Telework Research Needs Volunteers

Melbourne University’s Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society (IBES) is looking for managers from Australian organisations to participate in its research into telework – working away from the office environment.

The project is a joint university-industry collaboration between the New Zealand Work Research Institute, AUT University,IBES and Cisco New Zealand.

IBES says teleworking – working away from the work office – offers many potential benefits to organisations and their employees, such as improving individual productivity and well-being, as well as promoting environmental sustainability.

This project builds upon previous IBES research exploring the impact of teleworking on employee productivity and wellbeing.

It says technological advances have meant that telework has become an attractive and viable organisational choice to support work. The recent Australian and New Zealand Telework Weeks 2012 and the Telework Congress aimed to raise the profile of teleworking in both Australia and New Zealand.

IBES says currently very little is known about telework practices in Australia and New Zealand. The research project will explore two aspects of teleworking:

1. To access workers' experiences of teleworking, researchers are conducting an online survey of teleworkers from a range of organisational levels and job types.
2. To obtain an organisational perspective on teleworking, researchers are conducting a small number of telephone interviews with managers in a range of organisations on organisational policies on telework and managers' experiences managing a teleworking team.

For further information contact Rachelle Bosua: rachelle.bosua@unimelb.edu.au.