An extension of the telecottages is the televillage, where each homes computer is connected to the village network, enabling the whole community to develop towards future work and lifestyles for the networked economy. A televillage combining rural lifestyles with excellent access to the Information Highway is being developed near Crickhowell (Wales)
Advantages
Benefits to employers:
Teleworking offers many benefits to employers, the biggest being that they can cut property costs dramatically yet, still have workers based near customers or suppliers without the disruption of external influences such as transport strikes or severe weather.
Of the companies using teleworking 77% believe it is more productive than working solely from company office, with increases of 40% reported
It also enables employers to retain or attract those people with specialised/scarce skills who may be in a different geographical locality.
Companies can enhance their customer service with virtual call centres which make Services available to customers outside normal office hours. The AA for example is about to close its Leeds call centre and increase its home based team to 150 – BT and Lloyds TSB are also including home working into their initiatives for more flexible forms of working.
Benefits to employees:
Employees can benefit from flexible hours thereby achieving a better balance of work and family life. More importantly, they can benefit from improved work opportunities as a result of not being restricted by commuting distance with none of the travelling time and costs.
Social and economic benefits:
Teleworking also has wider social and economic benefits for example reducing the environmental impact of car travel and by giving access to work for people with specific difficulties- disabilities, single parents and carers. It also gives wider employment/work opportunities to the extent of worldwide
Disadvantages
Telework only yields benefits when applied in the right circumstances and in the right way. Not all tasks are suitable for telework, they need to be able to be performed in distributed self managing environments. Many homes are not suitable or equipped for home telework, for example 30% of teleworkers work in their living room.
Who pays the cost incurred I.e. phones, equipment, insurance? Some companies supply all the equipment and cover the phone costs- what about heating and electric ? Other companies contract people who are then considered self-employed and as a result it is the teleworker who has these additional costs.
Home based telework is inappropriate for some people, for example those with poor personal motivation. It can also lead to social isolation and is not recommended for young people entering work for the first time who may benefit greatly from working in a conventional team setting in their early years. Going to work is an important part of their lives and the place of work is where they make friends and develop social skills and contacts. Telecentres approach may address some but not all of these issues. However this said, we need to promote awareness and understanding of these new methods or else risk losing job opportunities to more innovative economies.
Conclusion - How should schooling prepare pupils for this future?
There are concerns about job destruction, however Telework and the technology that supports it are neutral – they neither create job opportunities nor destroy them – they present opportunities. Although Evidence from history strongly suggests that the diffusion of significant new technologies is associated with significant economic growth
The employment department recognises that teleworking can help British businesses maintain their competitiveness by widening the range of choice for individuals and businesses and they encourages managers to examine this option.
The concept of teleworking sounds like a godsend – you can avoid unproductive commuting time, shape your working environment as you wish and work more productively with less distractions so you have more time for pursuing other interests. However, many companies need to wake up to the advantages that teleworking can offer before the dream becomes reality.