TELEWORKING AT BT

- The Economic, Environmental and SocialImpacts of its workabout Scheme

Report on Survey Results

14/10/2002

Dr. Peter Hopkinson, Professor Peter Jamesand Takao Maruyama

University of BradfordSustainIT

Department of Environmental Science, University of Bradford, Bradford, WestYorkshire BD7 1DPTel: +44 (0)1274 235393 E-mail: p.g.hopkinson@bradford.ac.uk

SustainIT is a unit of the UK Centre for Economic and EnvironmentalDevelopment, Suite 1, Priestgate House, 3/7 Priestgate, Peterborough PE11JN Tel: +44 (0)1733 311644 www.sustainit.org

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Contents

Highlights ......................................................................................................................3Teleworking is Generally Positive for BT Staff and Society as a Whole ............3Teleworking Increases Productivity and Reduces Absenteeism – But AlsoIncreases Working Hours........................................................................................4Teleworking Reduces Travel – But Not Always ...................................................4Some Questions Remain Unanswered....................................................................5

Introduction...................................................................................................................61. Typology of Teleworkers...........................................................................................72. Social and Personal Impacts ....................................................................................9

2.1 Teleworking and Quality of Life ......................................................................92.2 Motivations to, and Concerns about, Telework ............................................152.3 Teleworkers and Domestic Activities .............................................................162.4 Social Inclusion ................................................................................................192.5 Community Involvement.................................................................................21

3. Economic Impacts of Teleworking.........................................................................233.1 Increased productivity.....................................................................................233.2 Most Teleworkers Work for Longer ..............................................................283.3 Absenteeism......................................................................................................323.4 Career Development ........................................................................................33

4. Transport Impacts of Teleworking.........................................................................33Mode of Travel .......................................................................................................334.1 Travel Effects of Different Kinds of Teleworking ........................................334.2 Increases in Personal and Work-Related Travel ..........................................35

5. Conclusions .............................................................................................................36Appendix – Details of the Survey ...............................................................................38

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Highlights

BT is participating in a European project on sustainable teleworking, financedby the Commission’s IST initiative.1 This report summarises one of the firstoutputs from the project, an on-line survey of staff registered with workabout,BT’s official teleworking scheme. Answers were received from 1874 people –a very satisfactory response rate of 36.5% of the overall sample of 5128 staffsurveyed.

Teleworking is Generally Positive for BT Staff and Society as a Whole

Most of the questions related to the personal and social impacts ofteleworking. The majority of respondents felt that this was giving them a betterlife:

85% felt that their quality of life was good or very good

82% felt that teleworking was important or very important to theirquality of life

73% felt that their work-life balance was good or very good

90% were satisfied or very satisfied with teleworking.

A small minority of respondents felt that teleworking was having negativeeffects on their quality of life, mainly because of increased working hours.

The majority (81%) of recent Workabout registrants felt their expectations ofthe benefits of teleworking had been met. However, 19% of respondents werefinding the drawbacks more significant than expected. The main reason givenwas difficulty in adjusting to the lack of social interaction.

The survey also examined motivations to telework and found that:

The highest ranked was getting more work done, with 83% ofrespondents stating that this was very important

Only 46% of respondents stating that more time for themselves wasvery important

Only 25% of respondents stated that making it easier to help withcaring responsibilities was very important (even though 58% ofrespondents had dependent children).

In addition:

33% of respondents stated that their contribution to domestic activityhad increased

1 See www.sustel.org for more information on the project.

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14% reported that it had made it easier to become involved incommunity activities

10% believed that they would be unable to do their present job ifunable to telework.

Hence BT teleworking is positively contributing to work-life balance,community development and social inclusion.

Teleworking Increases Productivity and Reduces Absenteeism – ButAlso Increases Working Hours

78% of teleworkers considered themselves to be more productive. The mainreasons were reduced disruption, reduced commuting time and stress andgreater flexibility about when and where to work.

22% of teleworkers said that they had worked at home during their last typicalworking month when they felt too ill to travel to work.

However, 69% of respondents stated that their working hours had increased,with 45% of respondents reporting an increase of more than 9 hours perweek. How can this paradox of higher quality of life but increased workinghours be explained? One reason is reduced time commuting, which can freetime for both work and private life, and also greatly reduce stress. Another isthe ability to multi-task – for example, hanging out washing during breaks – sothat there is more quality time at the evening or weekends.

Teleworking Reduces Travel – But Not Always

Teleworking certainly reduces commuting travel:

74% of new registrants say that travel reduction was an importantfactor in their decision to telework

47% of those still commuting say that their commute travel hasdecreased and only 6% say that it has increased

The average reduction in car commuting is 178 miles per week, and forrail 220 miles

27% of respondents felt that teleworking had decreased in-work travelcompared to 13% who felt that that it had increased.

However, the survey found that that there are at least seven different kinds ofteleworker within BT, with considerable differences in travel and other areasbetween them.

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46% of BT teleworkers working at home when they would otherwise haveworked elsewhere use their cars for additional journeys, demonstrating thatthis can offset some commuting savings.

Some Questions Remain Unanswered

The survey suggests that BT needs to conduct further research to:

1. Compare a sample of teleworkers with non-teleworkers so thateffects created by teleworking can be distinguished from those createdby more general organisational changes

2. Better understand the environmental and social impacts ofteleworkers who are not registered with workabout (which is probably amuch larger proportion of BT teleworkers)

3. Gain a more detailed understanding of the impacts of different kindsof teleworker

4. Confirm whether teleworkers are working longer hours in total, andwhether, if this is the case, anything can or should be done to helpthem to avoid this.

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Introduction

BT is one of Europe's leading providers of telecommunications servicesand has around 108,000 employees. The company began implementingtelework schemes in 1990 and now probably has the largest number ofteleworkers of any UK organisation.2 Over 5000 of these are registered withthe focus of this study, the workabout scheme. This voluntary schemeprovides equipment and other support to teleworkers who are giving up apermanent BT office space to move to a home-based, mobile working pattern.

The main reasons for BT’s encouragement of teleworking have been:

Cost control, particularly through reducing expenditure on officeaccommodation and increasing productivity (the workabout scheme isadministered by BT’s Property function)

Working conditions, aimed at improving general employee attendance,morale, recruitment and retention by giving them more control over thelocation and timing of work

Productivity, concerned with encouraging more efficient and effectiveworking by employees

A desire to demonstrate that teleworking can work so that otherorganisations will be encouraged to adopt it

A belief that teleworking can create considerable environmental andsocial benefits such as reduced travel and a better work-life balance foremployees.

To substantiate this belief BT's Environment Unit has commissioned twosurveys of new registrants to workabout.3 These surveys focused on travelimpacts so that there remained some uncertainty about social impacts. Anopportunity to address these arose through BT’s participation in SUSTEL, aEuropean Union project on sustainable teleworking.4 Part of its research is acomparative survey of teleworkers in the five partner countries. As part of thequestionnaire development process for this, BT agreed to survey all the 5128BT employees then registered with workabout.

The workabout registrants were e-mailed in March 2002 and asked to fill in anon-line questionnaire on an independent third party web site established bythe report authors. Completed questionnaires were received from 1874 staffby the cut-off date. Although not all respondents answered every question, itis still one of the largest surveys of its kind ever undertaken. The response

2 BT itself rarely uses the term teleworking, but sees it as one aspect of abroader commitment to flexible working.3 See www.sustainit.org for further details of these surveys.4 See www.sustel.org for further details of the project.

