1. Teleworking

The introduction of ICT has led to a big change in the way some people work.

Because of the Internet and the ability to communicate with the company network from anywhere in the world, many workers now work part time or full time from home.

courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

However, it has not become mainstream by any means. The technology is there - fast networks, real-time video feeds, email, instant messaging, secure connections and so on. But a survey by Telework Research Network indicated that only 2.5% (3 million people) consider home to be their main place of work (excluding self-employed or unpaid volunteers) and yet in a CBI survey in 2011 a total of 59% of employers offer teleworking as a choice - up from 13% in 2006.

There is no fixed definition of teleworking, but the essential feature is the use of information technology to enable people to work away from the office.

This could apply to people working full time or part-time at home, those dividing their time between home and the office, and mainly mobile workers who use their home as an administrative base.

It is estimated that the average person spends around 4 hours travelling to work each week. That is a lot of time sitting in a car or train! So why isn't teleworking more popular?

Read the rest of this mini-web to understand the issues.