This document summarizes the results of a survey of 1,874 BT employees registered in the company's teleworking scheme called workabout. The survey examined the social, economic, and transportation impacts of teleworking. Most respondents reported that teleworking improved their quality of life and work-life balance. They experienced increased productivity but also longer working hours. While teleworking reduced commuting travel, it did not always decrease total travel. The survey identified different types of teleworkers and found variations in impacts between them. Some questions around comparing teleworkers to non-teleworkers and impacts of informal teleworking remain unanswered.

1. TELEWORKING AT BT
- The Economic, Environmental and Social
Impacts of its workabout Scheme
Report on Survey Results
14/10/2002
Dr. Peter Hopkinson, Professor Peter James
and Takao Maruyama
University of Bradford
SustainIT
Department of Environmental Science, University of Bradford, Bradford, West
Yorkshire BD7 1DP
Tel: +44 (0)1274 235393 E-mail: p.g.hopkinson@bradford.ac.uk
SustainIT is a unit of the UK Centre for Economic and Environmental
Development, Suite 1, Priestgate House, 3/7 Priestgate, Peterborough PE1
1JN Tel: +44 (0)1733 311644 www.sustainit.org

2. Contents
Highlights ......................................................................................................................3
Teleworking is Generally Positive for BT Staff and Society as a Whole ............3
Teleworking Increases Productivity and Reduces Absenteeism – But Also
Increases Working Hours........................................................................................4
Teleworking Reduces Travel – But Not Always ...................................................4
Some Questions Remain Unanswered....................................................................5
Introduction...................................................................................................................6
1. Typology of Teleworkers...........................................................................................7
2. Social and Personal Impacts ....................................................................................9
2.1 Teleworking and Quality of Life ......................................................................9
2.2 Motivations to, and Concerns about, Telework ............................................15
2.3 Teleworkers and Domestic Activities .............................................................16
2.4 Social Inclusion ................................................................................................19
2.5 Community Involvement.................................................................................21
3. Economic Impacts of Teleworking.........................................................................23
3.1 Increased productivity.....................................................................................23
3.2 Most Teleworkers Work for Longer ..............................................................28
3.3 Absenteeism ......................................................................................................32
3.4 Career Development ........................................................................................33
4. Transport Impacts of Teleworking.........................................................................33
Mode of Travel .......................................................................................................33
4.1 Travel Effects of Different Kinds of Teleworking ........................................33
4.2 Increases in Personal and Work-Related Travel ..........................................35
5. Conclusions .............................................................................................................36
Appendix – Details of the Survey ...............................................................................38
2

3. Highlights
BT is participating in a European project on sustainable teleworking, financed
by the Commission’s IST initiative.1 This report summarises one of the first
outputs from the project, an on-line survey of staff registered with workabout,
BT’s official teleworking scheme. Answers were received from 1874 people –
a very satisfactory response rate of 36.5% of the overall sample of 5128 staff
surveyed.
Teleworking is Generally Positive for BT Staff and Society as a Whole
Most of the questions related to the personal and social impacts of
teleworking. The majority of respondents felt that this was giving them a better
life:
85% felt that their quality of life was good or very good
82% felt that teleworking was important or very important to their
quality of life
73% felt that their work-life balance was good or very good
90% were satisfied or very satisfied with teleworking.
A small minority of respondents felt that teleworking was having negative
effects on their quality of life, mainly because of increased working hours.
The majority (81%) of recent Workabout registrants felt their expectations of
the benefits of teleworking had been met. However, 19% of respondents were
finding the drawbacks more significant than expected. The main reason given
was difficulty in adjusting to the lack of social interaction.
The survey also examined motivations to telework and found that:
The highest ranked was getting more work done, with 83% of
respondents stating that this was very important
Only 46% of respondents stating that more time for themselves was
very important
Only 25% of respondents stated that making it easier to help with
caring responsibilities was very important (even though 58% of
respondents had dependent children).
In addition:
33% of respondents stated that their contribution to domestic activity
had increased
1
See www.sustel.org for more information on the project.
3

4. 14% reported that it had made it easier to become involved in
community activities
10% believed that they would be unable to do their present job if
unable to telework.
Hence BT teleworking is positively contributing to work-life balance,
community development and social inclusion.
Teleworking Increases Productivity and Reduces Absenteeism – But
Also Increases Working Hours
78% of teleworkers considered themselves to be more productive. The main
reasons were reduced disruption, reduced commuting time and stress and
greater flexibility about when and where to work.
22% of teleworkers said that they had worked at home during their last typical
working month when they felt too ill to travel to work.
However, 69% of respondents stated that their working hours had increased,
with 45% of respondents reporting an increase of more than 9 hours per
week. How can this paradox of higher quality of life but increased working
hours be explained? One reason is reduced time commuting, which can free
time for both work and private life, and also greatly reduce stress. Another is
the ability to multi-task – for example, hanging out washing during breaks – so
that there is more quality time at the evening or weekends.
Teleworking Reduces Travel – But Not Always
Teleworking certainly reduces commuting travel:
74% of new registrants say that travel reduction was an important
factor in their decision to telework
47% of those still commuting say that their commute travel has
decreased and only 6% say that it has increased
The average reduction in car commuting is 178 miles per week, and for
rail 220 miles
27% of respondents felt that teleworking had decreased in-work travel
compared to 13% who felt that that it had increased.
However, the survey found that that there are at least seven different kinds of
teleworker within BT, with considerable differences in travel and other areas
between them.
4

5. 46% of BT teleworkers working at home when they would otherwise have
worked elsewhere use their cars for additional journeys, demonstrating that
this can offset some commuting savings.
Some Questions Remain Unanswered
The survey suggests that BT needs to conduct further research to:
1. Compare a sample of teleworkers with non-teleworkers so that
effects created by teleworking can be distinguished from those created
by more general organisational changes
2. Better understand the environmental and social impacts of
teleworkers who are not registered with workabout (which is probably a
much larger proportion of BT teleworkers)
3. Gain a more detailed understanding of the impacts of different kinds
of teleworker
4. Confirm whether teleworkers are working longer hours in total, and
whether, if this is the case, anything can or should be done to help
them to avoid this.
5

6. Introduction
BT is one of Europe's leading providers of telecommunications services
and has around 108,000 employees. The company began implementing
telework schemes in 1990 and now probably has the largest number of
teleworkers of any UK organisation.2 Over 5000 of these are registered with
the focus of this study, the workabout scheme. This voluntary scheme
provides equipment and other support to teleworkers who are giving up a
permanent BT office space to move to a home-based, mobile working pattern.
The main reasons for BT’s encouragement of teleworking have been:
Cost control, particularly through reducing expenditure on office
accommodation and increasing productivity (the workabout scheme is
administered by BT’s Property function)
Working conditions, aimed at improving general employee attendance,
morale, recruitment and retention by giving them more control over the
location and timing of work
Productivity, concerned with encouraging more efficient and effective
working by employees
A desire to demonstrate that teleworking can work so that other
organisations will be encouraged to adopt it
A belief that teleworking can create considerable environmental and
social benefits such as reduced travel and a better work-life balance for
employees.
To substantiate this belief BT's Environment Unit has commissioned two
surveys of new registrants to workabout.3 These surveys focused on travel
impacts so that there remained some uncertainty about social impacts. An
opportunity to address these arose through BT’s participation in SUSTEL, a
European Union project on sustainable teleworking.4 Part of its research is a
comparative survey of teleworkers in the five partner countries. As part of the
questionnaire development process for this, BT agreed to survey all the 5128
BT employees then registered with workabout.
The workabout registrants were e-mailed in March 2002 and asked to fill in an
on-line questionnaire on an independent third party web site established by
the report authors. Completed questionnaires were received from 1874 staff
by the cut-off date. Although not all respondents answered every question, it
is still one of the largest surveys of its kind ever undertaken. The response
2
BT itself rarely uses the term teleworking, but sees it as one aspect of a
broader commitment to flexible working.
3
See www.sustainit.org for further details of these surveys.
4
See www.sustel.org for further details of the project.
6

