Telecommuting or working from outside the office, "keeps talented women in the workplace," according to an online survey conducted by market researcher Ispos, on behalf of Reuters News. This is due to these women now having the option to stay with their career while having and raising children instead of getting on the career path to do so.
Further, those who "strongly agree" with this view were mainly from "Turkey (64%), Russia (62%), Poland (53%), Hungary (51%) and Indonesia (50%). Those in Sweden (14%), Canada (22%), South Korea (22%), Great Britain (24%), the United States (26%) and Japan (27%) are least likely to agree."
Published on January 23, 2012, data from the "The World of Work: Global Study of Online Employees" was collected via the Ipsos Online Panel system, which polled "11,383 online connected employees from 24 countries via online survey methodology between Ocober 7 and 20, 2011. The countries reporting [were] Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States of America."
The report also revealed that 17%, or close to one in five, of the 11,000 plus polled, telecommuted "'a frequent basis': 7% say they 'work every day from home which is remote or separate from their employers real office elsewhere' while another 10% say they do so 'on a very consistent and constant basis like evenings and weekends.'"
Additionally emerging; "Telecommuting is primarily taking place in emerging markets: those working in the Middle East and Africa (27%), Latin America (25%) and Asia-Pacific (24%) are considerably more likely than those in North America (9%) and Europe (9%) to telecommute 'on a frequent basis.'
More specifically, employees in India (56%), Indonesia (34%), Mexico (30%), Argentina (29%), South Africa (28%) and Turkey (27%) are most likely to be pursuing this form of employment. On the other end, those in Hungary (3%), Germany (5%), Sweden (6%), France (7%), Italy (7%) and Canada (8%) are least like to telecommute 'on a frequent basis.'
Those with a high level of education are most likely to telecommute on a frequent basis (25%) followed by those under the age of 35 (20%) and those with a high household income (20%). Men (19%) are more likely than women (16%) to telecommute frequently."
On the other hand, the study also found; "Globally, one third (34%) of those connected employees agree they would be 'very likely' to take the option to telecommute on a full time basis from their home or other location if their employer offered them the opportunity."
At the same time, those polled also said the practice helped reduce stress: "Six in ten (60%) in Russia strongly agree telecommuters have less stress as a result of less time spent getting to work, followed by Turkey (53%), Hungary (51%), Argentina (45%) and Mexico (45%). The Swedes (19%) are least likely to strongly agree, followed by Australia (21%), Great Britain (22%), the United States (24%) and China (25%).
While yet others indicated that it was a reason for a better work-life balance being achieved: "Eight in ten (78%) 'agree' (29% strongly, 49% somewhat) that employees who telecommute are better able to achieve balance between work and family. Citizens in Russia (47%), Spain (42%), Hungary (41%) and India (41%) are most likely to strongly agree; Sweden (13%), Japan (15%), South Korea (16%) and Great Britain are least likely."
However, these perceptions were not without stiff opposition: "Half 'agree' that working remotely damages the employee's chances for promotion (56% - 12% strongly, 44% somewhat) and that telecommuting creates more family conflict because it reduces the boundaries between work and family life (53% - 12% strongly, 41% somewhat)."
|
E-mail