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rate of 36.5% is also very satisfactory for this kind of research. The appendixprovides full details of the survey.

The following sections describe the results of the survey. The analysis isillustrated by comments made by respondents. To retain authenticity, theseare reproduced as written except for occasional corrections of misspellings.

1. Typology of Teleworkers

The previous BT surveys suggested that people telework in different ways sofor this survey a simple classification scheme was developed, with sevencategories. As table 1 indicates, most respondents were able to identify withone of the seven categories indicating that the typology is reasonably robust.The fact that all the categories are present is an extremely important point asworking styles are important determinants of a number of environmental andsocial outcomes such as travel and community involvement. The fact thatover half the respondents work at multiple locations and have high levels ofin-work travel also demonstrates the importance of gaining a more detailedunderstanding of each of the sub-groups.

Table 1 A Typology of BT Teleworkers

Category of teleworker Number Percentagea Primarily work in a main BT office but regularlyspend days/ half days working at home. Relativelysmall amount of in-work travel.

16 0.9%

b Mixed working locations split between home andmain BT office (on average more than one day a weekin each of the two different locations). Relatively smallamount of in-work travel.

63 3.4%

c Mixed working locations split between home andmain BT office (on average more than one day a weekin each of the two different locations). Relatively largeamount of in-work travel.

79 4.3%

d Mixed working locations split between home andmultiple BT offices (i.e. no main BT office). 460 25.1%

e Mixed working locations split between home, BToffices and customers premises 350 19.1%

F Home working at start and finish of most workingdays, on the road during the day routinely visitingcustomers and clients. One day or less on average inBT offices

226 12.3%

g Primarily work at home with occasional days/halfdays in BT offices for team meetings, training etc 576 31.4%

h None of the above - I do not consider myself to be ateleworker. 4 0.2%

i None of the above for other reasons - 59 3.2%TOTAL 1833 100.0%

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There is also considerable turnover between the individual teleworking styles.24% of respondents had changed their style in the past 12 months, and 10%expected to do so in future. The main reason for this is the move from‘occasional’ teleworking styles that maintain a fixed office to ones which aresome combination of home and mobile working.

The questionnaire requested information as to where teleworkers worked. Astable 2 shows, 56% of respondents spent more than half their time working athome.

Table 2 Proportion of Week Spent Working At Home

Proportion ofWorking WeekSpent at Home

Number Percentage

0% 69 3.7%0-10% 54 2.9%

10.1-20% 237 12.7%20.1-30% 171 9.2%30.1-40% 297 15.9%40.1-50% 209 11.2%50.1-60% 240 12.9%60.1-70% 115 6.2%70.1-80% 223 12.0%80.1-90% 65 3.5%

90.1-100% 186 10.0%TOTAL 1866 100.0%

77% of respondents stated that they had flexibility in where to work so thisbalance gives a good indication of their personal choices. This is borne out bytable 3. This summarises people’s answers to a question about the singlemost important factor which influenced their decision to work at home.

Table 3 Reasons for Working at Home

Reasons for Working at Home Number PercentageNeed to concentrate (1) 319 22.9%

Prefer to work at home (2) 641 46.1%Access to people (4) 165 11.9%

Transport issues (6) 97 7.0%

Other (9) 74 5.3%Access to information (3) 44 3.2%

Family Issues (7) 43 3.1%Illness (8) 6 0.4%

Weather conditions (5) 2 0.1%

TOTAL 1391 100.0%

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2. Social and Personal Impacts

The questionnaire explored in detail three ways in which teleworking relates tothe social pillar of sustainable development:

Impacts on the quality of life of individuals and their families (discussedin sections 2.1 to 2.3)

Impacts on social inclusion (discussed in section 2.4)

Impacts on community involvement (discussed in section 2.5).

2.1 Teleworking and Quality of Life

The majority of respondents felt that they had a better life through teleworkingthan if they commuted to an office. For example:

85% (1520) of the 1779 respondents to the question ‘overall how wouldyou judge your quality of life over the past 12 months’ stated that it wasgood or very good

Only 5% (95) of respondents felt that it was low or very low5

82% (1455) of the 1779 respondents to the question ‘how important isteleworking to your overall quality of life’ replied that it was important orvery important

Only 12% (221) felt that teleworking was unimportant or veryunimportant to their quality of life6

73% of 1179 respondents to the question ‘overall how would you judgeyour current balance between your working life and other aspects ofyour life’ felt that it was good or very good7

90% (1601) of 1779 respondents to the question ‘overall how satisfiedare you teleworking over the past 12 months’ were satisfied or verysatisfied

Only 5% (89) were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.8

Some representative comments on the topic were:

5 The remaining 164 (9%) felt that it was neither good nor bad6 The remaining 103 (6%) felt that it was neither important nor unimportant.7 The remaining 242 (14%) felt that it was neither good nor bad.8 The remaining 89 (5%) felt that it was neither good nor bad.

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I have peace, quiet, no interruptions and flexibility, e.g. I can sit downat midnight for 3 hours and concentrate and lie in bed the next morningif I wish.

I am happier, more organised and generally more productive/ efficient.

The ability to vary tasks whilst at home allow thinking time, additionallybenefiting those at home (have lunch with the children, for example).This promotes a feel-good and positive attitude and equips oneself forthe tasks at hand.

I believe that by managing my time around what I have to do I canspend more time with family, be less stressed and hence more focusedand productive when carrying my work.

Due to not having to commute I now have time at the beginning andend of the day for Domestic duties. This is very helpful to my workingwife and thus reduces her stress and workload, which in turn helps usboth. We therefore spend more quality time together.

The following pages discuss many of these points in greater detail. They alsoprovide comments from the small minority of respondents who did feel thatteleworking was having negative effects on their life.

To explore the reasons for the generally positive responses about quality oflife, we asked respondents to state their agreement or disagreement withvarious statements about the personal impacts of teleworking (see table 4).9

The highest levels of positive response are to statements about work-relatedbenefits, with:

92% agreeing that they feel more productive

89% saying that they have more control over their working environment

87% believing that they have increased their work flexibility.

Some other interesting points to emerge from the responses are:

85% of respondents also strongly or completely agree that they havereduced stress of commuting, but only 44% feel the same about stressexperienced in offices - presumably because many work-relatedstresses are independent of working location.

For a significant minority teleworking is not creating more personal time- 16% or respondents disagree that teleworking is giving them more

9 To enable international comparison the form of these statements was takenfrom a US survey conducted in the mid 1990s. A later, more detailed, reportfor the SUSTEL project will discuss the comparative findings.

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time to themselves, and 13% disagree that it is giving them more timefor their families.

A minority do feel that they have lost some benefits from commuting –35% agree that they have lost a useful transition from home to office.