7. rate of 36.5% is also very satisfactory for this kind of research. The appendix
provides full details of the survey.
The following sections describe the results of the survey. The analysis is
illustrated by comments made by respondents. To retain authenticity, these
are reproduced as written except for occasional corrections of misspellings.
1. Typology of Teleworkers
The previous BT surveys suggested that people telework in different ways so
for this survey a simple classification scheme was developed, with seven
categories. As table 1 indicates, most respondents were able to identify with
one of the seven categories indicating that the typology is reasonably robust.
The fact that all the categories are present is an extremely important point as
working styles are important determinants of a number of environmental and
social outcomes such as travel and community involvement. The fact that
over half the respondents work at multiple locations and have high levels of
in-work travel also demonstrates the importance of gaining a more detailed
understanding of each of the sub-groups.
Table 1 A Typology of BT Teleworkers
Category of teleworker Number Percentage
a Primarily work in a main BT office but regularly
spend days/ half days working at home. Relatively 16 0.9%
small amount of in-work travel.
b Mixed working locations split between home and
main BT office (on average more than one day a week
63 3.4%
in each of the two different locations). Relatively small
amount of in-work travel.
c Mixed working locations split between home and
main BT office (on average more than one day a week
79 4.3%
in each of the two different locations). Relatively large
amount of in-work travel.
d Mixed working locations split between home and
460 25.1%
multiple BT offices (i.e. no main BT office).
e Mixed working locations split between home, BT
350 19.1%
offices and customers premises
F Home working at start and finish of most working
days, on the road during the day routinely visiting
226 12.3%
customers and clients. One day or less on average in
BT offices
g Primarily work at home with occasional days/half
576 31.4%
days in BT offices for team meetings, training etc
h None of the above - I do not consider myself to be a
4 0.2%
teleworker.
i None of the above for other reasons - 59 3.2%
TOTAL 1833 100.0%
7

8. There is also considerable turnover between the individual teleworking styles.
24% of respondents had changed their style in the past 12 months, and 10%
expected to do so in future. The main reason for this is the move from
‘occasional’ teleworking styles that maintain a fixed office to ones which are
some combination of home and mobile working.
The questionnaire requested information as to where teleworkers worked. As
table 2 shows, 56% of respondents spent more than half their time working at
home.
Table 2 Proportion of Week Spent Working At Home
Proportion of
Working Week Number Percentage
Spent at Home
0% 69 3.7%
0-10% 54 2.9%
10.1-20% 237 12.7%
20.1-30% 171 9.2%
30.1-40% 297 15.9%
40.1-50% 209 11.2%
50.1-60% 240 12.9%
60.1-70% 115 6.2%
70.1-80% 223 12.0%
80.1-90% 65 3.5%
90.1-100% 186 10.0%
TOTAL 1866 100.0%
77% of respondents stated that they had flexibility in where to work so this
balance gives a good indication of their personal choices. This is borne out by
table 3. This summarises people’s answers to a question about the single
most important factor which influenced their decision to work at home.
Table 3 Reasons for Working at Home
Reasons for Working at Home Number Percentage
Need to concentrate (1) 319 22.9%
Prefer to work at home (2) 641 46.1%
Access to people (4) 165 11.9%
Transport issues (6) 97 7.0%
Other (9) 74 5.3%
Access to information (3) 44 3.2%
Family Issues (7) 43 3.1%
Illness (8) 6 0.4%
Weather conditions (5) 2 0.1%
TOTAL 1391 100.0%
8

9. 2. Social and Personal Impacts
The questionnaire explored in detail three ways in which teleworking relates to
the social pillar of sustainable development:
Impacts on the quality of life of individuals and their families (discussed
in sections 2.1 to 2.3)
Impacts on social inclusion (discussed in section 2.4)
Impacts on community involvement (discussed in section 2.5).
2.1 Teleworking and Quality of Life
The majority of respondents felt that they had a better life through teleworking
than if they commuted to an office. For example:
85% (1520) of the 1779 respondents to the question ‘overall how would
you judge your quality of life over the past 12 months’ stated that it was
good or very good
Only 5% (95) of respondents felt that it was low or very low5
82% (1455) of the 1779 respondents to the question ‘how important is
teleworking to your overall quality of life’ replied that it was important or
very important
Only 12% (221) felt that teleworking was unimportant or very
unimportant to their quality of life6
73% of 1179 respondents to the question ‘overall how would you judge
your current balance between your working life and other aspects of
your life’ felt that it was good or very good7
90% (1601) of 1779 respondents to the question ‘overall how satisfied
are you teleworking over the past 12 months’ were satisfied or very
satisfied
Only 5% (89) were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.8
Some representative comments on the topic were:
5
The remaining 164 (9%) felt that it was neither good nor bad
6
The remaining 103 (6%) felt that it was neither important nor unimportant.
7
The remaining 242 (14%) felt that it was neither good nor bad.
8
The remaining 89 (5%) felt that it was neither good nor bad.
9

10. I have peace, quiet, no interruptions and flexibility, e.g. I can sit down
at midnight for 3 hours and concentrate and lie in bed the next morning
if I wish.
I am happier, more organised and generally more productive/ efficient.
The ability to vary tasks whilst at home allow thinking time, additionally
benefiting those at home (have lunch with the children, for example).
This promotes a feel-good and positive attitude and equips oneself for
the tasks at hand.
I believe that by managing my time around what I have to do I can
spend more time with family, be less stressed and hence more focused
and productive when carrying my work.
Due to not having to commute I now have time at the beginning and
end of the day for Domestic duties. This is very helpful to my working
wife and thus reduces her stress and workload, which in turn helps us
both. We therefore spend more quality time together.
The following pages discuss many of these points in greater detail. They also
provide comments from the small minority of respondents who did feel that
teleworking was having negative effects on their life.
To explore the reasons for the generally positive responses about quality of
life, we asked respondents to state their agreement or disagreement with
various statements about the personal impacts of teleworking (see table 4).9
The highest levels of positive response are to statements about work-related
benefits, with:
92% agreeing that they feel more productive
89% saying that they have more control over their working environment
87% believing that they have increased their work flexibility.
Some other interesting points to emerge from the responses are:
85% of respondents also strongly or completely agree that they have
reduced stress of commuting, but only 44% feel the same about stress
experienced in offices - presumably because many work-related
stresses are independent of working location.
For a significant minority teleworking is not creating more personal time
- 16% or respondents disagree that teleworking is giving them more
9
To enable international comparison the form of these statements was taken
from a US survey conducted in the mid 1990s. A later, more detailed, report
for the SUSTEL project will discuss the comparative findings.
10

11. time to themselves, and 13% disagree that it is giving them more time
for their families.
A minority do feel that they have lost some benefits from commuting –
35% agree that they have lost a useful transition from home to office.
11

