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The Promise of Telework
Brett Walther
September 29, 2001
Imagine never having to leave home to go to work. You don't even have to get out of your pajamas if you don't feel like it. Just wander over to the computer, log on to the Internet, and don your headset telephone. All the while there is no boss peering over your shoulder ready to criticize your performance.
This kind of life is promised by telework, one of the largest sources of new job growth in the past ten years. Telework, also known as telecommuting, involves people who are employed at home, connected to the business or organization that employs them through the Internet. The number of Canadians currently involved in telework reaches an estimated 1.5 million; a number that continues to grow.
Growing just as quickly are the types of work that are being conducted through telecommuting. Telecommuting positions now range from web design contract jobs to home delivery pizza operators.
The Canadian Telework Association is a non-profit telework organization that tries to promote telework in Canada through its web site at http://www.ivc.ca/part3.html. This site offers free memberships to businesses that are attempting to adopt telework practices, and provides a useful "starting page" if you are wondering whether a future in telework is for you.
Although the Canadian Telework Association encourages the development of telework in Canada, it provides a refreshingly balanced coverage of both the advantages and disadvantages of this relatively new form of employment.
The sidebar that runs down the left column of the site outlines the various issues that are related to telework, including "Social impact" and "Globalization". Clicking on "Social impact," for instance, will bring you to a list of articles by various authors outlining the social pros and cons of telework.
For example, the web site points out that telecommuting frees the individual from having to stick to a predetermined work schedule. At the same time, this means that teleworkers run the risk far more than average employees of overworking themselves. Telecommuting provides 24-hour access to work. This may cause employees who have high work standards to work themselves to the point of developing stress-related illnesses.
Alternately, the home-based office may prove to be a more challenging work environment than the traditional office setting simply because family and leisure activities may provide too great of a distraction.
Although telecommuting may not necessarily be the career opportunity you've been waiting for, it provides a new alternative to the traditional office-bound organization of work.
Brett Walther is the Coordinator of the Oxford County Library Community Access Program.
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