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Table 4 Views of the Whole Sample on the Benefits of Teleworking

Factor Do NotAgree

AgreeSlightly

AgreeStrongly

AgreeCompletely

I am more productive 1.3% 6.8% 49.2% 42.7%I have more control over my physicalworking environment

2.4% 9.0% 46.3% 42.3%

I have reduced stress of commuting 3.3% 11.6% 43.0% 42.1%I have increased my work flexibility 3.1% 9.9% 45.5% 41.5%I feel I am helping the environment bydriving less

11.5% 20.8% 34.9% 32.8%

I feel I work much longer hours 11.4% 27.9% 32.6% 28.1%I save money 12.1% 30.2% 33.6% 24.1%I have more independence 9.1% 20.5% 46.6% 23.8%I can spend more time with my family 13.4% 31.1% 35.5% 20.0%I find it easier to handle dependent [childor adult] care

25.5% 22.1% 34.7% 17.7%

I am able to work while temporarilydisabled

48.6% 8.1% 25.8% 17.5%

I have more time for myself 15.8% 35.8% 32.2% 16.2%I have reduced the stress I experienced inthe main office

21.3% 35.1% 29.1% 14.5%

I am able to work instead of takingparental leave

52.5% 14.3% 22.4% 10.8%

I am able to keep working at this job afterchanging my residence

52.5% 14.3% 22.4% 10.8%

I find it easier to pursue educational orpersonal interests

24.1% 40.9% 25.8% 9.3%

I feel technical issues are moreproblematic than if I were in a main office

43.8% 27.0% 20.1% 9.1%

I am able to work while permanentlydisabled

72.8% 9.5% 9. 3% 8.4%

I feel much less able to control myworking hours

41.9% 32.0% 18.1% 7.9%

I feel a loss of professional inter-action 25.7% 41.9% 25.1% 7.3%I feel a reduced workplace visibility andcareer advancement

35.8% 38.0% 19.8% 6.4%

I have lost a useful transition betweenwork and home

64.7% 20.9% 10.6% 3.8%

I consider that main BT offices are betterequipped and nicer than my home workenvironment and equipment

58.4% 28.8% 9.1% 3.7%

I have lost a commute trip for otherproductive purposes e.g. reading, typing

76.4% 14.2% 6.5% 3.0%

I feel I am viewed negatively bymanagement

61.5% 28.7% 7.5% 2.3%

Family conflicts have increased 73.0% 19.7% 5.7% 1.6%I have lost of commute trip for otherpurposes e.g. shopping, school runs

80.5% 14.1% 4.6% 0.9%

I feel less motivated to work than if I wasin a main office

81.1% 15.6% 2.5% 0.8%

I feel stressed by having to rememberwhat items to have in different locations

86.0% 12.1% 1.7% 0.2%

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Table 5 Factors Influencing Decision to Telework by Recent WorkaboutRegistrants

Factor Not atall

Notvery

A lot Extremely

To reduce the stress of commuting 8.1% 18.2% 34.6% 39.2%To increase flexibility 6.1% 10.7% 47. 8% 35.4%To get more work done 6.1% 18.9% 48.8% 26.2%To spend more time with my family 26.8% 24.5% 32.2% 16.5%To have more control over my physical workingenvironment

17.1% 27.2% 40.8% 15.0%

To have more time for myself 23.3% 31.6% 31.0% 14.2%To save money 24.3% 35.4% 28.4% 11.9%To help the environment by driving less 27.6% 35.0% 27.9% 9.4%To make it easier to help with caringresponsibilities

53.4% 21.2% 16.1% 9.3%

To reduce the stress I experienced in the mainoffice

46.9% 32.4% 12.2% 8.5%

To have more independence 30.1% 34.2% 29.2% 6.4%To be able to work instead of taking parentalleave

72.0% 11.2% 10.6% 6.2%

To keep working at this job after changing myresidence

72.0% 11.2% 10.6% 6.2%

To make it easier to pursue educational orpersonal interests

46.2% 35.0% 14.4% 4.4%

To be able to work while temporarily disabled 87.6% 7.0% 2.2% 3.2%To be able to work while permanently disabled 93.8% 2.9% 0.6% 2.6%

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Table 6 Initial Concerns About Teleworking by Recent WorkaboutRegistrants

Factor Do notagree

Agreeslightly

AgreeStrongly

Agreecompletely

Potential Loss of social interaction found inthe traditional workplace

14.5% 26.1% 36.8% 10.9%

Potential Loss of professional interactionfound in the workplace

13.7% 28.2% 38.3% 7.9%

Potential Loss of Opportunities for visibilityand career advancement

23.9% 41.9% 16.0% 5.8%

Potential risk of being viewed negatively bymanagement

40.6% 32.7% 11.7% 3.0%

Concern that teleworking may increasefamily conflicts

53.3% 25.4% 7.1% 1.8%

Concern about motivation to work as ateleworker

47.2% 27.4% 11.9% 1.3%

Loss of commute trip for other productivepurposes e.g. reading, typing

71.1% 13.5% 2.0% 0.8%

Concern about having to remember whatitems to have in different locations

68.8% 15.2% 3.0% 0.5%

Concern that main office was betterequipped and nicer

55.8% 25.4% 6.3% 0.3%

Loss of commute trip as a useful transitionbetween work and home

64.0% 15.2% 7.9% 0.3%

Loss of commute trip for other purposese.g. shopping, school runs

71.3% 12.7% 3.3% 0.0%

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2.2 Motivations to, and Concerns about, Telework

One problem with individuals comparing their current situation with that beforethey teleworked is that they be unable to recall accurately. To guard againstthis we included some questions aimed solely at people who had registeredwith Workabout during the previous 12 months. The questions focused ontheir initial motivation to telework and the benefits and costs they had found inpractice (see tables 5 and 6 for the answers).

Some interesting aggregate points to emerge with regard to initial motivationsto telework are:

Getting more work done was the most important motivator with 83% ofrespondents stating that this was a lot or extremely important

More personal time was perhaps less important than many peoplemight have imagined, with only 46% of respondents stating that moretime for themselves was a lot or extremely important, and only 49% ofrespondents saying the same about spending more time with theirfamily

Only 25% of respondents stated that making it easier to help withcaring responsibilities was a lot or extremely important (even though58% of respondents had dependent children).

The last two points suggest that the commonly view that teleworkers aremainly parents seeking a better work-life balance is not completely true of BTteleworkers.

As table 6 shows, the two greatest fears were about isolation from social andprofessional interaction in the workplace. Only a minority of respondents feltthat they had been concerned about their motivation or possible negativeimpacts on their families.

The majority (81%) of recent Workabout registrants felt their expectations ofthe benefits of teleworking had been met. However, 19% of respondents werefinding the drawbacks more significant than expected. The main reason givenwas difficulty in adjusting to the lack of social interaction, with somerepresentative comments being:

A phone allows contact but ad hoc bouncing of ideas around and closecontact support diminishes in the home environment.

Loss of social interaction is demotivating and can be depressing.

However, several respondents mentioned that they had taken positive actionto overcome it:

At least one team member calls me daily even if to say Hi. This is afterwe raised it as an issue in one of our workshops, it helps and the

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isolation is barely there.

Some also mentioned difficulties with work-life balance, for example:

Conflict with being at home and "at work" at the same time has beenhard - it is more difficult to "ignore" my partner when she is at homeand I am "at work". It is easier to ignore open-plan office noise thanhome noise!

Other comments on drawbacks included:

More difficult to get visibility at higher management level - Out of sightout of mind!

Longer working hours and the I’ll just check the emails while I have 5mins outside of working hours. The guilt trip when you are ill andnormally would have left the office to go home to bed, but as you arehome you try to keep going.

Drawbacks have been around missing career developmentopportunities. Reading time has gone. Just don’t get round to it athome.

