Teleworking is for business reasons not employee welfare

Cost
factors are more important than staff demands for work-life balance in the
adoption of teleworking, claims a report.

The
IRS Home Teleworking Survey suggests that teleworking is driven by hard
business reasoning rather than concern for employees’ welfare.

The
report came to this conclusion after the 215 employers polled ranked
"closing an office" and "using space more efficiently" in
the top three reasons for introducing the flexible working arrangement.

This
trend looks like continuing with five out of six employers planning to increase
the number of teleworking employees.

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The
report also suggests that employers leave teleworkers to fend for themselves.

Half
expect teleworkers to carry out their own health and safety risk assessment.
Less than half have drafted formal policies covering teleworking and only one
in four employers with recognised trade unions have negotiated special
arrangements.