The content on this page and other DCITA document archive pages is provided to assist research and may contain references to activities or policies that have no current application. See the full archive disclaimer.
Teleworking and business performance
Teleworking and business performance
The Sensis® Business Index regularly tracks the confidence of businesses every quarter. In May 2005, the Sensis® Business Index found that net confidence among the Australian SME community was net 52 per cent. When one examines the confidence levels of teleworking businesses compared to those that do not telework, it can be seen that businesses with teleworking are more likely to feel confident about their business prospects for the next year than those that do not telework (net 61 per cent compared to net 47 per cent).
Apart from business confidence, the May 2005 Sensis® Business Index found higher net balance results across all performance indicators for SMEs that had teleworking. The gap in these performance indicators was most noted for sales (19 percentage point difference); profitability (13 percentage point difference); and wages (10 percentage point difference). On top of this, SMEs that teleworked were also more likely to export than those that did not (16 per cent compared to 11 per cent).
In interpreting this data, it is important to keep in mind the context of the operating environment for businesses at the time. The May 2005 Sensis® Business Index found that SMEs were operating at the stage of the business cycle which was just past its peak. Whilst confidence was not weak, it had dropped significantly from historically high levels that had been consistently recorded for the year previously. Indicators such as sales and profitability had recorded significant falls, with employment, a lagging indicator, still at historically high levels.
In this context, it can be seen that those SMEs that teleworked had managed to record consistently higher performance, particularly across sales and profitability as well as general business confidence, than their non-teleworking counterparts.
Open an enlarged version of this table
Open an enlarged version of this table
Back to The incidence of teleworking in Australian businesses | Table of contents | Forward to Teleworking characteristics