And, whilst it is safe to say that the person who observed that:

I ran to the office and back every day, 10 mile round trip, and this wasideal training for my adopted sport of road / hill running, I’m now downto one run per day and the race times are now suffering

is probably unique or almost so several others did mention the reduction inexercise as a result of teleworking:

Total lack of exercise during work time, most of my time is spent athome and going down stairs for breakfast is as strenuous as it gets.

Finally, a small number of respondents were dissatisfied with their technicalsupport and/or their communications infrastructure.

2.3 Teleworkers and Domestic Activities

A third (279) of the 851 respondents to the question ‘has the amount ofdomestic activity increased as a result of teleworking’ answered yes whilstonly 48 (6%) considered it had decreased.

People were asked to expand on this feature of teleworking in an open-endedquestion.

Some of the most frequent comments were by fathers about opportunities forgreater involvement with children, for example:

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Opportunity to take children to school once a week, allowing my wife togo to college.

Taking kids to school more often and spending more time with partnerand kids.

Time formerly spent commuting is now spent helping out with my twoyoung sons. Before teleworking I would not have seen them awakeduring the week as their bedtimes would have been before getting backfrom work.

Able to cook tea in time for children coming home from work or school.Able to wash dishes at dinnertime!

Many men also commented that they were taking on more domestic tasks:

When I finish work I have time to do housekeeping cooking etc beforemy wife & kids get home. This gives us all more time to interact and dothe things we enjoy.

My wife works so working at home I can run dishwasher/washingmachine /tumble dryer etc. Also shop & prepare evening meal.

I have been promoted to Washing/Weather watcher by my wife. Iprepare the evening meal when I finish work, hopefully in time for thearrival home of the family.

Now have a baby and have to help the wife more. The extra time hasallowed me to share more of the responsibilities of being a parent.

In a number of cases this was greatly helping female partners:

I fit in more domestic duties around work and my wife expects me to domore. This has enabled her to return to her career but of course meansI spend more time working in the evenings.

My wife is now able to work fulltime now the children have someone athome to supervise etc.

With the flexibility I am able to take the kids to school and their otheractivities. Which has been an absolute godsend as my wife has beenrecently diagnosed & is suffering from MS.

But not all men were quite so positive:

Forced Labour.

My wife makes me do it!!

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Most women respondents were also positive about the time benefits of theirown teleworking, although in their case this was more about the ability to fit indomestic tasks during the day:

I can cook more often. It is easier to fit in some domestic things likeputting on the dishwasher at lunchtime.

Less time commuting means I have more time to do housework, cookmeals etc.

On a typical day, I will wash and dry one load of washing, wash up,clean work surface, and sweep the floor - about 30 minutes in total. Ido this before work (when I would previously have commuted) and atlunch times.

As I just returned from maternity leave when I became a homeworker,it was very convenient being able to put the washing on and hang it outand bring it in again, especially if it started to rain, which you couldn’tdo if you were at work.

Another perceived benefit of teleworking for women is the ability to undertakeshopping:

Able to pop out to do shopping during lunchtime and the same withschool activities.

Being flexible about working times has meant that activities such asfood shopping can be done via home delivery or at less busy timeswhich also frees up time to spend.

Easier to go shopping at none busy times.

Go for quick shop/banking/dog walking etc.

This greater use of local services can have important social benefits,especially in rural areas:

Now that I no longer work in a town, I have switched to Internetbanking and use the local village post office for paying in andwithdrawing cash. This helps to keep the village post office viable.

A smaller number of people also noted the value of being able to do otherdomestic tasks:

Used the previous commuting time to do DIY, put the kids to bed.Able to use the lunch break to mow the lawn, general gardening, etc.

I have more time to cook decent meals now, which I enjoy.

Others noted advantages such as:

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I can use some of the time I used to travel to do things like a fitnessroutine.

Participate in new activities!!

I never had to opportunity to work in the nude in the office!

Arrange to be in for repairmen, deliveries etc.

Also able to have a cleaner once a week as I’m at home.

I am now able to take part in activities such as sport during daylighthours during the winter, where I could not before.

I get time to walk the dog in the daylight!

Teleworking also produced greater social interaction for some:

By being at home I can take a lunch break to sort out domestic issueslocally - school, neighbour, friend etc. Which could not be done if Icommuted.

Easier to plan evenings out with family and friends as I know I will notbe travelling to 7 pm plus every evening.

Three respondents may have been more emphatic in their summary ofteleworking than most, but they do appear to speak for the majority when thecommented that:

Has made a dramatic improvement to my work and personal life. Hasallowed me to become involved in village life (e.g. Chair of SchoolGovernors). Allows me to see more of my children growing up, especialat those important times e.g. before they go to school and mostimportant when they return and tell you about their day. Brings a familymuch closer together.

Weekends more time - more relaxed at end of day.

As previously noted, teleworking has made an enormous improvementto my quality of life. I used to be away from home 12 hours every day -now I work in a more relaxed frame of mind. No contest!

2.4 Social Inclusion

We also examined the issue of social inclusion, particular whether teleworkingwas allowing people to stay in employment when they might otherwise havehad to leave. Around 10% (190) of the 1874 respondents to the question‘would you be able to undertake your current job if you were unable totelework?’ replied that they would not. For many people this is simply a

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question of commuting times (especially when offices have relocated sinceteleworking began), which could potentially be overcome by moving. Butothers face more insuperable barriers of an inability to spend 8-10 hours awayfrom the home. A number of respondents commented that teleworkingallowed them to care for dependent young children:

As a single parent I would not be able to commute to London every dayas it is impossible to get a childminder to do the hours I would needand the cost is prohibitive.

I would only be able to work part-time as a divorced parent my childrenare with me part of each week and my teams office base is not easilycommutable.

It would be difficult. When I first started teleworking, it would havemade no difference. However, subsequently my wife has fallen ill and Ihave a 3-year-old son. Life would be much more difficult if I was nothere to help out.

In a number of cases, however, teleworking was allowing people to provideextra time for disabled children or those with special needs:

I have been ill on at least 3 occasions since teleworking and stillmanaged to do my job. This is a hidden bonus for employers ofteleworkers.

I started home working because I had real difficulties looking after mySon who had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. If I had notstarted working from home I might have been forced to leave thecompany.

I have a special needs child who is registered disabled and have beenable to reduce the stress levels from other family members, bycontributing more to school trips and hospital visits.

I have an Autistic son and am a single parent with very little support soI need to work from home.

One respondent perhaps summarised the importance of teleworking for suchpeople:

I have had a very difficult year personally. Had it not been for myflexible working arrangements, I would very likely have been forced togive up work. This way I continue to be a productive citizen, I balancemy family commitments with my working life, and I continue to providequality output for my employer and our customers.

The other side of this coin is that BT is probably retaining a number of staff –many of whom presumably would have key skills – who might otherwise haveleft its employment,

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However, the comment of one respondent that:

Now do house work to relax. If I take a break I usually end up Hovering(!) or washing etc rather than going out or chatting with others in theoffice

reveals one potential downside from an organisational perspective. The chatsin the office can be valuable in terms of communicating information,maintaining relationships and providing stimulation. As one of the lengthieranswers observed:

There are only 2 problems that have concerned me abouthomeworking so far. Firstly, when I was in the office Id spend my lunchbreak wandering around the city centre. Now, I'm more likely to do theironing or some gardening. This means that I'm not getting the exerciseI used to so I've had to buy a fitness bike to counter my new foundsloth. Secondly, my day passes without incident. I no longer have anyamusing tales of daily travel, office gossip or city centre observations totalk about with my wife. When she asks about my day, I have to saythat nothing unusual happened in the spare room today - but, oh yes, Idid receive an amusing e-mail. It's easy to become de-socialised!

