Proceedings of 8th European Assembly on telework (Telework2001)

175In both the surveys, the workers were asked to point out the advantages and disadvantages <strong>of</strong>telework, and it was therefore possible to compare the expected benefits with the ones that hadactually been achieved after 8 months <strong>of</strong> telework. The item with the largest increment <strong>of</strong> changewas the one related to productivity (from 5.9% to 11.7%), while the one with the largest negativepercentage change was the reduction <strong>of</strong> commuting time, which benefit was indicated as the mostimportant one by 29% <strong>of</strong> the sampling during the first survey, and only by 22% eight months later.(Table 5.)Table 5.Advantages <strong>of</strong> telework% Second survey First survey DifferenceBetter productivity 11.7 5.9 + 5.8Economic savings 18.7 15.9 + 2.8More time for self 17.6 15.6 + 2.0Other 3.3 2.2 + 1.1Less commuting time 22 29 - 7Better fl exibility 0.4 3.7 - 3.3More time for families 24.5 25.9 - 1.4Less Control 1.8 1.9 - 0.1The most notable among the disadvantages was the lack <strong>of</strong> information on what was happeningin the <strong>of</strong>fice (Table 6). Teleworkers required a constant flux <strong>of</strong> information from the firm not tobecome ”organisationally isolated”. After eight months into the experimentation, the results clearlyindicated that this still was the most critical aspect <strong>of</strong> working at home, and it required a lot <strong>of</strong> effortfrom the firm that had to come up with new paradigms for managing the internal communication.A disadvantage that grew from the first to the second survey was the risk <strong>of</strong> having less careeropportunities. This complaint was a result <strong>of</strong> the lack <strong>of</strong> communication, which made theteleworkers feel isolated from the <strong>of</strong>fice, and therefore afraid <strong>of</strong> being less visible in the careerpath.Table 6.Disadvantages <strong>of</strong> telework% Second survey First survey DifferencePoor information from <strong>of</strong>fi ce 49.3 35.8 + 13.5Career opportunities 14.5 11.3 + 3.2Isolation from colleagues 21.7 29.6 - 7.9In comprehension with family 0.5 5.1 - 4.6Other 1.8 3.6 - 1.8Diffi culty to change shifts 7.7 9.1 - 1.4In comprehension with boss 0.9 1.8 - 0.9Less help 3.6 3.6 0.0