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The desire to telework

Whilst teleworking was more likely to benefit businesses and did have some downsides reported for individuals, of those that did not currently telework, one-quarter reported that they would like to telework. The demographics that were more likely than average to report wanting to telework were males (28 per cent), those under 40 (34 per cent) and employees (26 per cent of full-time employees and 28 per cent of part-time employees). Considering the importance currently placed on increasing the workforce to counter the impact of an ageing demographic, 12 per cent of those who are currently retired said that they would like to telework.

The main barrier to individuals teleworking was that the type of work they were doing did not allow for teleworking (26 per cent). Interestingly, 18 per cent of those that expressed a desire to telework said that the main barrier was that they were not currently in the workforce, providing options to expand the workforce to additional demographics if teleworking was more readily available.

Looking at the demographics of those who gave this response found that just over one-quarter (26 per cent) were retired, 28 per cent were currently involved in full-time education, 22 per cent were unemployed and actively looking for work, and 27 per cent reported that they were responsible for looking after the home. They were also likely to have household incomes of less than $25,000 per annum.

Other reasons that individuals gave for not teleworking were that it was not possible with their current employer (11 per cent) and they did not have the equipment they needed to telework (nine per cent).

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• Document ID: 33087 |
• Last modified: 5 February 2008, 3:27pm