Effective teleworkers – and good employers – recognise the value of thisinformal networking and try to provide it in other ways.

2.5 Community Involvement

More time at home can create many personal benefits, but does notnecessarily create social benefit. To examine this topic, the survey asked ifteleworking has allowed BT teleworkers to spend more time on communityactivities and volunteering – an important facet of sustainable development,which stresses the importance of local level initiatives and participation.

To place this into context, we obtained baseline data on how many peopleactually engaged in community activities and volunteering, what thoseactivities are and how much time they spent on them.

Approximately a third (692) of 1874 respondents reported that they areinvolved in community activities. Table 7 indicates the diverse range ofactivities undertaken by the 486 people who provided information on this.

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Table 7 Involvement in Voluntary Activities

Groups TotalSchool Related 105Community/Local/Neighbourhoodactivities

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Sport – Participating 42

Religion – Participating 40

Charitable (Not specified) 40

Scouts/Guides/Cubs etc. 35Sport - children/youth 32

Sport - Managing/ Coaching 36

Children’s/Youth (Other than sports) 28

Religion – Management 22

Music & Drama 17

BT Community Activities 11

Activities for Environmental Issues 12

Miscellaneous Leisure 11Other Public Activities 9Magistrates 7Politics 8Adult Education (Teaching) 8Business-related 7Counselling 4Not Specified - Other 20TOTAL 555

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Of course, these absolute figures say nothing about the influence ofteleworking upon the amount of time spent. To find out, we asked thequestion ‘does your opportunity to telework make it easier or more difficult tobe involved in organised community activities?’ The answers are generallypositive:

14% (267) of 1874 respondents stated that it made involvement easier

Only 9 respondents stated that it made involvement more difficult.

We went on to ask ‘would you say that the amount of time spent on suchactivities has altered as a result of teleworking?’ The answers were that:

118 (6%) reported an increase, and only 13 a decrease (thepercentage of those actually engaged in community activities who haveincreased their time commitment is, of course, much higher)

The increase in time commitments varied between 1 hr per week and23 hrs per week.

It appears therefore that BT teleworking does support communityinvolvement, at least in the areas where respondents live.

3. Economic Impacts of Teleworking

The questionnaire explored in detail three ways in which teleworking relates tothe economic pillar of sustainable development:

Impacts on people’s work performance (discussed in section 3.1)

Impacts on absenteeism (discussed in section 3.3)

Impacts on people’s career development (discussed in section 3.4).

Section 3.2 also discusses the important issue of whether changes in workoutputs are related to increased working hours rather than any benefits ofteleworking per se.

3.1 Increased productivity

The measurement of productivity, and the identification of the reasons for anychanges, is more difficult than might be imagined.10 In this case, we took thestraightforward approach of asking respondents what they felt. The majority(78%) of the sample (=1865) stated that they considered that they were moreproductive as a result of shifting to some form of home-based working whilst3.9% considered they were less productive. Around a fifth (17%) felt there hadbeen no change. Whilst the comment that: 10 For a discussion, see the Conceptual Paper of the Sustainable Teleworkingproject, downloadable from www.sustel.org.

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Actually, your productivity increase scale above isn’t big enough -before I teleworked full time, I used to take 3 days office work to do inone day at home

Is at the extreme end of the spectrum, it does capture the feelings of manyrespondents.

Table 8 Factors Influencing Teleworker’s Productivity

Factor Number of times factorstated

Reduced Disruption 829Reduced Commuting time/stress 586Flexibility Time and location 468Working Longer Hours 198Access to/availability of information 96Reduces stress/more relaxed 72Work Life Balance and Control 70Motivation and Pressure 55Environment and physical control 34

Reduced Disruption

Where a change in productivity had been experienced or perceivedrespondents were asked to comment on why this was? As can be seen fromtable 8 the most significant determinant of increased productivity was reduceddisruption. Some representative comments on this point were:

I’d forgotten what it was like to read documents without my fingersbeing in my ears. There is total peace here, no noisy individuals withhead sets. No constant banter and distraction. I love it!

The ability to concentrate on the job in hand without the interruptionsthat are inevitable in an office environment. For example people havingspontaneous meetings at nearby desks in open plan offices instead ofbothering to book a meeting room.

This ability to concentrate is perhaps particularly important to those withperfectionist tendencies:

concentration to produce quality products - even to the state ofperfection.

Another point to emerge was the ability to be in control of communicationrather than embedded in a ‘soup’ of continuous communication within anoffice:

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The natural environmental "hubub" of an open plan office can be mildlydistracting. Homeworking allows communication over Phone/mail/localmessaging (LAN) in a more focused manner.

However, a minority of the replies in this category illustrate the difficultieswhich some people can experience when working at home. One such is that itstill be difficult to concentrate at home during the day, when there may be on-going communication with work through various channels, and concentratedwork is therefore done at other times:

Find that I can be more productive and focused later at night when thephone isn’t ringing.

However, whilst many obviously welcome the ability to:

concentrate without distraction of chatting to people in the office,bumping into people on the way to the coffee machine, etc.

there is a potential downside of less of the informal, unstructured,communication which can be an important aspect of transferring knowledgewithin an organisation.

Reduced Commuting Time/Stress

Table 2 demonstrates that a reduction in commuting time and stress is thesecond main reason why people believe that they are more productive. Inmost cases the reason is less time spent commuting, with at least some ofthis time being made available to BT (see section 3.2 for a discussion of theimplications of this for working hours). Some typical comments were:

I regularly start work before 8am and finish @ 6pm whilst at home. Ifcommuting to work I would not be prepared to be in the office at thesetimes on a regular basis

In my previous office, I aimed to both arrive and leave very early toavoid traffic bottlenecks. This meant that my working hours differedfrom those of some colleagues, leading to inefficiencies.

I no longer have to try to end my work to catch a specific train,

I tend to finish a job because I’m already at home. If I had to travelhome there would be a far chance that I would leave the work to becompleted the next day.

More alert as no longer on the road at 06:45 to start work at 07:30 toavoid traffic. Can now start at 08:30 and work later in the evening.

A number of respondents also commented on the productivity benefits ofavoiding the stresses of commuting:

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Fewer distractions, generally a quieter environment and more relaxed. Iam claustrophobic and I found the journey in and out of London at rushhour extremely stressful. I had to spend the first hour winding downand would then wind up again.

I do not feel tired and frustrated when I start work, as I did aftercommuting to central London.

Commuting itself can be tiring, I would some times arrive at the officefeeling as if I had already done a days work.

Standing on a crowded platform in the rain, followed by being herdedinto a sweaty carriage for over an hour, doesn’t put people in a goodmind set for work. From home you can get up later but still be at yourdesk earlier and in a much better refreshed.

Control of Time

The third main reason given for increased productivity is increased controlover, and flexibility in the use of, time:

Because I am more in control about when and how I work. Myobjectives move from turning out results every day to deliveringaccording to deadlines. How I achieve this is my decision.