12. Table 4 Views of the Whole Sample on the Benefits of Teleworking
Factor Do Not Agree Agree Agree
Agree Slightly Strongly Completely
I am more productive 1.3% 6.8% 49.2% 42.7%
I have more control over my physical 2.4% 9.0% 46.3% 42.3%
working environment
I have reduced stress of commuting 3.3% 11.6% 43.0% 42.1%
I have increased my work flexibility 3.1% 9.9% 45.5% 41.5%
I feel I am helping the environment by 11.5% 20.8% 34.9% 32.8%
driving less
I feel I work much longer hours 11.4% 27.9% 32.6% 28.1%
I save money 12.1% 30.2% 33.6% 24.1%
I have more independence 9.1% 20.5% 46.6% 23.8%
I can spend more time with my family 13.4% 31.1% 35.5% 20.0%
I find it easier to handle dependent [child 25.5% 22.1% 34.7% 17.7%
or adult] care
I am able to work while temporarily 48.6% 8.1% 25.8% 17.5%
disabled
I have more time for myself 15.8% 35.8% 32.2% 16.2%
I have reduced the stress I experienced in 21.3% 35.1% 29.1% 14.5%
the main office
I am able to work instead of taking 52.5% 14.3% 22.4% 10.8%
parental leave
I am able to keep working at this job after 52.5% 14.3% 22.4% 10.8%
changing my residence
I find it easier to pursue educational or 24.1% 40.9% 25.8% 9.3%
personal interests
I feel technical issues are more 43.8% 27.0% 20.1% 9.1%
problematic than if I were in a main office
I am able to work while permanently 72.8% 9.5% 9. 3% 8.4%
disabled
I feel much less able to control my 41.9% 32.0% 18.1% 7.9%
working hours
I feel a loss of professional inter-action 25.7% 41.9% 25.1% 7.3%
I feel a reduced workplace visibility and 35.8% 38.0% 19.8% 6.4%
career advancement
I have lost a useful transition between 64.7% 20.9% 10.6% 3.8%
work and home
I consider that main BT offices are better 58.4% 28.8% 9.1% 3.7%
equipped and nicer than my home work
environment and equipment
I have lost a commute trip for other 76.4% 14.2% 6.5% 3.0%
productive purposes e.g. reading, typing
I feel I am viewed negatively by 61.5% 28.7% 7.5% 2.3%
management
Family conflicts have increased 73.0% 19.7% 5.7% 1.6%
I have lost of commute trip for other 80.5% 14.1% 4.6% 0.9%
purposes e.g. shopping, school runs
I feel less motivated to work than if I was 81.1% 15.6% 2.5% 0.8%
in a main office
I feel stressed by having to remember 86.0% 12.1% 1.7% 0.2%
what items to have in different locations
12

13. Table 5 Factors Influencing Decision to Telework by Recent Workabout
Registrants
Factor Not at Not A lot Extremely
all very
To reduce the stress of commuting 8.1% 18.2% 34.6% 39.2%
To increase flexibility 6.1% 10.7% 47. 8% 35.4%
To get more work done 6.1% 18.9% 48.8% 26.2%
To spend more time with my family 26.8% 24.5% 32.2% 16.5%
To have more control over my physical working 17.1% 27.2% 40.8% 15.0%
environment
To have more time for myself 23.3% 31.6% 31.0% 14.2%
To save money 24.3% 35.4% 28.4% 11.9%
To help the environment by driving less 27.6% 35.0% 27.9% 9.4%
To make it easier to help with caring 53.4% 21.2% 16.1% 9.3%
responsibilities
To reduce the stress I experienced in the main 46.9% 32.4% 12.2% 8.5%
office
To have more independence 30.1% 34.2% 29.2% 6.4%
To be able to work instead of taking parental 72.0% 11.2% 10.6% 6.2%
leave
To keep working at this job after changing my 72.0% 11.2% 10.6% 6.2%
residence
To make it easier to pursue educational or 46.2% 35.0% 14.4% 4.4%
personal interests
To be able to work while temporarily disabled 87.6% 7.0% 2.2% 3.2%
To be able to work while permanently disabled 93.8% 2.9% 0.6% 2.6%
13

14. Table 6 Initial Concerns About Teleworking by Recent Workabout
Registrants
Factor Do not Agree Agree Agree
agree slightly Strongly completely
Potential Loss of social interaction found in 14.5% 26.1% 36.8% 10.9%
the traditional workplace
Potential Loss of professional interaction 13.7% 28.2% 38.3% 7.9%
found in the workplace
Potential Loss of Opportunities for visibility 23.9% 41.9% 16.0% 5.8%
and career advancement
Potential risk of being viewed negatively by 40.6% 32.7% 11.7% 3.0%
management
Concern that teleworking may increase 53.3% 25.4% 7.1% 1.8%
family conflicts
Concern about motivation to work as a 47.2% 27.4% 11.9% 1.3%
teleworker
Loss of commute trip for other productive 71.1% 13.5% 2.0% 0.8%
purposes e.g. reading, typing
Concern about having to remember what 68.8% 15.2% 3.0% 0.5%
items to have in different locations
Concern that main office was better 55.8% 25.4% 6.3% 0.3%
equipped and nicer
Loss of commute trip as a useful transition 64.0% 15.2% 7.9% 0.3%
between work and home
Loss of commute trip for other purposes 71.3% 12.7% 3.3% 0.0%
e.g. shopping, school runs
14

15. 2.2 Motivations to, and Concerns about, Telework
One problem with individuals comparing their current situation with that before
they teleworked is that they be unable to recall accurately. To guard against
this we included some questions aimed solely at people who had registered
with Workabout during the previous 12 months. The questions focused on
their initial motivation to telework and the benefits and costs they had found in
practice (see tables 5 and 6 for the answers).
Some interesting aggregate points to emerge with regard to initial motivations
to telework are:
Getting more work done was the most important motivator with 83% of
respondents stating that this was a lot or extremely important
More personal time was perhaps less important than many people
might have imagined, with only 46% of respondents stating that more
time for themselves was a lot or extremely important, and only 49% of
respondents saying the same about spending more time with their
family
Only 25% of respondents stated that making it easier to help with
caring responsibilities was a lot or extremely important (even though
58% of respondents had dependent children).
The last two points suggest that the commonly view that teleworkers are
mainly parents seeking a better work-life balance is not completely true of BT
teleworkers.
As table 6 shows, the two greatest fears were about isolation from social and
professional interaction in the workplace. Only a minority of respondents felt
that they had been concerned about their motivation or possible negative
impacts on their families.
The majority (81%) of recent Workabout registrants felt their expectations of
the benefits of teleworking had been met. However, 19% of respondents were
finding the drawbacks more significant than expected. The main reason given
was difficulty in adjusting to the lack of social interaction, with some
representative comments being:
A phone allows contact but ad hoc bouncing of ideas around and close
contact support diminishes in the home environment.
Loss of social interaction is demotivating and can be depressing.
However, several respondents mentioned that they had taken positive action
to overcome it:
At least one team member calls me daily even if to say Hi. This is after
we raised it as an issue in one of our workshops, it helps and the
15

