Mobile Working Experiences
The realities of remote working
Wednesday 11 July 2007, 12:03 PM
What is holding back mobile working?
The fact is that the technology exists but many companies are hesistant about providing this to employees. Why is this? and why is public policy not providing more support to flexible working?
According to research from Citrix, just 43% of UK SMBs (excl, plumbers, decorators and other SOHOs) have the right facilities in place to enable flexible working, compared to 75% of corporates. Admittedly Citrix have an agenda / product to sell (this type of vendor research is never done purely for the greater good...) but nonetheless it does beg the question why are more SMBs not doing more to encourage flexible working? It is perk for employees and a potential cost saving in office space for employers. Is the stereotype of bosses as control freaks true? or are they just sensitive to undermining company culture? do they lack the expertise to manage the technology?
Taking a wider view, it suprises me that the government is not doing more. If more people worked from home then it could reduce the number of commuter journeys and have environmental benefits in terms of cars on the road and carbon emission levels. Yet anyone wanting to use their home for work risks certain drawbacks:
- insurers will often view the property as commercial premises and refuse to cover work related equipment or charger higher premiums
- utlities providers may seek to charge commercial rates for anyone working from home resulting in higher bills
- an employer may not reimburse the employee for the costs they incur for working from home or may have to pay business rates for home premises
What more could employers and the government do to support flexible working? Why not apply similar tax breaks to those for car sharing or cycling to work?
PreviousComments on this post
How about this for a reason? "The difficulty related to supervising remote workers is one of the top reasons why many organizations shy away from nomadic working arrangements."
That's from a paper by two American academics, Lei-da Chen and Ravi Nath, who looked into what kind of support is needed within organisations to make flexible working work. (See the paper here: http://www.infosectoday.com/IT%20Today/Nomadic%20Culture.htm). Basically, bosses said they liked to have workers where they could see them--haven't we all heard something like that before?
The authors make the point that getting behind flexible working calls for a lot of adjustment on the part of employers. They have to change expectations, authority structures and attitudes--in fact, revamp the company's culture. Otherwise, the support provided will be only superficial.
Given that huge shift, though, it's maybe not surprising that many companies are daunted by a true move to mobile working.
As remote working helps people to have a better personal and family life while putting in a lot of hours, in addition to the benefits you mention, they may be persuaded eventually.
