Telework: At the crossroads of social demand and technology offer

There are different studies and surveys conducted in the field of telework which prove the fact that teleworkers benefit from “independence” in managing their working time and tasks as well as from reduction in commuting costs which one has to incur in order to travel from home to work. The social benefits deriving from a high penetration of teleworkers point to less pollution due to the less use of transport, mostly cars, and lower CO
₂
emissions, less traffic, less social costs which include car accidents, hospitalization and sick leaves. With the purpose to analyse the impact of telework on social, corporate and individual aspects, the traffic data in the province of Rome has been examined. According to the study, the benefits of telework and its impact on the society prove to be valid. The detailed analysis shows a measure in which the CO
₂
emissions would be reduced if a number of teleworkers were to reach a level of penetration of the countries characterized by a higher telework propensity (increasing the actual level of penetration of nearly 1% in Italy up to 10% of total work force): the savings can amount to 3000 tons of gas on annual basis. Due to the reduced number of cars, the savings obtained from less number of car accidents are supposed to reach 46.5 min, which is equivalent to 4.8% of savings in total social costs. The empirical analysis has been completed by a survey conducted in the end of 2010. The survey was based on the questionnaire distributed to the members of Sindacato Romano dei Dirigenti di Aziende Industriali (SRDAI) with the aim to reveal the perception of telework, to share experience with the companies which already adopted it and those who are reluctant to do it and/or are not aware of the possibility to integrate it into the working environment. Interestingly, the questionnaire allowed to examine also the motives of non-adoption as well as an overall perception of telework in both types of companies (telework-experts and non-experts). The survey gives evidence to a persistent interest in telework among the respondents, mainly top managers of the companies operating in the ICT sector. As most respondents state (85%), the companies seem to have a possibility to practice telework, from both organizational standpoint or technological one, whilst 24% of the respondents are already working in the companies with an accumulated telework expertise. The survey also sheds light on cost advantage as a result of telework's adoption that the companies are likely to have. An employee working half of the time at home can save up to 32% of operational costs to the organization. In this context of evolving-at-a-rapid-pace technologies and management expectations, such as cloud computing and telepresence, which should be supported by household broadband or ultra-broadband connection, a further more assertive adoption of telework is an imperative rather than an option.