16. isolation is barely there.
Some also mentioned difficulties with work-life balance, for example:
Conflict with being at home and "at work" at the same time has been
hard - it is more difficult to "ignore" my partner when she is at home
and I am "at work". It is easier to ignore open-plan office noise than
home noise!
Other comments on drawbacks included:
More difficult to get visibility at higher management level - Out of sight
out of mind!
Longer working hours and the I’ll just check the emails while I have 5
mins outside of working hours. The guilt trip when you are ill and
normally would have left the office to go home to bed, but as you are
home you try to keep going.
Drawbacks have been around missing career development
opportunities. Reading time has gone. Just don’t get round to it at
home.
And, whilst it is safe to say that the person who observed that:
I ran to the office and back every day, 10 mile round trip, and this was
ideal training for my adopted sport of road / hill running, I’m now down
to one run per day and the race times are now suffering
is probably unique or almost so several others did mention the reduction in
exercise as a result of teleworking:
Total lack of exercise during work time, most of my time is spent at
home and going down stairs for breakfast is as strenuous as it gets.
Finally, a small number of respondents were dissatisfied with their technical
support and/or their communications infrastructure.
2.3 Teleworkers and Domestic Activities
A third (279) of the 851 respondents to the question ‘has the amount of
domestic activity increased as a result of teleworking’ answered yes whilst
only 48 (6%) considered it had decreased.
People were asked to expand on this feature of teleworking in an open-ended
question.
Some of the most frequent comments were by fathers about opportunities for
greater involvement with children, for example:
16

17. Opportunity to take children to school once a week, allowing my wife to
go to college.
Taking kids to school more often and spending more time with partner
and kids.
Time formerly spent commuting is now spent helping out with my two
young sons. Before teleworking I would not have seen them awake
during the week as their bedtimes would have been before getting back
from work.
Able to cook tea in time for children coming home from work or school.
Able to wash dishes at dinnertime!
Many men also commented that they were taking on more domestic tasks:
When I finish work I have time to do housekeeping cooking etc before
my wife & kids get home. This gives us all more time to interact and do
the things we enjoy.
My wife works so working at home I can run dishwasher/washing
machine /tumble dryer etc. Also shop & prepare evening meal.
I have been promoted to Washing/Weather watcher by my wife. I
prepare the evening meal when I finish work, hopefully in time for the
arrival home of the family.
Now have a baby and have to help the wife more. The extra time has
allowed me to share more of the responsibilities of being a parent.
In a number of cases this was greatly helping female partners:
I fit in more domestic duties around work and my wife expects me to do
more. This has enabled her to return to her career but of course means
I spend more time working in the evenings.
My wife is now able to work fulltime now the children have someone at
home to supervise etc.
With the flexibility I am able to take the kids to school and their other
activities. Which has been an absolute godsend as my wife has been
recently diagnosed & is suffering from MS.
But not all men were quite so positive:
Forced Labour.
My wife makes me do it!!
17

18. Most women respondents were also positive about the time benefits of their
own teleworking, although in their case this was more about the ability to fit in
domestic tasks during the day:
I can cook more often. It is easier to fit in some domestic things like
putting on the dishwasher at lunchtime.
Less time commuting means I have more time to do housework, cook
meals etc.
On a typical day, I will wash and dry one load of washing, wash up,
clean work surface, and sweep the floor - about 30 minutes in total. I
do this before work (when I would previously have commuted) and at
lunch times.
As I just returned from maternity leave when I became a homeworker,
it was very convenient being able to put the washing on and hang it out
and bring it in again, especially if it started to rain, which you couldn’t
do if you were at work.
Another perceived benefit of teleworking for women is the ability to undertake
shopping:
Able to pop out to do shopping during lunchtime and the same with
school activities.
Being flexible about working times has meant that activities such as
food shopping can be done via home delivery or at less busy times
which also frees up time to spend.
Easier to go shopping at none busy times.
Go for quick shop/banking/dog walking etc.
This greater use of local services can have important social benefits,
especially in rural areas:
Now that I no longer work in a town, I have switched to Internet
banking and use the local village post office for paying in and
withdrawing cash. This helps to keep the village post office viable.
A smaller number of people also noted the value of being able to do other
domestic tasks:
Used the previous commuting time to do DIY, put the kids to bed.
Able to use the lunch break to mow the lawn, general gardening, etc.
I have more time to cook decent meals now, which I enjoy.
Others noted advantages such as:
18

19. I can use some of the time I used to travel to do things like a fitness
routine.
Participate in new activities!!
I never had to opportunity to work in the nude in the office!
Arrange to be in for repairmen, deliveries etc.
Also able to have a cleaner once a week as I’m at home.
I am now able to take part in activities such as sport during daylight
hours during the winter, where I could not before.
I get time to walk the dog in the daylight!
Teleworking also produced greater social interaction for some:
By being at home I can take a lunch break to sort out domestic issues
locally - school, neighbour, friend etc. Which could not be done if I
commuted.
Easier to plan evenings out with family and friends as I know I will not
be travelling to 7 pm plus every evening.
Three respondents may have been more emphatic in their summary of
teleworking than most, but they do appear to speak for the majority when the
commented that:
Has made a dramatic improvement to my work and personal life. Has
allowed me to become involved in village life (e.g. Chair of School
Governors). Allows me to see more of my children growing up, especial
at those important times e.g. before they go to school and most
important when they return and tell you about their day. Brings a family
much closer together.
Weekends more time - more relaxed at end of day.
As previously noted, teleworking has made an enormous improvement
to my quality of life. I used to be away from home 12 hours every day -
now I work in a more relaxed frame of mind. No contest!
2.4 Social Inclusion
We also examined the issue of social inclusion, particular whether teleworking
was allowing people to stay in employment when they might otherwise have
had to leave. Around 10% (190) of the 1874 respondents to the question
‘would you be able to undertake your current job if you were unable to
telework?’ replied that they would not. For many people this is simply a
19

20. question of commuting times (especially when offices have relocated since
teleworking began), which could potentially be overcome by moving. But
others face more insuperable barriers of an inability to spend 8-10 hours away
from the home. A number of respondents commented that teleworking
allowed them to care for dependent young children:
As a single parent I would not be able to commute to London every day
as it is impossible to get a childminder to do the hours I would need
and the cost is prohibitive.
I would only be able to work part-time as a divorced parent my children
are with me part of each week and my teams office base is not easily
commutable.
It would be difficult. When I first started teleworking, it would have
made no difference. However, subsequently my wife has fallen ill and I
have a 3-year-old son. Life would be much more difficult if I was not
here to help out.
In a number of cases, however, teleworking was allowing people to provide
extra time for disabled children or those with special needs:
I have been ill on at least 3 occasions since teleworking and still
managed to do my job. This is a hidden bonus for employers of
teleworkers.
I started home working because I had real difficulties looking after my
Son who had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. If I had not
started working from home I might have been forced to leave the
company.
I have a special needs child who is registered disabled and have been
able to reduce the stress levels from other family members, by
contributing more to school trips and hospital visits.
I have an Autistic son and am a single parent with very little support so
I need to work from home.
One respondent perhaps summarised the importance of teleworking for such
people:
I have had a very difficult year personally. Had it not been for my
flexible working arrangements, I would very likely have been forced to
give up work. This way I continue to be a productive citizen, I balance
my family commitments with my working life, and I continue to provide
quality output for my employer and our customers.
The other side of this coin is that BT is probably retaining a number of staff –
many of whom presumably would have key skills – who might otherwise have
left its employment,
20

