the social, political, and economic contexts of work illustrated from diverse industrial societies. Each entry begins with a snapshot definition followed by key words and guidance for further reading. This book inspires students to engage in further exploration of ideas and debates. It is an essential reference guide for all students in sociology, business studies, and management learning about work, employment, organizations, and labor markets.
This chapter examines the nature of trust from a number of theoretical bases, with reference to remote workers more often referred to as teleworkers or telecommuters. It examines the relationship between a manager and the remote worker (teleworker). It is concerned with the nature and conditions of trust rather than an examination of the importance of trust or how trust can be created. As well as examining the bases of trust, the chapter examines different levels of trust that can support a teleworking relationship. It draws a distinction between individual and organizational trust and between the conscious and unconscious states of trust. It concludes with a conceptual model that provides a framework to explain some of the anomalies and confusion in the debate regarding the nature of trust in teleworking arrangements. The chapter also suggests how the model may be used to analyze trust in these remote working arrangements and as a framework on which to build trust using different bases and at different levels.
Award-winning psychologist Peter Warr explores why some people at work are happier or unhappier than others. He evaluates different approaches to the definition and assessment of happiness, and combines environmental and person-based themes to explain differences in people’s experience. A framework of key job characteristics is linked to an account of primary mental processes, and those are set within a summary of demographic, cultural, and occupational patterns. Consequences of happiness or unhappiness for individuals and groups are also reviewed, as is recent literature on unemployment and retirement. Although primarily focusing on job situations, the book shows that processes of happiness are similar across settings of all kinds. It provides a uniquely comprehensive assessment of research published across the world.
Private sector commercial property represents some 400 bn, or 34% of total UK business assets and is a vital fabric for housing commercial enterprise. Yet social and economic forces for change, linked with new technology, are making owners and occupiers question the very nature and purpose of property and real estate. Printing, steam power; canals and railroads; mass media and, more recently, information and communications technology (ICT) have brought about major changes in both organisational and economic structures over the centuries. On the one hand, there has been much hype about the role that ICT would play in eliminating the need for physical real estate space; and on the other, some have suggested that institutional factors and fixed costs mitigate against transformative change in real estate. Building on the authors' own research and a growing body of new, international findings in the field, the book provides a balanced view between these two positions. It will demonstrate how ICT affects the shape and form of real estate in our towns and cities, with other forces in the new economy. The book: Examines how ICT and organisational change, combined with social, political and economic factors, affects real estate space demand analyses how real estate strategies are changing to reflect these trends shows how technology affects the geography and space of real estate and infrastructure in our towns and cities. investigates future urban shape and form.
This article focuses on ‘connected freelancers’ as a category of teleworkers and examines the pressures placed on their work-home balance by their relationship with clients. Based on diaries, questionnaires and interviews, it reveals that, while connected freelancers do not generally work excessively long hours, they do work irregular hours. This is because ‘work always wins’ in a conflict with domestic commitments, a phenomenon the article dubs ‘client colonisation’. Client colonisation was a source of anxiety for respondents, who found themselves continually thinking about the current and future projects on which their livelihoods depend. The article illustrates the porous ways in which they interleave work with non-work activities and contrasts traditional ‘monochronic’ forms of work with emerging ‘polychronic’ forms, which erode work-home boundaries. It concludes that a new model of work—one in which individual patterns of control over work-home balance are paramount—already coexists alongside traditional models but is still insufficiently socially understood and accepted.
This article aims to assess the extent to which connectivity technology has contributed to home-based business activities of women in the North East of England. Based on an empirical survey of 98 women-owned home-based businesses, the article concludes that technology has reframed the concept of ‘home economics’, providing an effective medium for engaging women in the labour market. The article argues that home-based business venturing needs to be further promoted via appropriate policy channels and support networks as a viable and serious employment opportunity, as well as a solution to dual-role conflict experienced by some women who may otherwise be deterred from playing active roles in the local and regional economic development.
