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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Teleworking
This report brings together data from two surveys which included complementary questions on teleworking to both business owners and individuals. Data on individuals was sourced from the Sensis ®Consumer Report, which surveys 1500 consumers and data on businesses was sourced from the Sensis ® Business Index, which surveys 1800 small and medium enterprise (SME) owners. For this survey, teleworking was defined as working away from your usual workplace during normal business hours aided by some form of technology.
The extent of teleworking
In summary, these surveys found that 30 per cent of individuals that were either employed either in their own or someone else’s business reported teleworking to some extent. Demographics more likely to telework included males (37 per cent), those in their 30s (42 per cent), those employed full time (33 per cent) and those that owned their own business (42 per cent). Whilst teleworking was defined as taking place during normal business hours, only 27 per cent of those in the workforce reported that they never worked outside these hours just to get through their standard workload.
Australian businesses have likewise embraced teleworking, with over one-third (34 per cent) reporting that they had employees that teleworked. Positively, in terms of business performance, SMEs that had teleworking employees reported significantly higher levels of confidence than those that did not embrace teleworking. Apart from business confidence, teleworking businesses also performed higher in other performance indicators, most notably sales and profitability.
The impact of teleworking
Overall, the study found an overwhelmingly positive impact for teleworking, both from individuals and businesses. However, on balance, businesses reported even higher levels of satisfaction with teleworking than individuals, with individuals facing some negative consequences, while the business experience had almost no downside. Coupled with the higher performance levels of businesses that teleworked, the case for introducing teleworking in the business environment is particularly strong.
For individuals, 62 per cent of those that had teleworked reported a positive impact, and 73 per cent of businesses that had teleworking employees reported a positive impact. The key positive impacts reported by individuals were that it was more flexible and convenient, gave them an option to work from home and outside the office and increased productivity. Business owners cited the ability to access information from anywhere, improved productivity and time saving as the top positive impacts of teleworking.
In terms of negative aspects of teleworking, 13 per cent of individuals reported a negative impact from teleworking, with the main negative impacts being a belief that it had not increased productivity, they had had to work longer hours and it meant that they had less time to spend with their families. Only one per cent of businesses reported negative impacts from teleworking, which had been that they could not effectively manage their staff when they were working at home.
While the case for businesses to introduce teleworking was strong, only a further four per cent were currently looking at doing so. This compares to one-quarter of individuals that would like to telework. This included some individuals that were not currently in the workforce, but would like to telework, making the increased options available through teleworking important for future workforce expansion.
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