21. However, the comment of one respondent that:
Now do house work to relax. If I take a break I usually end up Hovering
(!) or washing etc rather than going out or chatting with others in the
office
reveals one potential downside from an organisational perspective. The chats
in the office can be valuable in terms of communicating information,
maintaining relationships and providing stimulation. As one of the lengthier
answers observed:
There are only 2 problems that have concerned me about
homeworking so far. Firstly, when I was in the office Id spend my lunch
break wandering around the city centre. Now, I'm more likely to do the
ironing or some gardening. This means that I'm not getting the exercise
I used to so I've had to buy a fitness bike to counter my new found
sloth. Secondly, my day passes without incident. I no longer have any
amusing tales of daily travel, office gossip or city centre observations to
talk about with my wife. When she asks about my day, I have to say
that nothing unusual happened in the spare room today - but, oh yes, I
did receive an amusing e-mail. It's easy to become de-socialised!
Effective teleworkers – and good employers – recognise the value of this
informal networking and try to provide it in other ways.
2.5 Community Involvement
More time at home can create many personal benefits, but does not
necessarily create social benefit. To examine this topic, the survey asked if
teleworking has allowed BT teleworkers to spend more time on community
activities and volunteering – an important facet of sustainable development,
which stresses the importance of local level initiatives and participation.
To place this into context, we obtained baseline data on how many people
actually engaged in community activities and volunteering, what those
activities are and how much time they spent on them.
Approximately a third (692) of 1874 respondents reported that they are
involved in community activities. Table 7 indicates the diverse range of
activities undertaken by the 486 people who provided information on this.
21

22. Table 7 Involvement in Voluntary Activities
Groups Total
School Related 105
Community/Local/Neighbourhood 61
activities
Sport – Participating 42
40
Religion – Participating
40
Charitable (Not specified)
Scouts/Guides/Cubs etc. 35
Sport - children/youth 32
36
Sport - Managing/ Coaching
28
Children’s/Youth (Other than sports)
22
Religion – Management
Music & Drama 17
11
BT Community Activities
12
Activities for Environmental Issues
Miscellaneous Leisure 11
Other Public Activities 9
Magistrates 7
Politics 8
Adult Education (Teaching) 8
Business-related 7
Counselling 4
Not Specified - Other 20
TOTAL 555
22

23. Of course, these absolute figures say nothing about the influence of
teleworking upon the amount of time spent. To find out, we asked the
question ‘does your opportunity to telework make it easier or more difficult to
be involved in organised community activities?’ The answers are generally
positive:
14% (267) of 1874 respondents stated that it made involvement easier
Only 9 respondents stated that it made involvement more difficult.
We went on to ask ‘would you say that the amount of time spent on such
activities has altered as a result of teleworking?’ The answers were that:
118 (6%) reported an increase, and only 13 a decrease (the
percentage of those actually engaged in community activities who have
increased their time commitment is, of course, much higher)
The increase in time commitments varied between 1 hr per week and
23 hrs per week.
It appears therefore that BT teleworking does support community
involvement, at least in the areas where respondents live.
3. Economic Impacts of Teleworking
The questionnaire explored in detail three ways in which teleworking relates to
the economic pillar of sustainable development:
Impacts on people’s work performance (discussed in section 3.1)
Impacts on absenteeism (discussed in section 3.3)
Impacts on people’s career development (discussed in section 3.4).
Section 3.2 also discusses the important issue of whether changes in work
outputs are related to increased working hours rather than any benefits of
teleworking per se.
3.1 Increased productivity
The measurement of productivity, and the identification of the reasons for any
changes, is more difficult than might be imagined.10 In this case, we took the
straightforward approach of asking respondents what they felt. The majority
(78%) of the sample (=1865) stated that they considered that they were more
productive as a result of shifting to some form of home-based working whilst
3.9% considered they were less productive. Around a fifth (17%) felt there had
been no change. Whilst the comment that:
10
For a discussion, see the Conceptual Paper of the Sustainable Teleworking
project, downloadable from www.sustel.org.
23

24. Actually, your productivity increase scale above isn’t big enough -
before I teleworked full time, I used to take 3 days office work to do in
one day at home
Is at the extreme end of the spectrum, it does capture the feelings of many
respondents.
Table 8 Factors Influencing Teleworker’s Productivity
Factor Number of times factor
stated
Reduced Disruption 829
Reduced Commuting time/stress 586
Flexibility Time and location 468
Working Longer Hours 198
Access to/availability of information 96
Reduces stress/more relaxed 72
Work Life Balance and Control 70
Motivation and Pressure 55
Environment and physical control 34
Reduced Disruption
Where a change in productivity had been experienced or perceived
respondents were asked to comment on why this was? As can be seen from
table 8 the most significant determinant of increased productivity was reduced
disruption. Some representative comments on this point were:
I’d forgotten what it was like to read documents without my fingers
being in my ears. There is total peace here, no noisy individuals with
head sets. No constant banter and distraction. I love it!
The ability to concentrate on the job in hand without the interruptions
that are inevitable in an office environment. For example people having
spontaneous meetings at nearby desks in open plan offices instead of
bothering to book a meeting room.
This ability to concentrate is perhaps particularly important to those with
perfectionist tendencies:
concentration to produce quality products - even to the state of
perfection.
Another point to emerge was the ability to be in control of communication
rather than embedded in a ‘soup’ of continuous communication within an
office:
24

25. The natural environmental "hubub" of an open plan office can be mildly
distracting. Homeworking allows communication over Phone/mail/local
messaging (LAN) in a more focused manner.
However, a minority of the replies in this category illustrate the difficulties
which some people can experience when working at home. One such is that it
still be difficult to concentrate at home during the day, when there may be on-
going communication with work through various channels, and concentrated
work is therefore done at other times:
Find that I can be more productive and focused later at night when the
phone isn’t ringing.
However, whilst many obviously welcome the ability to:
concentrate without distraction of chatting to people in the office,
bumping into people on the way to the coffee machine, etc.
there is a potential downside of less of the informal, unstructured,
communication which can be an important aspect of transferring knowledge
within an organisation.
Reduced Commuting Time/Stress
Table 2 demonstrates that a reduction in commuting time and stress is the
second main reason why people believe that they are more productive. In
most cases the reason is less time spent commuting, with at least some of
this time being made available to BT (see section 3.2 for a discussion of the
implications of this for working hours). Some typical comments were:
I regularly start work before 8am and finish @ 6pm whilst at home. If
commuting to work I would not be prepared to be in the office at these
times on a regular basis
In my previous office, I aimed to both arrive and leave very early to
avoid traffic bottlenecks. This meant that my working hours differed
from those of some colleagues, leading to inefficiencies.
I no longer have to try to end my work to catch a specific train,
I tend to finish a job because I’m already at home. If I had to travel
home there would be a far chance that I would leave the work to be
completed the next day.
More alert as no longer on the road at 06:45 to start work at 07:30 to
avoid traffic. Can now start at 08:30 and work later in the evening.
A number of respondents also commented on the productivity benefits of
avoiding the stresses of commuting:
25