It is often suggested that work is changing rapidly and that working in a fixed place, such as an office, is a thing of the past for a growing number of workers. By piecing together a variety of UK surveys of both employers and workers, this article shows that while work is being detached from conventional places of work, it is happening at a much slower rate than some claims suggest. The article also discusses the consequences these changes have for how and what individuals learn at work, and in particular, how individuals cope with working in a number of contrasting locations.
In this theoretical article we propose an approach to the spatial implications of homeworking derived from the work of social theorist Henri Lefebvre. By highlighting the processes involved in the inherently contested and (re)constructed nature of space in the demarcated home/work environment we draw on Lefebvre to suggest a collapse of this demarcation. We consider the impact of such a collapse on questions relating to the rewards and challenges of home-based work for both workers and their co-residents. In contrast to our approach to the spatial implications of home-based work derived from Lefebvre, we argue that a traditional, Euclidean conception of space risks ignoring the important, symbolic nature of social space to the detriment of both the effective research and practice of homeworking.
(uploaded version is not the final published version)
In this paper, we present the concept of telecentres as an aid to socio-economic development in deprived rural and urban areas, and analyse the use of information technology in these workplaces. Numerous public and not-for-profit organisations are subsidising these initiatives as pilot development aid projects on a international scale. We have undertaken an empirical study on a Spanish scale with the following objectives: to know how many telecentres exist in Spain; to identify their state, category and organizational characteristics; to discover what services they offer; to determine the marketing strategies they employ; and to identify the principal factors that determine their success.
As home-based teleworking grows in the UK, more evidence is needed of how working from home shapes the employment relationship and the implications this may have for those line managers responsible for a home-based workforce. The reported experiences of a sales team and their line managers at one large international drinks manufacturing company of teleworking during its first year of operation revealed the importance of developing understanding of the complex interface between the domains of work and home life. The findings suggest individual circumstances require close attention before implementing home-based working with line managers recalibrating perceptions of the boundaries between home and work for positive employee relationships to develop within a new paradigm of “home-work” relations.
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to research the stress caused to small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) staff by online collaboration. It aims to investigate online team roles as possible stressors.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on research carried out on online collaborative teams by the authors in the Open University Business School, and on existing literature on stress and collaboration. The paper uses MTR‐i™, a commercially used team role analysis tool, and Myers‐Briggs personality types to postulate reasons for stress caused by online collaboration in SMEs.
Findings
If team roles are not taken into account then the entrepreneurial members of an SME team may well find online collaboration stressful and so may not be able to fully participate in collaboration, or support others to do so.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of the research are that so far the research has been carried out on relatively small numbers. A much wider scale study is needed.
Practical implications
The research so far indicates that online collaborative learning in SMEs (whether formal, or informal) needs to take into account the team roles usually carried out by individuals at work if full use is to be made of in order to optimise online collaboration.
Originality/value
This paper links Myers‐Briggs personality types to the ability of SMEs and entrepreneurs to collaborate online. It will inform educators and SME entrepreneurs.
This paper reports the empirical findings of several surveys conducted among enterprises in Portugal in order to identify and summarise relevant enablers and constraints that may influence the implementation of telework in the Portuguese business environment. It also provided some common characteristics that will help us draw the profile of a Portuguese potential teleworker.
This paper examines the use of connectivity technologies among 80 small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the North East of England. The paper demonstrates that translation of connectivity technologies into e-flexible working practices is highly dependent on the firm's organisational structure and managerial capacity.
Purpose
– The paper seeks to show how telecommuting can be employed to advantage in the Jamaican library system.
Design/methodology/approach
– A questionnaire and a literature review were utilized in this research paper. The primary research tool was a 12‐question questionnaire that was administered to all levels of library staff across the island. Articles covered in the literature review ranged from 1988 to 2004. This range was used to give a general idea of telecommuting from early on to present day.
Findings
– The paper finds that library staff all over Jamaica were interested in the concept of telecommuting.
Originality/value
– The paper provides information as to the benefits of incorporating telecommuting into the Jamaican library system.
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