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Using telework to enhance return to work outcomes for individuals with spinal cord injuries
Abstract
Return-to-work is an area of critical concern for individuals with a spinal cord injury (SCI), because of the psychological, psychosocial and economic benefits of employment. Although the majority of individuals with SCI are employed pre-injury, they are impeded from maintaining those jobs due to personal, organizational and systems level barriers. Telework, which permits home-based work through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), alleviates many of return-to-work barriers for individuals with SCI, including job demands, mobility limitations, transportation needs and fatigue imposed by medical complications. For telework to fulfill its potential as a return-to-work strategy, rehabilitation professionals and employers must assess and enhance the readiness of the individual, workgroup and organization within the context of a disability management program. Strategies for successfully implementing telework as a return-to-work strategy for individuals with SCI are discussed, along with implications for future research.
... Le télétravail faciliterait l'embauche de certains individus pouvant être défavorisés sur le marché de l'emploi, comme les personnes à mobilité réduite ou les personnes contraintes par leur situation familiale (Tremblay, 2001). Dans le cas d'accidents ou de maladies réduisant la mobilité physique d'un employé, le travail à domicile permettrait d'éliminer certaines barrières à son retour au travail ou à son embauche dans une entreprise (Bricout, 2004). Le télétravail pourrait aussi contribuer à une redistribution territoriale du travail vers des régions économiquement défavorisées (Tremblay, 2001 ;Telework Research Network, 2011a). ...
... De plus, en agissant sur les déplacements et les horaires, le télétravail faciliterait l'insertion au marché du travail pour certains, comme les personnes à mobilité réduite ou contraintes par leur situation familiale (Bricout, 2004 ;Tremblay, 2001). La mobilité virtuelle représenterait d'ailleurs une option viable sur le plan de la mobilité physique afin de réduire l'exclusion individuelle sur le marché du travail (Bricout, 2004 ;Kenyon, 2010 ;Kenyon et al., 2002). ...
... De plus, en agissant sur les déplacements et les horaires, le télétravail faciliterait l'insertion au marché du travail pour certains, comme les personnes à mobilité réduite ou contraintes par leur situation familiale (Bricout, 2004 ;Tremblay, 2001). La mobilité virtuelle représenterait d'ailleurs une option viable sur le plan de la mobilité physique afin de réduire l'exclusion individuelle sur le marché du travail (Bricout, 2004 ;Kenyon, 2010 ;Kenyon et al., 2002). ...
Ce rapport de recherche utilise les données de l’Enquête sociale générale (ESG) de Statistique Canada menée en 2010 afin d’établir une caractérisation statistique des télétravailleurs québécois et d’estimer certains des impacts potentiels du télétravail sur les comportements relatifs aux déplacements, la santé et les heures travaillées. Nous présentons d’abord le contexte ayant mené à la croissance du télétravail, des estimations de la taille des populations de travailleurs concernés par les différents types de télétravail en fonction des industries et des principales statistiques socioéconomiques et spatiales. Ces résultats sont ensuite mis en perspective avec les expériences hors Québec, notamment en ce qui a trait aux mesures incitatives pour favoriser le télétravail.
Dans un deuxième temps, nous procédons à des estimations visant à expliquer l’activité de télétravail. Nous montrons que le nombre de télétravailleurs québécois se situe dans la moyenne nationale, mais, toutes choses étant égales par ailleurs, la probabilité d’observer du télétravail au Québec serait plus grande qu’ailleurs au Canada. Comparativement aux employés travaillant uniquement du lieu habituel de travail, les télétravailleurs sont en moyenne plus riches et éduqués, plus urbains, habitent plus près ou plus loin du lieu de travail et sont moins syndiqués.
Dans un troisième temps, nous estimons économétriquement les relations entre le télétravail et : i) les temps totaux de déplacements ; ii) les horaires de déplacements ; iii) les niveaux de santé, de stress déclarés et du sentiment d’être pressé et iv) les heures travaillées. Ces estimations tiennent compte des comportements en fonction des types d’organisation du travail, des caractéristiques socioéconomiques et des emplois du temps. Les modèles estimés considèrent spécifiquement le Québec et montrent qu’il n’y aurait généralement pas de différences significatives entre les répondants du Québec et ceux du reste du Canada.
En ce qui concerne les comportements en transport, le télétravail est généralement associé à une réduction des déplacements en périodes de pointe. Par contre, comparativement au travail uniquement du lieu habituel (p. ex. bureau), le télétravail pourrait avoir différents effets sur le temps total de déplacements durant la journée de travail. Les employés travaillant exclusivement de la maison se déplaceraient en moyenne 19 minutes de moins, tandis que ceux partageant le travail entre la maison et le lieu habituel auraient des temps équivalents. Les employés travaillant de plusieurs endroits, incluant des tiers-lieux, auraient des temps de déplacements supérieurs d’environ 17 minutes par jour en moyenne.