26. Fewer distractions, generally a quieter environment and more relaxed. I
am claustrophobic and I found the journey in and out of London at rush
hour extremely stressful. I had to spend the first hour winding down
and would then wind up again.
I do not feel tired and frustrated when I start work, as I did after
commuting to central London.
Commuting itself can be tiring, I would some times arrive at the office
feeling as if I had already done a days work.
Standing on a crowded platform in the rain, followed by being herded
into a sweaty carriage for over an hour, doesn’t put people in a good
mind set for work. From home you can get up later but still be at your
desk earlier and in a much better refreshed.
Control of Time
The third main reason given for increased productivity is increased control
over, and flexibility in the use of, time:
Because I am more in control about when and how I work. My
objectives move from turning out results every day to delivering
according to deadlines. How I achieve this is my decision.
The upside is that if I want to take Friday afternoon off its up to me - I
plan my working week accordingly.
Able to Flex my working day to maximise my performance e.g. get up
early to complete a piece of work on time before attending to childcare
responsibility.
Flexibility means at times am able to log on and complete tasks,
relieving my stress whilst being productive. This can be at weekends or
evenings, early mornings - BUT IT IS MY CHOICE, not forced.
Flexibility to take a break when tired, and return to the office for two or
three hours after a meal - impossible in a BT office!
However, the point noted previously of some of the advantages cited by
respondents also having the effect of some extension of working hours into
the evening or weekend is also present here:
Able to work later in the evenings or especially Sunday evenings to
prepare for the coming week.
Late evening working has a great work advantage as I am able to
communicate with workers in USA
26

27. Better able to schedule tasks such as reading/research and document
writing at different times of day at evening and weekends rather cram
into normal working day.
I am able to complete a task left unfinished at the end of "core" working
hours in the evenings once my daughter is asleep.
24 hr availability of e-mail / intranet at home means I can progress
work flow at anytime of day / night without having to make a special
journey to a BT building. Little effort on my part needed. Plus television
is so dire in winter months - work is a pleasure.
Views will differ on whether this extension of labour over time is a good or bad
thing. Most respondents appear to accept it as a reasonable trade-off for
greater flexibility. But some outsiders might be critical of the reduced barriers
between personal and work time which it entails.
Other Reasons for Increased Productivity
A significant minority ascribed their productivity to increased working hours,
which is discussed further in Section 3.2. Many others mentioned the
beneficial effects of improved work-life balance, reduced stress and other
lifestyle factors:
Have a healthy balance between work and family life and as a result far
more productive.
Some also commented on the way that telework had increased their sense of
motivation and purpose, for a variety of reasons:
More empowered to do a better job when given freedom to choose
timing and location of that work
Being happier makes you more motivated, which I have found with
teleworking
Feel more valued and trusted as a homeworker
Feel guilty, and work more to compensate.
I feel more motivated when I can help take the children to nursery
Guilt factor, I don’t wish to be seen as "out of sight, out of might" by the
rest of the team
More determined to show that I work as well if not better on my own
than if I was in an office - a bid to ensure that management don’t
question my motivation
27

28. There is also a guilt factor that hangs over from the days when working
from home was viewed as skiving so you produce more to
compensate.
Others commented on the beneficial effects of working in a more pleasant
physical environment:
I feel happier and much more positive when approaching a difficult task
if I am in a familiar/comfortable environment like my office at home.
I enjoy where I am (a farm in mid-Wales)
Better feeling of well being as a result of less environmental influences
on health, like poor air conditioning, lots of computer monitor radiation,
feeling worn out after traveling.
I am so relieved not to have to work in the stuffy, awful air that is
evident in many major buildings - being able to see sunlight and
breathe fresh air through an open window.
A final reason for increased productivity was easy access to information and
other resources:
Can be more productive as have easier access to information to do the
job, e.g. do not have to stay late at the office, or work within time
limitations of the office
I am able to react to things immediately as I have everything I need
here at home. I do not need to get things (eg reports) from the office
etc
I have access to all materials during the creative period that occurs for
me naturally in the evening after a glass of wine
Basically available for more hours per day per week.
Because I am available for a lot more hours and will even answer the
phone out of hours
And no lunch breaks/pub visits taken any more
Rather than watching the rubbish on the television, and providing I
have no urgent family commitments, I would much rather deal with any
problems or projects that may have arisen, giving my customers a
better and faster response.
3.2 Most Teleworkers Work for Longer
A number of previous comments have observed that people are changing
their working hours. Almost all the comments on the topic suggested that
28

29. most people are working more extended hours, by starting earlier than before
teleworking or finishing later. In most cases, the ability to do this is seen as
one of the key benefits of teleworking. However, these changes raise the
question of whether the increased productivity noted by both teleworkers
themselves, and BT as their employer, could be due as much to more working
hours in total as much as other causes.
To find out we asked respondents whether they felt they were working for
longer. As table 9 shows:
Only 34 respondents (2% of those answering) stated that teleworking
had reduced their working hours
.
In contrast 1219 people (68.5%) stated that they had increased, and
525 (29.5%) that they had remained the same.11
As table 10 indicates, 80% of those noting increased hours reported an
increase of more than 5 hours a week
Almost 45% reported more than 9 hours per week.
Of course, it could be that some respondents misinterpreted the question to
mean more extended working hours rather than more in total but it is hard to
avoid the conclusion that many BT teleworkers are working more hours in
total.
11
Note, however that 120 of those noting increased, and 9 of those noting
decreased, working hours gave 0 as the actual figure so these figures may
slightly overstate the situation.
29

30. Table 9 Effects of Teleworking on Working Hours
Increased 1219
Decreased 34
Same 525
Not Answered 96
TOTAL 1874
Table 10 Reported Increases in Working Hours
Number of
Increased Hours Percentage
responses
0 120 9.8%
0.1-2.9 50 4.1%
3.0-4.9 79 6.5%
5.0-6.9 300 24.6%
7.0-8.9 124 10.2%
9.0-11.9 337 27.6%
12.0-14.9 40 3.3%
15+ 169 13.9%
TOTAL 1219 100.0%
30

31. A small number of respondents noted that increased working hours have had
a deleterious effect on their quality of life, for example:
I have spent more time working and less time with family related
issues.
I now work more hours in open ended roles, there is never an end point
and with no set hours and laptops, its too easy to work too long.
I used to work in the garden on Sat. mornings, now I tend to work on
the computer.
However, the vast majority – whilst perhaps not welcoming the increase in
hours – nonetheless did not feel strongly enough to let it influence their view
that they now have a better quality of life.
Before discussing this further, we need to understand why working hours
increase. One important point is that many of the respondents have been
teleworking for some time. It is therefore possible that their non-teleworking
peers have also experienced longer hours because of increased commercial
pressures on BT. The relevance of this point is underlined by one respondent
who noted that:
As part of a reorganisation I had to pick up the complete load of
another colleague. This would have been impossible with the daily
commuting to the office. The hours freed up have allowed me to cope
with both (just about!).
To really understand what is happening for this, and other subjects covered in
the survey, it would be desirable to compare a reasonably matched group of
teleworkers and non-teleworkers.
Another, more teleworking-specific reason for longer working hours, is the
way in which people use greater control of time to complete tasks in one go:
Easier access to computer, systems and information etc tends to result
in carrying on working until a job is completed to my satisfaction, rather
than leaving it until the next day to complete.
I spend more time working; I find excuses to finish off pieces of work to
allow for a clean start to the following day.
Whilst this does not necessarily lead to longer working hours (some time off
could be taken the following day to compensate), in practice this does not
seem to be the case for many. Presumably the reasons are that work is either
being undertaken to higher standards, sometimes for greater job satisfaction,
and/or more work is being undertaken than previously.
The lure of reading the latest e-mail, or undertaking some other work-related
activity, is also too tempting to resist for some teleworkers:
31

