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Australian Telework Advisory Committee (ATAC), Terms of Reference
Australian Telework Advisory Committee (ATAC), Terms of Reference
The Government's ICT election policy, Connecting an Innovative Australia, committed to:
... establish a Teleworking and Home-based Business Taskforce-a group of relevant Government agencies, industry and small business representatives-to examine and advise Government on any impediments to the development of more home-based work and teleworking options for Australians and businesses seeking to provide more flexible workplaces for their employees. (19 September 2004)
As a result, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations have established ATAC.
Telework refers to work activities undertaken in which the location of the work is independent of the location of the employer or contractor. In the context of this review telework arrangements are specifically intended to include:
- work activities performed by employees from home, including as a means toward improving work/life balances;
- work activities performed in 'satellite' working centres, such as those undertaken by the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority; and
- home-based work, including by the self-employed.
While not the focus of this review, telework arrangements are also sometimes defined to include:
- 'time-shifting' arrangements, including workers collaborating with colleagues based in different time-zones; and
- out-sourced operations, including by work teams located off-shore and collaborating across international boundaries and time-zones.
Telework generally relies on the use of ICT to facilitate communications between remote workers and central work locations. A significant focus of this review includes the consideration of flexible working practices that are supported by broadband connectivity, including the use of high-speed Internet, multi-party videoconferencing, virtual collaboration and 3G hand-help access technologies.
ATAC is required to provide specific advice on:
- the current status of telework in Australia and overseas;
- emerging telework trends in both the public and private sectors;
- outcomes that would flow from an accelerated uptake of telework arrangements in the Australian workforce, including:
- analysis of social and/or economic costs and benefits; and
- providing quantitative analysis where possible; - the range of issues affecting telework take-up, including cultural, technical, regulatory and others drivers and impediments; and
- recommendations designed to promote the effective adoption of telework arrangements, including through the development of market-based strategies.