En termes d’heures travaillées, selon ses différentes formes, le télétravail mènerait à des baisses ou à des hausses pour la journée d’enquête. Comparativement aux employés qui ont travaillé uniquement du lieu de travail habituel, ceux travaillant uniquement de la maison auraient travaillé environ 2 heures 15 minutes de moins. Les répondants ayant combiné le travail à la maison et/ou celui au lieu habituel de travail avec d’autres lieux travailleraient environ 43 minutes de moins. Par contre, les employés ayant travaillé de la maison et du lieu de travail habituel rapportent près de 49 minutes de travail de plus. Finalement, le télétravail est associé à une hausse des sentiments de stress et d’être pressé, mais n’aurait pas de liens avec la santé déclarée.
... While tele-work provides a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 2 physical absence from the workplace may result in social stigmatization, if only as a function of reduced participation in the workplace community. Further, while this paper assumes employer acceptance of telework, in reality, employer reticence to adopt telecommuting (much less telework) over such concerns as costs, employee supervision, security and safety, and perceived losses to employee productivity remain prevalent [1,5]. ...
... A body of literature on issues related to telework has emerged during the past decade. Much of this work has dealt with employer-side issues, such as the costs and benefits of telework [1,15,16] and how best to implement these arrangements in such a way to maintain or increase worker productivity and minimize potential drawbacks for employers [1,5,8,10,[15][16][17]. The majority of this literature addresses laws and rules which govern telework, usually in a peripheral and uncritical manner [1,12,22]. ...
... Researchers have described a variety of barriers to successful telework/telecommuting practices [5,8,10,19,20]. Challenges to successful telework outcomes include employer resistance, especially concerns over the costs associated with implementing and maintaining telework, security concerns, and the complexity of personnel supervision. Employees have also resisted telework over concerns about social and professional isolation, and reduced participation in the workplace community as well as potential loss of social capital [7]. ...
Teleworking, a restructuring of the manner in which work occurs, based on information communication technologies (ICTs), is a promising way of further integrating people with disabilities into the workplace. In contrast to telecommuting, in which the work is primarily shifted in locale, telework is a restructuring of the tasks to be accomplished within the larger work setting which could result in "work" being done remotely, or collaboratively with coworkers (remotely or not) using ICTs. Drawing upon a review of the literature, this paper explores the relationship between telework and people with disabilities. While the advent of telecommuting and subsequently "teleworking" might open increased opportunities for the hiring of people with disabilities, it may also place severe constraints on the type of work, workplace environment and interactions, and accumulation of social capital for people with disabilities. Whereas much of the prevailing literature on telework and disability is often proscriptive in nature and is written with an audience of employers in mind, it is just as important to consider policy options from the standpoint of the employee as well. This paper proposes a number of policy approaches for the creation of an inclusive work environment for teleworkers with disabilities that can minimize, as much as possible, the social isolation faced by teleworkers with disabilities while maximizing their participation within the workplace community. Policy objectives for enhancing telework for people with disabilities fall into three general categories: 1) research, 2) outreach, and 3) interventions.
... 16 Moreover, consumers are receptive to, and satisfied with, media-based service delivery. 17,18 To date, however, little is known about the role of online learning in vocational rehabilitation for persons with SCI (see Roels et al., 19 and Treneman et al., 20 for recent reviews). ...
... 32 For a job-seeking and job preparation resource, such as Work and SCI, to reach its full potential therefore requires active involvement of rehabilitation professionals who can assess and motivate the individual to consider return-to-work options. 18,32 Indeed, Work and SCI would work well as a tool to supplement vocational discussion and guidance in persons with SCI/D more-so than a stand-alone intervention. ...
Objective: To pilot a novel email-based information package (Work and SCI) for job-seekers with an acquired spinal cord injury (SCI) or spinal cord dysfunction (SCI/D).
Study design: Prospective, non-randomized, repeated measures trial.
Setting: Community dwelling cohort in Australia.
Participants: Five people with SCI (mean age 46.4 years, SD = 10.2; 4 female) initially reviewed Work and SCI. Twenty-four with SCI/D subsequently enrolled, of whom 16 (mean age 46.4 years, SD = 11.1; 7 female), completed the intervention.
Intervention: Intervention participants accessed Work and SCI over a 4-week period.