32. Spend too long on intranet and email at home after normal working
hours.
Finally, there may be a need (actual or perceived) to impress managers, at
least for the 10% of respondents who felt that they were viewed negatively by
management (see table 4):
Increase in workload/hours worked/need to produce results to satisfy
higher management that I am not skiving.
The finding that most BT teleworkers report both longer working hours and
better quality of life is paradoxical. More time working is usually associated
with increased stress, domestic tension and other factors which reduce quality
of life.
One possible explanation is that, for many individuals, their increased working
hours will be less than the time they have saved in commuting.12 Hence, they
still have more time available for family and other activities. For some, the
stress associated with commuting (especially for long distances) may be less
than that arising from additional working time. Perhaps most significantly,
teleworking can in effect create time through opportunities for multi-tasking or
greater control of activities. As respondents noted:
Things like washing, shopping can be fitted into a working day leaving
the weekends free for leisure rather than catching up on the weeks
household duties.
Although the amount of time not changed it has made the Weekends
freer, as domestic activities can be fitted in during lunchtimes or early
morning.
3.3 Absenteeism
Absenteeism is a major economic cost for employers. There are many
reasons for absenteeism but one of the most important is illness. We
therefore asked people how many days during their last typical four month
period they worked at home when they felt too ill to make travel to work
feasible. Almost a quarter (22%) of respondents stated that this was the case.
For 6% of respondents this involved periods of four days or more. Whilst
answers to this could be exaggerated, and the work done may be less than on
a normal working day, it nonetheless seems that this aspect of teleworking is
providing major economic benefit to BT.
12
Most of the respondents, and the whole sample, are highly mobile
managerial and professional staff, who tend to have longer commuting
distances and time than the average.
32

33. 3.4 Career Development
We also asked about the impact of being a teleworker on career development.
The majority did not consider it had had any effect. However a sizeable 20%
considered the effects had been mildly or strongly positive. The same
proportion felt completely the opposite, i.e. that it had been mildly or strongly
negative. However, a smaller proportion felt the effects had been extremely
negative (2.5%) that strongly positive (7.9%).
4. Transport Impacts of Teleworking
Two previous surveys examined the reduction in commuting travel achieved
as a result of teleworking. This is certainly an intended outcome of Workabout
registrants, with 74% of newcomers to the scheme saying that travel reduction
was an important factor in their decision to telework. Their objectives appear
to have been achieved with 47% of this still commuting saying that their
commute travel had decreased and only 6% saying that it had increased.
Table 11 gives the mean weekly reductions in car and train travel given by
respondents and shows that these are broadly similar to the findings of the
two previous BT surveys.
The conclusion of the first survey that “if these values and modal split are
typical across the full sample of Workabout registrants then the total savings
would amount to a weekly commute reduction of 424000 of car travel and
190000 miles per week of rail travel” therefore remains valid, and may be an
understatement.
Table 11 Reductions in Weekly Commuting
Mode of Travel Survey 1 Survey 2 Current Survey
Car users only 95 miles 186 miles 178 miles
Rail users only 143 miles 202 miles 220 miles
However, the earlier reports also identified a number of caveats and
unanswered questions which this survey tried to address, notably:
Whether different forms of teleworking have different kinds of travel
impacts (see section 4.1)
Whether the direct savings from avoided commuting were offset by
increases in personal or work-related travel (see section 4.2).
4.1 Travel Effects of Different Kinds of Teleworking
As section 1 discussed, the survey demonstrated that there are different kinds
of teleworker within BT. It also demonstrated that only around a third of
respondents are stereotypical teleworkers, i.e. working from home for several
days a week and in an office for most of the remaining time. The other two
thirds have complex working patterns which generally involve working in
33

34. multiple locations and undertaking considerable amounts of in-work travel.
The importance of this in-work travel is reflected in the fact that 53% of the
sample are provided with a company car. Hence, some caution is needed in
interpreting the ‘average’ reductions in commuting savings which have been
reported in the previous BT studies and most others.
The term commuting can also be ambiguous, with some researchers defining
it as travel to and from a main office, as this study has, and others defining it
as all work-related travel which is paid for by an employer. It has also been
unclear in some previous research studies whether a person is deemed to
have avoided commuting when they travel from home to appointments.
At BT, for example, the Workabout contract assumes that registrants will be
giving up a main office and therefore ending commuting to and from it. All
work-related travel is therefore remunerated. For example, with some field
engineers the job starts and ends from home, all intervening travel is to and
from customer’s premises except for occasional trips to BT buildings.
The exception is employees on London Weighting, who retain this entitlement
for a period of time after commencing the Workabout contract, despite their
home-offices being outside London. (This agreement states that, to satisfy the
tax authorities, travel to and from BT offices in the London area is still paid for
by the employee, being classed as a commute trip).
When asked if they still commuted 520 people (28% of respondents) replied
that they did. This is surprisingly high, given that Workabout registration is
generally meant to involve giving up a main office. As table 12 shows, 50%
did so for between 1-3 days per week.
Table 12 Number of Days Commuting
Percentage of
Number of Days Number of People
Respondents
0 7513 14.4%
1 100 19.2%
2 86 16.5%
3 71 13.7%
4 26 5.0%
5 162 31.2%
TOTAL 520 100.0%
A follow-on question revealed that 34% of respondents did not work at home
for a full day on any day of the week. This is consistent with the previous
answers. Taken together, the two questions suggest that for a large
percentage of employees teleworking does not involve a large number of full
time home working days. Indeed only 8% of the sample stated that they
13
This question asked people who still commuted how many days in a recent
typical week they commuted. The 75 people either misunderstood the
question, or commute on an intermittent basis.
34

35. worked at home everyday for the whole day. 30% worked between 1-2 days
and 28% between 3-4 days.
The main reason for this pattern appears to be personal preference. 77% of
respondents said that they had flexibility in deciding where to work. And 52%
of respondents said that their ideal was working for between 1-3 days a week
at home.
4.2 Increases in Personal and Work-Related Travel
One unanswered question in teleworking research is whether teleworking
leads to more or less in-work travel. Some believe that it can be increased for
staff who are on the road a great deal. They may gain time savings from
avoided commuting journeys and/or by starting from home and avoiding some
of the congestion which is typical of roads surrounding major office locations.
Some of this additional time ‘capacity’ may then be used to fit in additional
work journeys.
The vast majority of the sample (96%) stated that they undertake business
travel. In a typical week the main mode of business travel is by car (75% of
the sample), followed by train (42%) and tube (30%), the latter reflecting the
significant proportion of London based staff. 4% state they use air travel in
any typical week. The mean mileage across all modes for business travel is
estimated at 459 miles/week per employee.
However, table 13 suggests that, in aggregate, this travel is less than before
they started to telework. A quarter (27%) of respondents felt that teleworking
had decreased in-work travel either significantly or by a little. However, the
fact that 13% of respondents felt that that it had increased demonstrates that
there is some validity in the concern about increased in-work travel as a result
of teleworking, at least for the very mobile workers who are typical of BT's
telework-force.
Table 13 – Changes in Work-Related Travel as a Result of Teleworking
Change in Travel Number Percentage
Increased significantly 115 6.2%
Increased a little 124 6.7%
Stayed the same 1110 59.5%
Decreased a little 236 12.7%
Decreased
279 15.0%
significantly
TOTAL 1864 100.0%
Another source of additional journeys is the spare car ‘capacity’ that is created
when teleworkers who would have driven to work choose to work at home. Is
the unused vehicle parked in the drive or is it driven for other purposes by the
teleworker and/or his or her household members? In the case of BT
teleworkers 56% say the former, and 46% the latter, demonstrating that this is
an issue to be taken seriously. What is not clear from the study is whether this
35

