Future of work programme: the Trans-Tasman Telework Survey

Telework offers many potential benefits for organisations including productivity improvements, employee retention, and other forms of competitive advantage. The primary aim of this study was to examine manager and employee perspectives on telework productivity and wellbeing. The study surveyed almost 100 [human resources] HR and team managers and over 1800 staff across 50 Australian and New Zealand organisations. Managers were interviewed on issues such as telework policy, processes, attitudes and outcomes, while organisational members were surveyed online on their telework experience, with a focus on support for telework, telework productivity, and wellbeing outcomes.

The study found strong evidence of the positive benefits of telework for both individual workers and their organisations. Some small negative effects were found for hybrid teleworking, notably higher perceived social isolation and strain/stress. Findings suggest some attention to the ergonomics aspects of the home office should be made by employers. Given the many potential benefits of telework identified in this study and in previous research, it was surprising that most participating organisations failed to engage in any form of cost benefit analysis relating to telework, or seek to measure the positive benefits of this mode of working.

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