eWorking for Employers

There are well documented potential advantages to be gained from introducing a homeworking policy for company staff. These include-

• Reducing office and parking overheads
• Reducing absenteeism
• Attracting and retaining skills / reducing staff turnover
• Providing business continuity and disaster recovery
• Increasing company flexibility and ability to change quickly
• Increasing staff productivity
• Reducing the company's carbon footprint
• Improving customer and employee satisfaction

On the other hand, implementing homeworking can result in potential pitfalls for a company, such as-

• Reduced management control
• Restricted internal communications
• Increased security issues
• Legal and tax implications
• Requirement for change management
• Lack of broadband access
• Trouble and expense in setting-up 

While accurate, up-to-date statistics can be difficult to find, the Eurofound “Place of work and working conditions” survey in 2007 reported that while very few people across Europe work from home all the time (2% of the working population), a relatively high number of people work from home at least one day a week on average (21%). This survey found that while home working in general is on the increase, Irish homeworking lags significantly behind the EU average.

With Ireland’s well documented infrastructure issues, it is perhaps surprising that 40% less Irish work from home than the EU average.

Patricia Roehling, a professor of psychology at Hope College and the former director of research at the Cornell Employment and Family Careers Institute, says “Studies have found that between 75 and 85% of workers were more productive when working in a flexible environment, and that employers can trim absenteeism by 60%. Workers who are allowed to work remotely report greater job satisfaction and commitment and are less likely to voluntarily leave their job or look for another job"

Ranald Milne, Managing Director of eWorkSolutions.ie, sums it up well – “Dublin is the 9th most expensive city in the world for office rents. Petrol prices are at an all time high; Dublin has the slowest traffic speeds of any city in Europe and commuting is the most sited cause of work dissatisfaction (by 52% of Irish workers). Add in the ever increasing wages bill, and it seems that now is the ideal time for employers and government to consider eWorking.”

Learn more about reaping the potential rewards of eWorking for your company while avoiding the pitfalls by reading more on this website about the detailed eWoirking topics - Legalities, other Irish eWorking Companies, Studies/Reports/White Papers, eWorking Providers and Technology.