36. additional travel is of shorter duration and substitutes for commuter journeys
of longer duration.
5. Conclusions
For BT and Workabout registrants teleworking appears to be a mutually
beneficial activity which is also creating economic, environmental and social
benefits. Most staff say that they are enjoying an improved quality of life,
reduced stress from commuting, feeling more productive and other benefits.
And, if their responses are accurate, BT is benefiting from higher employee
productivity and morale and lower absenteeism.14
BT’s teleworking is also creating broader benefits. Workabout registrants
generally have reduced commuting travel (which translates into less pollution
and reduced fossil fuel consumption. They are also putting more time into
local community and volunteering activities, and perhaps also making greater
use of local shops and other services. And Workabout is allowing a small but
significant minority of disabled, health-impaired and other disadvantaged
employees to remain in employment, which they enjoy.
However, there are several cautionary notes to this generally pleasing
melody. The survey has established that there are a number of different types
of teleworking, which have different patterns of impacts. This has implications
for in-work travel, which in some cases has increased as a result of
teleworking. Some of the commuting savings are also being offset by
additional personal journeys by almost half of the teleworkers and/or their
households. And a large proportion of commute savings are in public
transport rather than by car journeys.
In the longer term too, some of the perceived advantages of teleworking –
such as less interruption by interaction with colleagues in offices – may also
have a down side of a less effective distribution of knowledge and/or sense of
commitment to the organisation and colleagues. And the paradox of a
positive quality of life being associated with longer working hours – when the
opposite would normally be expected – means that BT must be on its guard.
More time spent working is one thing when work is reasonably satisfying, well
paid and the rest of life harmonious. But it can create stress and create
dissatisfaction if other things begin to go wrong.
Some critics – particularly if they are sympathetic to north European
approaches to labour markets - may also feel that, rather than demonstrating
a positive trade-off between some disadvantages and much greater benefits,
the survey results reveal that a UK culture of excessive working hours is being
made more marginally tolerable – but at the same time intensified - by being
allowed to do them at home or while travelling rather than in offices. Few BT
managers or, from the tone of their responses, only a minority of our
14
Although the survey does not address this issue, BT also believes that
teleworking has significantly contributed to the considerable savings in office
space it has achieved in recent years.
36

37. respondents would agree with this interpretation. As they are intelligent, well
educated, professionals we believe that the majority – of very positive - voices
should influence the interpretation of our findings. But it is important to
remember that there are different perspectives on teleworking and not
everyone will interpret the results in the same way.
Of course, the benefits of teleworking can be maximised, and harmful effects
can be minimised, by careful design, management and monitoring of telework
initiatives. The present study provides a practical example of this being done
at BT. However, there remains scope for further action. We therefore
recommend that BT conducts further research to:
1. Compare a sample of teleworkers with non-teleworkers so that
effects created by teleworking can be distinguished from those created
by more general organisational changes
2. Better understand the environmental and social impacts of
teleworkers who are not registered with workabout registrants (which is
probably a much larger proportion of BT teleworkers)
3. Gain a more detailed understanding of the impacts of each of the
teleworking sub-groups identified
4. Ascertain the extent to which teleworkers are working longer hours
in total, and whether, if this is the case, anything can or should be done
to help them to avoid this.
37

38. Appendix – Details of the Survey
BT has an official scheme for teleworkers, known as workabout (previously
Options 2000). Registrants receive free equipment and furniture for home
offices, a helpline and other benefits. This survey was sent to all 5128 people
registered with workabout in early March 2002.
The current survey builds on, and replicates some of the questions from,
previous surveys of new registrants to workabout. Based on this experience,
a survey of the telework literature and discussions with BT, a questionnaire
was developed to assess a variety of aspects of teleworking. In addition to the
topics reported in this paper, questions were also asked on environmental
impacts (primarily transport), effects on motivation and performance, and
social impacts such as social inclusion. The full results will be published in the
early autumn of 2002.
The questionnaire was confidential, and hosted on a secure third party server/
it went through 3 piloting phases during January and February with around
15-25 BT workabout staff on each occasion. The final version can be viewed
on www.sustel.org.
A request to complete the questionnaire was emailed by BT workabout staff to
the 5128 recipients in two batches in mid March 2002. As an incentive 100
£10 book vouchers were offered in a prize draw for those who completed the
questionnaire. By the closing date a total valid response of 1865 had been
received, providing a very good response rate of 36%, compared to 37% and
21% in the first two surveys.15
As can be seen from tables 14 and 15, the respondents were predominantly
male and middle aged. The gender split closely matches that of BT as a
whole, 24% of whose staff are female.
Table 14 Gender of Respondents
Male 1401 75.8%
Female 448 24.2%
TOTAL 1849 100.0%
Table 15 Age of Respondents
16-24 41 2.2%
25-34 240 12.9%
35-44 813 43.6%
45-54 717 38.4%
54+ 54 2.9%
TOTAL 1865 100.0%
15
Note that some respondents did not answer every question so that the
numbers for total answers varies.
38

39. As table 16 shows, most respondents were long-standing BT employees.
Over half the sample had worked for BT for more than 20 years and 20%
more than 30 years. Although there are no overall BT figures to compare this
with, anecdotal evidence suggests that the total BT workforce has probably
been in post for less time than the sample.
Table 16 Time in Post of Respondents
Up to 1 years 35 1.9%
1.1-5 years 186 10.0%
5.1-10 years 153 8.2%
10.1-20 years 566 30.4%
20.1-30 years 667 35.9%
30.1-40 years 251 13.5%
40.1-50 years 2 0.1%
TOTAL 1860 100.0%
As table 17 shows, the sample was also well educated, with over a third being
graduates.
Table 17 Educational Qualifications of Respondents
Post Graduate 285 15.3%
Graduate 365 19.6%
HND 144 7.7%
HNC 255 13.7%
Other 816 43.8%
TOTAL 1865 100.0%
In terms of household structure, 80% of the respondents live in a household
with a partner. 42% have no child dependents. 17% have one, 31% two whilst
8% have 3 or more.
Respondents worked full-time for a range of business units within BT:
BT Retail 28%
BT Wholesale 18%
BT Ignite 15%
BT Affinitis 9%
BT Exact 3%.
Asked to describe their job area against a pre-set list 50% classed themselves
as managerial, 15% as sales. Marketing, admin, central support finance and
field engineers each comprised around 3-5% of the sample. In addition
respondents supplied a further 197 job descriptions/categories where they felt
39

40. the pre-set categories did not capture their titles which may reflect the rapid
re-structuring and changes in job titles of people.
BT divides teleworkers into those who are fixed (spending most of their time
working at home) and those who are mobile (using home as a working base
but travelling extensively to BT or customer premises). 60% of the survey
respondents were mobile. This is lower than the 75% figure for all workabout
respondents cited by BT, although their records are incomplete.
Only 8% of the sample reported that they still have a main BT office, and only
1% responded that they had a dedicated desk at any BT office.
Approximately half of respondents had been teleworking within BT for 2 years
or less (21% less than 1 year), 20% more than 3 years.
Table 18 Duration of Teleworking Amongst Respondents
Less than 3 months 60 3.2%
3-6 months 97 5.2%
6-12 months 237 12.7%
12-24 months 612 32.9%
2-3 years 481 25.9%
3+ years 372 20.0%
100.0
TOTAL 1859
%
40