The upside is that if I want to take Friday afternoon off its up to me - Iplan my working week accordingly.

Able to Flex my working day to maximise my performance e.g. get upearly to complete a piece of work on time before attending to childcareresponsibility.

Flexibility means at times am able to log on and complete tasks,relieving my stress whilst being productive. This can be at weekends orevenings, early mornings - BUT IT IS MY CHOICE, not forced.

Flexibility to take a break when tired, and return to the office for two orthree hours after a meal - impossible in a BT office!

However, the point noted previously of some of the advantages cited byrespondents also having the effect of some extension of working hours intothe evening or weekend is also present here:

Able to work later in the evenings or especially Sunday evenings toprepare for the coming week.

Late evening working has a great work advantage as I am able tocommunicate with workers in USA

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Better able to schedule tasks such as reading/research and documentwriting at different times of day at evening and weekends rather craminto normal working day.

I am able to complete a task left unfinished at the end of "core" workinghours in the evenings once my daughter is asleep.

24 hr availability of e-mail / intranet at home means I can progresswork flow at anytime of day / night without having to make a specialjourney to a BT building. Little effort on my part needed. Plus televisionis so dire in winter months - work is a pleasure.

Views will differ on whether this extension of labour over time is a good or badthing. Most respondents appear to accept it as a reasonable trade-off forgreater flexibility. But some outsiders might be critical of the reduced barriersbetween personal and work time which it entails.

Other Reasons for Increased Productivity

A significant minority ascribed their productivity to increased working hours,which is discussed further in Section 3.2. Many others mentioned thebeneficial effects of improved work-life balance, reduced stress and otherlifestyle factors:

Have a healthy balance between work and family life and as a result farmore productive.

Some also commented on the way that telework had increased their sense ofmotivation and purpose, for a variety of reasons:

More empowered to do a better job when given freedom to choosetiming and location of that work

Being happier makes you more motivated, which I have found withteleworking

Feel more valued and trusted as a homeworker

Feel guilty, and work more to compensate.

I feel more motivated when I can help take the children to nursery

Guilt factor, I don’t wish to be seen as "out of sight, out of might" by therest of the team

More determined to show that I work as well if not better on my ownthan if I was in an office - a bid to ensure that management don’tquestion my motivation

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There is also a guilt factor that hangs over from the days when workingfrom home was viewed as skiving so you produce more tocompensate.

Others commented on the beneficial effects of working in a more pleasantphysical environment:

I feel happier and much more positive when approaching a difficult taskif I am in a familiar/comfortable environment like my office at home.

I enjoy where I am (a farm in mid-Wales)

Better feeling of well being as a result of less environmental influenceson health, like poor air conditioning, lots of computer monitor radiation,feeling worn out after traveling.

I am so relieved not to have to work in the stuffy, awful air that isevident in many major buildings - being able to see sunlight andbreathe fresh air through an open window.

A final reason for increased productivity was easy access to information andother resources:

Can be more productive as have easier access to information to do thejob, e.g. do not have to stay late at the office, or work within timelimitations of the office

I am able to react to things immediately as I have everything I needhere at home. I do not need to get things (eg reports) from the officeetc

I have access to all materials during the creative period that occurs forme naturally in the evening after a glass of wine

Basically available for more hours per day per week.

Because I am available for a lot more hours and will even answer thephone out of hours

And no lunch breaks/pub visits taken any more

Rather than watching the rubbish on the television, and providing Ihave no urgent family commitments, I would much rather deal with anyproblems or projects that may have arisen, giving my customers abetter and faster response.

3.2 Most Teleworkers Work for Longer

A number of previous comments have observed that people are changingtheir working hours. Almost all the comments on the topic suggested that

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most people are working more extended hours, by starting earlier than beforeteleworking or finishing later. In most cases, the ability to do this is seen asone of the key benefits of teleworking. However, these changes raise thequestion of whether the increased productivity noted by both teleworkersthemselves, and BT as their employer, could be due as much to more workinghours in total as much as other causes.

To find out we asked respondents whether they felt they were working forlonger. As table 9 shows:

Only 34 respondents (2% of those answering) stated that teleworkinghad reduced their working hours.In contrast 1219 people (68.5%) stated that they had increased, and525 (29.5%) that they had remained the same.11

As table 10 indicates, 80% of those noting increased hours reported anincrease of more than 5 hours a week

Almost 45% reported more than 9 hours per week.

Of course, it could be that some respondents misinterpreted the question tomean more extended working hours rather than more in total but it is hard toavoid the conclusion that many BT teleworkers are working more hours intotal.

11 Note, however that 120 of those noting increased, and 9 of those notingdecreased, working hours gave 0 as the actual figure so these figures mayslightly overstate the situation.

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Table 9 Effects of Teleworking on Working Hours

Increased 1219Decreased 34Same 525Not Answered 96TOTAL 1874

Table 10 Reported Increases in Working Hours

Increased Hours Number ofresponses Percentage

0 120 9.8%0.1-2.9 50 4.1%3.0-4.9 79 6.5%5.0-6.9 300 24.6%7.0-8.9 124 10.2%

9.0-11.9 337 27.6%12.0-14.9 40 3.3%

15+ 169 13.9%TOTAL 1219 100.0%

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A small number of respondents noted that increased working hours have hada deleterious effect on their quality of life, for example:

I have spent more time working and less time with family relatedissues.

I now work more hours in open ended roles, there is never an end pointand with no set hours and laptops, its too easy to work too long.

I used to work in the garden on Sat. mornings, now I tend to work onthe computer.

However, the vast majority – whilst perhaps not welcoming the increase inhours – nonetheless did not feel strongly enough to let it influence their viewthat they now have a better quality of life.

Before discussing this further, we need to understand why working hoursincrease. One important point is that many of the respondents have beenteleworking for some time. It is therefore possible that their non-teleworkingpeers have also experienced longer hours because of increased commercialpressures on BT. The relevance of this point is underlined by one respondentwho noted that:

As part of a reorganisation I had to pick up the complete load ofanother colleague. This would have been impossible with the dailycommuting to the office. The hours freed up have allowed me to copewith both (just about!).

To really understand what is happening for this, and other subjects covered inthe survey, it would be desirable to compare a reasonably matched group ofteleworkers and non-teleworkers.

Another, more teleworking-specific reason for longer working hours, is theway in which people use greater control of time to complete tasks in one go:

Easier access to computer, systems and information etc tends to resultin carrying on working until a job is completed to my satisfaction, ratherthan leaving it until the next day to complete.

I spend more time working; I find excuses to finish off pieces of work toallow for a clean start to the following day.

Whilst this does not necessarily lead to longer working hours (some time offcould be taken the following day to compensate), in practice this does notseem to be the case for many. Presumably the reasons are that work is eitherbeing undertaken to higher standards, sometimes for greater job satisfaction,and/or more work is being undertaken than previously.

The lure of reading the latest e-mail, or undertaking some other work-relatedactivity, is also too tempting to resist for some teleworkers:

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Spend too long on intranet and email at home after normal workinghours.

Finally, there may be a need (actual or perceived) to impress managers, atleast for the 10% of respondents who felt that they were viewed negatively bymanagement (see table 4):

Increase in workload/hours worked/need to produce results to satisfyhigher management that I am not skiving.

