EKSBIT Marc Van Veldhoven (Universiteit Van Tilburg) 23 September 2009

Het Nieuwe Werken Netwerkbijeenkomst EKSBIT 23.09.2009 Marc van Veldhoven Associate Professor HR Studies

Content Intro Telework Flexible Office HR Implications

Framework Technology Economy Effects Culture/ Work & Society Organization

Work force Netherlands NL 1899-1997 (based on CBS/Steijn, 2001)

Core implications • Working with computers EU-27/2005: 46% (>quarter of working time) • Working with people/direct client contact EU-27/2005: 63% (>quarter of working time) • Source: – 4th European working conditions survey (2005) -> (N=1.000 employees interviewed per country)

Study on the “Virtualization of organizations” TNO Quality of Life 2004 (De Leede & van Dalen) • 4 types of virtualization have been researched • Telephone survey among 525 employers NL • Frequency:  mobile work: 69%  virtual teams: 32%  shared services: 2%  virtual networks: 35%

What is telework? ‘Types of work from a distance mediated by ICT, facilitated by the employer’: -mobile work -working from a satellite office -tele-homework *Frequency (per week, per year?), *Facilitated by the organization: financially, workplace, scheduling? >no universal definition or phenomenon!

NEA 2008 (TNO Quality of Life) • Random sample NL workforce (N>20.000) – Average contractual hours worked at home (excl. overtime): 1,57 hours/week (only 5% of all NL working hours) – Are you a teleworker? 12,2% of the workforce

4th European working conditions survey (2005) (N=1.000 employee interviews per country)

Why does telework not reach a larger part of the workforce? • Employees would like to… • Employers and managers often have a rather passive attitude towards the implementation of telework: resistance! Why? • For some jobs presence on site is absolutely necessary (e.g. hospitals, construction, manufacturing) • Telework is considered by employers and managers rather as an employee benefit for higher educated, valuable professionals than as a total solution for all employees (as politicians argue)

Bailey & Kurland (2002) • A review of telework research: findings, new directions, and lessons for the study of modern work Central questions: -who participates in telework? -why do individuals telework? -what happens when people telework? Overview of 20 years or research on telework (>130 studies) -> Does the “teleworker” exist?

Why do individuals telework? Demand for telework: which factors determine the wish of employees to use telework? -shorter commuting; less traffic jams; less costs commuting -better possibilities to combine work and care for children ?gender ?family composition +familiarity with ICT -age Supply of telework: which factors determine the wish of employers to use telework? -willingness to change -need to control employees (monitoring) vs trust -costs ?size of the organization

What happens when people telework? + productivity (as indicated in self-reports, more hours of work) ? Job satisfaction - loyalty

The overlooked question • > how do people telework? “most teleworkers work at home or in telework centres only a few days per month” > If this is the case: at the individual level hardly any differences in comparison with regular full-time work at the office can be expected > Isolation can hardly be a problem > Telework appears to be a temporary escape from the office (in order to meet important deadlines/targets) rather than a structural working arrangement; maybe we have to reconsider what telework actually is…

New issue in telework research • frustration in employees who stay behind in the office… (Golden, 2007)

Telework: management resistance • Further dispersion of telework meets resistance from managers • Why? -> – Most direct answer can be found in a paper by Charles Handy (1995) in the Harvard Business Review: “How do you manage people whom you don’t see?” – Telework requires a starting point of trust in employees on behalf of management

The Flexible Office • ICT offers new possibilities for office design, by creating flexible, shared office spaces in combination with telework/mobile work • Goals of flexible office projects: - Break with “closed door/closed department” culture - Combine separate locations in one new location - Increase efficiency in administrative processes - Save money: need less office space and less technical facilities, reduce service costs

Study Interpolis • In 1996 Interpolis introduced a flexible office concept • Longitudinal study: 3 surveys among 90 employees of 2 business units over a 2-year period (De Jonge & Rutte, 1999):  - more autonomy, cooperation & possibilities for contact  - no changes in communication, concentration & participation • 25% reduction in exploitation costs for the office • No panacea: some problems of adjustment in some of the employees; not everyone fits well within such an office model; some difficulty in employees to keep concentrated.

What impact do new office concepts have on employees? Literature review study by de Croon et al. (2005) • Literature-review: found 49 relevant studies • 3 independent variables: – Office location (home vs office) – Office lay-out (openness, distance between work stations) – Office use (fixed vs shared workplaces) • 3 dependent variables: – Working conditions, short term reactions (job satisfaction, job stress etc), long term reactions (health, performance etc).

Results • Office location (home vs office) – Insufficient evidence • Office lay-out (openness, distance between work stations) – Open-ness leads to less privacy (strong evidence) – Open-ness leads to higher cognitive workload and worse interpersonal relationships (limited evidence) – Close distance between work stations leads to higher cognitive workload and lower privacy (limited evidence) – Close distance between work stations leads to lower job satisfaction (strong evidence) • Office use (fixed vs shared workplaces) – Desk sharing leads to better communication (limited evidence)

Telework/New office concepts: implications for HRM?

• HRM will be asked to offer a strategic contribution in the discussion on the pros and cons:  Try to counterbalance technological or financial points of view with input about the human element • HRM might play a role in the implementation:  Keep in mind the balance between business logic and the logic of human needs  Employees as well as employers might show problems of adjustment: these hang-ups deserve (temporary) appropriate attention  How do you develop trust in employees among managers?

Good commisionership • Relatively new niche in ICT-market: – selecting, testing, implementing & controlling ICT-solutions with strong emphasis on user acceptance and adoption – Valori, kennisleider in Goed Opdrachtgeverschap

EKSBIT Marc Van Veldhoven (Universiteit Van Tilburg) 23 September 2009

by EKSBIT on Sep 28, 2009

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