Telework and mobile working: analysis of its benefits and drawbacks

Telework and mobile work have been the object of much interest, but there has been little research on who practices it and what are the advantages. We evaluated the advantages and disadvantages for individuals in a large multinational in Belgium. In this organisation, telework is called ‘mobile work’, and includes not only telework at home but also work done at the client’s office, in satellite offices, TeleCenters, etc. We observe that the technical possibility to do telework and gender are significantly related to the practice of mobile work, while age is not, contrarily to expectations. Also, while women are often associated with telework, it is men who are relatively more numerous in mobile work. They mention advantages such as less interference by colleagues, a gain in flexibility, personal and professional development, fewer trips and reduced time loss, better organisation of working hours and opportunities for a better allocation of time.

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