The finding that most BT teleworkers report both longer working hours andbetter quality of life is paradoxical. More time working is usually associatedwith increased stress, domestic tension and other factors which reduce qualityof life.

One possible explanation is that, for many individuals, their increased workinghours will be less than the time they have saved in commuting.12 Hence, theystill have more time available for family and other activities. For some, thestress associated with commuting (especially for long distances) may be lessthan that arising from additional working time. Perhaps most significantly,teleworking can in effect create time through opportunities for multi-tasking orgreater control of activities. As respondents noted:

Things like washing, shopping can be fitted into a working day leavingthe weekends free for leisure rather than catching up on the weekshousehold duties.

Although the amount of time not changed it has made the Weekendsfreer, as domestic activities can be fitted in during lunchtimes or earlymorning.

3.3 Absenteeism

Absenteeism is a major economic cost for employers. There are manyreasons for absenteeism but one of the most important is illness. Wetherefore asked people how many days during their last typical four monthperiod they worked at home when they felt too ill to make travel to workfeasible. Almost a quarter (22%) of respondents stated that this was the case.For 6% of respondents this involved periods of four days or more. Whilstanswers to this could be exaggerated, and the work done may be less than ona normal working day, it nonetheless seems that this aspect of teleworking isproviding major economic benefit to BT.

12 Most of the respondents, and the whole sample, are highly mobilemanagerial and professional staff, who tend to have longer commutingdistances and time than the average.

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3.4 Career Development

We also asked about the impact of being a teleworker on career development.The majority did not consider it had had any effect. However a sizeable 20%considered the effects had been mildly or strongly positive. The sameproportion felt completely the opposite, i.e. that it had been mildly or stronglynegative. However, a smaller proportion felt the effects had been extremelynegative (2.5%) that strongly positive (7.9%).

4. Transport Impacts of Teleworking

Two previous surveys examined the reduction in commuting travel achievedas a result of teleworking. This is certainly an intended outcome of Workaboutregistrants, with 74% of newcomers to the scheme saying that travel reductionwas an important factor in their decision to telework. Their objectives appearto have been achieved with 47% of this still commuting saying that theircommute travel had decreased and only 6% saying that it had increased.Table 11 gives the mean weekly reductions in car and train travel given byrespondents and shows that these are broadly similar to the findings of thetwo previous BT surveys.

The conclusion of the first survey that “if these values and modal split aretypical across the full sample of Workabout registrants then the total savingswould amount to a weekly commute reduction of 424000 of car travel and190000 miles per week of rail travel” therefore remains valid, and may be anunderstatement.

Table 11 Reductions in Weekly Commuting

Mode of Travel Survey 1 Survey 2 Current SurveyCar users only 95 miles 186 miles 178 milesRail users only 143 miles 202 miles 220 miles

However, the earlier reports also identified a number of caveats andunanswered questions which this survey tried to address, notably:

Whether different forms of teleworking have different kinds of travelimpacts (see section 4.1)

Whether the direct savings from avoided commuting were offset byincreases in personal or work-related travel (see section 4.2).

4.1 Travel Effects of Different Kinds of Teleworking

As section 1 discussed, the survey demonstrated that there are different kindsof teleworker within BT. It also demonstrated that only around a third ofrespondents are stereotypical teleworkers, i.e. working from home for severaldays a week and in an office for most of the remaining time. The other twothirds have complex working patterns which generally involve working in

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multiple locations and undertaking considerable amounts of in-work travel.The importance of this in-work travel is reflected in the fact that 53% of thesample are provided with a company car. Hence, some caution is needed ininterpreting the ‘average’ reductions in commuting savings which have beenreported in the previous BT studies and most others.

The term commuting can also be ambiguous, with some researchers definingit as travel to and from a main office, as this study has, and others defining itas all work-related travel which is paid for by an employer. It has also beenunclear in some previous research studies whether a person is deemed tohave avoided commuting when they travel from home to appointments.

At BT, for example, the Workabout contract assumes that registrants will begiving up a main office and therefore ending commuting to and from it. Allwork-related travel is therefore remunerated. For example, with some fieldengineers the job starts and ends from home, all intervening travel is to andfrom customer’s premises except for occasional trips to BT buildings.

The exception is employees on London Weighting, who retain this entitlementfor a period of time after commencing the Workabout contract, despite theirhome-offices being outside London. (This agreement states that, to satisfy thetax authorities, travel to and from BT offices in the London area is still paid forby the employee, being classed as a commute trip).

When asked if they still commuted 520 people (28% of respondents) repliedthat they did. This is surprisingly high, given that Workabout registration isgenerally meant to involve giving up a main office. As table 12 shows, 50%did so for between 1-3 days per week.

Table 12 Number of Days Commuting

Number of Days Number of People Percentage ofRespondents

0 7513 14.4%1 100 19.2%2 86 16.5%3 71 13.7%4 26 5.0%5 162 31.2%TOTAL 520 100.0%

A follow-on question revealed that 34% of respondents did not work at homefor a full day on any day of the week. This is consistent with the previousanswers. Taken together, the two questions suggest that for a largepercentage of employees teleworking does not involve a large number of fulltime home working days. Indeed only 8% of the sample stated that they

13 This question asked people who still commuted how many days in a recenttypical week they commuted. The 75 people either misunderstood thequestion, or commute on an intermittent basis.

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worked at home everyday for the whole day. 30% worked between 1-2 daysand 28% between 3-4 days.

The main reason for this pattern appears to be personal preference. 77% ofrespondents said that they had flexibility in deciding where to work. And 52%of respondents said that their ideal was working for between 1-3 days a weekat home.

4.2 Increases in Personal and Work-Related Travel

One unanswered question in teleworking research is whether teleworkingleads to more or less in-work travel. Some believe that it can be increased forstaff who are on the road a great deal. They may gain time savings fromavoided commuting journeys and/or by starting from home and avoiding someof the congestion which is typical of roads surrounding major office locations.Some of this additional time ‘capacity’ may then be used to fit in additionalwork journeys.

The vast majority of the sample (96%) stated that they undertake businesstravel. In a typical week the main mode of business travel is by car (75% ofthe sample), followed by train (42%) and tube (30%), the latter reflecting thesignificant proportion of London based staff. 4% state they use air travel inany typical week. The mean mileage across all modes for business travel isestimated at 459 miles/week per employee.

However, table 13 suggests that, in aggregate, this travel is less than beforethey started to telework. A quarter (27%) of respondents felt that teleworkinghad decreased in-work travel either significantly or by a little. However, thefact that 13% of respondents felt that that it had increased demonstrates thatthere is some validity in the concern about increased in-work travel as a resultof teleworking, at least for the very mobile workers who are typical of BT'stelework-force.

Table 13 – Changes in Work-Related Travel as a Result of Teleworking

Change in Travel Number PercentageIncreased significantly 115 6.2%Increased a little 124 6.7%Stayed the same 1110 59.5%Decreased a little 236 12.7%Decreasedsignificantly 279 15.0%

TOTAL 1864 100.0%

Another source of additional journeys is the spare car ‘capacity’ that is createdwhen teleworkers who would have driven to work choose to work at home. Isthe unused vehicle parked in the drive or is it driven for other purposes by theteleworker and/or his or her household members? In the case of BTteleworkers 56% say the former, and 46% the latter, demonstrating that this isan issue to be taken seriously. What is not clear from the study is whether this

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additional travel is of shorter duration and substitutes for commuter journeysof longer duration.

