Almost 10% of NSW Workforce 'Teleworks'

See also a 2005 article at Teleworking in Australia.

May 2 2002 - A recent survey by Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that almost one-quarter of a million (or 8%) of NSW workers 'teleworked' in the three months to October 2001. Another 355,200 (12%) worked at home after normal business hours.

According to the definition used by the ABS, teleworkers are people 15 years and over who were employed by a business that was not based at their own home but worked at home during normal business hours for a full or part day.

And a person who worked at home after hours only is defined as someone who worked at home on weekends or took work home after normal business hours.

The majority of teleworkers were aged 35-44 years, with people aged 45-54 years accounting for the largest proportion of employed people who spent all day in the office then only worked at home after normal business hours.

In terms of numbers, nearly three-quarters (74%) of teleworkers were in the private sector. But a greater proportion of public sector employees teleworked. Of those who worked for the government or public service 10% teleworked, while 7% of private sector employees teleworked.

Main reasons for teleworking were given as:

- 'work commitments/job requires it' (33%)
- 'less distractions' (15%)
- 'childcare/family considerations' (13%)
- 'greater productivity' (12%)

'Childcare and family considerations' were the main reason for 21% of women, compared to just 7% for men.

Teleworking employees used a variety of technological facilities that were supplied by either their employer or themselves while working at home. These included:

- the telephone (72% of all teleworkers)
- mobile phone (68%)
- Internet (67%)
- email (65%)

But more than a third of teleworking employees were not supplied with any equipment by their employer while they were working at home.

More than half a million people (566,700) employed in NSW do not do any work at home for their job or business, but reported that they would like to telework. 75% said they did not telework at present because their type of work was not suitable and 13% that employers were not allowing it.

Details are in Teleworking, New South Wales, 2001 (Cat No. 1371.1).