5. Conclusions

For BT and Workabout registrants teleworking appears to be a mutuallybeneficial activity which is also creating economic, environmental and socialbenefits. Most staff say that they are enjoying an improved quality of life,reduced stress from commuting, feeling more productive and other benefits.And, if their responses are accurate, BT is benefiting from higher employeeproductivity and morale and lower absenteeism.14

BT’s teleworking is also creating broader benefits. Workabout registrantsgenerally have reduced commuting travel (which translates into less pollutionand reduced fossil fuel consumption. They are also putting more time intolocal community and volunteering activities, and perhaps also making greateruse of local shops and other services. And Workabout is allowing a small butsignificant minority of disabled, health-impaired and other disadvantagedemployees to remain in employment, which they enjoy.

However, there are several cautionary notes to this generally pleasingmelody. The survey has established that there are a number of different typesof teleworking, which have different patterns of impacts. This has implicationsfor in-work travel, which in some cases has increased as a result ofteleworking. Some of the commuting savings are also being offset byadditional personal journeys by almost half of the teleworkers and/or theirhouseholds. And a large proportion of commute savings are in publictransport rather than by car journeys.

In the longer term too, some of the perceived advantages of teleworking –such as less interruption by interaction with colleagues in offices – may alsohave a down side of a less effective distribution of knowledge and/or sense ofcommitment to the organisation and colleagues. And the paradox of apositive quality of life being associated with longer working hours – when theopposite would normally be expected – means that BT must be on its guard.More time spent working is one thing when work is reasonably satisfying, wellpaid and the rest of life harmonious. But it can create stress and createdissatisfaction if other things begin to go wrong.

Some critics – particularly if they are sympathetic to north Europeanapproaches to labour markets - may also feel that, rather than demonstratinga positive trade-off between some disadvantages and much greater benefits,the survey results reveal that a UK culture of excessive working hours is beingmade more marginally tolerable – but at the same time intensified - by beingallowed to do them at home or while travelling rather than in offices. Few BTmanagers or, from the tone of their responses, only a minority of our 14 Although the survey does not address this issue, BT also believes thatteleworking has significantly contributed to the considerable savings in officespace it has achieved in recent years.

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respondents would agree with this interpretation. As they are intelligent, welleducated, professionals we believe that the majority – of very positive - voicesshould influence the interpretation of our findings. But it is important toremember that there are different perspectives on teleworking and noteveryone will interpret the results in the same way.

Of course, the benefits of teleworking can be maximised, and harmful effectscan be minimised, by careful design, management and monitoring of teleworkinitiatives. The present study provides a practical example of this being doneat BT. However, there remains scope for further action. We thereforerecommend that BT conducts further research to:

1. Compare a sample of teleworkers with non-teleworkers so thateffects created by teleworking can be distinguished from those createdby more general organisational changes

2. Better understand the environmental and social impacts ofteleworkers who are not registered with workabout registrants (which isprobably a much larger proportion of BT teleworkers)

3. Gain a more detailed understanding of the impacts of each of theteleworking sub-groups identified

4. Ascertain the extent to which teleworkers are working longer hoursin total, and whether, if this is the case, anything can or should be doneto help them to avoid this.

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Appendix – Details of the Survey

BT has an official scheme for teleworkers, known as workabout (previouslyOptions 2000). Registrants receive free equipment and furniture for homeoffices, a helpline and other benefits. This survey was sent to all 5128 peopleregistered with workabout in early March 2002.

The current survey builds on, and replicates some of the questions from,previous surveys of new registrants to workabout. Based on this experience,a survey of the telework literature and discussions with BT, a questionnairewas developed to assess a variety of aspects of teleworking. In addition to thetopics reported in this paper, questions were also asked on environmentalimpacts (primarily transport), effects on motivation and performance, andsocial impacts such as social inclusion. The full results will be published in theearly autumn of 2002.

The questionnaire was confidential, and hosted on a secure third party server/it went through 3 piloting phases during January and February with around15-25 BT workabout staff on each occasion. The final version can be viewedon www.sustel.org.

A request to complete the questionnaire was emailed by BT workabout staff tothe 5128 recipients in two batches in mid March 2002. As an incentive 100£10 book vouchers were offered in a prize draw for those who completed thequestionnaire. By the closing date a total valid response of 1865 had beenreceived, providing a very good response rate of 36%, compared to 37% and21% in the first two surveys.15

As can be seen from tables 14 and 15, the respondents were predominantlymale and middle aged. The gender split closely matches that of BT as awhole, 24% of whose staff are female.

Table 14 Gender of Respondents

Male 1401 75.8%Female 448 24.2%TOTAL 1849 100.0%

Table 15 Age of Respondents

16-24 41 2.2%25-34 240 12.9%35-44 813 43.6%45-54 717 38.4%54+ 54 2.9%TOTAL 1865 100.0%

15 Note that some respondents did not answer every question so that thenumbers for total answers varies.

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As table 16 shows, most respondents were long-standing BT employees.Over half the sample had worked for BT for more than 20 years and 20%more than 30 years. Although there are no overall BT figures to compare thiswith, anecdotal evidence suggests that the total BT workforce has probablybeen in post for less time than the sample.

Table 16 Time in Post of Respondents

Up to 1 years 35 1.9%1.1-5 years 186 10.0%5.1-10 years 153 8.2%10.1-20 years 566 30.4%20.1-30 years 667 35.9%30.1-40 years 251 13.5%40.1-50 years 2 0.1%TOTAL 1860 100.0%

As table 17 shows, the sample was also well educated, with over a third beinggraduates.

Table 17 Educational Qualifications of Respondents

Post Graduate 285 15.3%Graduate 365 19.6%HND 144 7.7%HNC 255 13.7%Other 816 43.8%TOTAL 1865 100.0%

In terms of household structure, 80% of the respondents live in a householdwith a partner. 42% have no child dependents. 17% have one, 31% two whilst8% have 3 or more.

Respondents worked full-time for a range of business units within BT:

BT Retail 28%

BT Wholesale 18%

BT Ignite 15%

BT Affinitis 9%

BT Exact 3%.

Asked to describe their job area against a pre-set list 50% classed themselvesas managerial, 15% as sales. Marketing, admin, central support finance andfield engineers each comprised around 3-5% of the sample. In additionrespondents supplied a further 197 job descriptions/categories where they felt

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the pre-set categories did not capture their titles which may reflect the rapidre-structuring and changes in job titles of people.

BT divides teleworkers into those who are fixed (spending most of their timeworking at home) and those who are mobile (using home as a working basebut travelling extensively to BT or customer premises). 60% of the surveyrespondents were mobile. This is lower than the 75% figure for all workaboutrespondents cited by BT, although their records are incomplete.

Only 8% of the sample reported that they still have a main BT office, and only1% responded that they had a dedicated desk at any BT office.

Approximately half of respondents had been teleworking within BT for 2 yearsor less (21% less than 1 year), 20% more than 3 years.

Table 18 Duration of Teleworking Amongst Respondents

Less than 3 months 60 3.2%3-6 months 97 5.2%6-12 months 237 12.7%12-24 months 612 32.9%

2-3 years 481 25.9%

3+ years 372 20.0%

TOTAL 1859 100.0%