Outcome measures: Individual changes in pre-post scores for the My Vocational Situation Scale, Job Procurement Self-Efficacy Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Life Orientation Test-Revised were examined.
Results: Reliable change in pre-post scores across outcomes were reported by 38% (n = 6) of participants. Favorable comments on the Work and SCI resource were provided in addition to suggestions for improvement.
Conclusions: Preliminary data suggest that Work and SCI may help to establish vocational interests among job-seekers with a SCI/D, however further work is needed to enhance participant compliance. This might include moderator support to promote and maintain participation. A controlled design will also help to identify factors that influence engagement with the Work and SCI resource.
Eprints available here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/uG4QpNIqfyipV5FDR3zJ/full
... This exchange removes architectural and transportation barriers for those with physical, sensory, and cognitive limitations by allowing them to work in their home environment which, ideally, has been optimized to their functional abilities [10,11,15]. Additionally, telework allows employees to control their own schedules, thereby accommodating fatigue, stamina, and pain-related barriers to traditional fulltime work [10,15,16]. It allows access to medicallyrelated personal care services during the workday [15,16]. ...
... Additionally, telework allows employees to control their own schedules, thereby accommodating fatigue, stamina, and pain-related barriers to traditional fulltime work [10,15,16]. It allows access to medicallyrelated personal care services during the workday [15,16]. In many cases, these services are only covered by insurance if they are provided in the home. ...
... Thus, employers need to be aware of the challenges and needs of individuals and take an individualized approach to supporting each of their workers when it is possible. Researchers highlighted this idea of the importance for employers to be sensitive to the specific characteristics of their employees [79], to consider the different realities [80] and unique needs of workers [81]. Research conducted during the pandemic demonstrated that a one-size-fits-all approach would not be optimal to promote the well-being of workers; an equitable approach that considers individual realities and needs would be preferred [82,83]. ...
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented health emergency across the world. Public health measures aimed at slowing the spread of the virus impose measures concerning physical distancing that citizens must observe. Thousands of workers quickly found themselves having to telework, with no preparation by their organizations. The literature reports the positive effects of teleworking on certain indicators of well-being, as well as best teleworking practices in a normal context. The urgent and unplanned nature of the switch to teleworking in a crisis may have changed the relationship between teleworking and well-being.
Objective:
This study aimed to explore workers' perspectives on teleworking in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, regarding its effects on their well-being.
Methods:
Following a descriptive interpretive research design, we collected qualitative data from 15 teleworkers via focus groups and individual interviews. Two researchers used a thematic analysis strategy to analyze the data.
Results:
Data analysis led to identifying 16 factors that participants cited as influencing the well-being of teleworkers. These form eight categories: delays related to uncertainty, manager practices, organizational practices, social interactions, job characteristics, teleworking space, personal realities and personal practices. The results show the influence of interactions between work demands, control and social support on the well-being of workers.
Conclusion:
Because of its many advantages, organizations and their workers will increasingly engage in telework. The influences of telework on people's well-being call for implementing concrete "best practices" that are applicable and that consider workers' perspectives.
... working from home (Paper III). There is a previous example where telework has been used as a rehabilitation strategy for individuals with spinal cord injuries to return-to-work (156). Considering this, telework may be a possible future strategy for employers to facilitate their employees' recovery and return-to-work after physical as well as mental health issues and sick leave. ...
Background: Telework reshapes the conventional work practice by providing the flexibility to perform work at new places and times. Telework can increase individual autonomy to control and organize work, but can also place higher demands on the ability to separate work-nonwork in time and space, physically and mentally. Leaders’ abilities to manifest trusting relationship with staff, and support them seems important during telework. Academic staff are frequent teleworkers, but little is known about how it may impact on their well-being. The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate how academic teaching and research staff practice telework and how telework affects their well-being at work. Another aim was to investigate the experiences of academic managers leading teleworkers in academia.
Methods: Study I was a cross-sectional survey and examined the association between the amount and frequency of telework and perceived health aspects. Study II was conducted with assessments of psychophysiological activity, pos- tures and movements, and with daily self-ratings on stress, fatigue, and recu- peration, to compare exposures during telework and work at the conventional workplace. Study III and study IV had qualitative study design and were based on semi-structured interviews using an inductive phenomenographic approach. Results: Academics who teleworked several times per week or more reported more work-related stress related to indistinct organization and conflicts, and individual demands and commitment, compared to academics who teleworked less. The psychophysiological activity indicated more relaxation before and after workhours during teleworking days. Academics had overall sedentary be- haviors regardless of work location, alternated more between sitting and stand- ing during working hours during telework than at the ordinary workplace. The academics’ experiences of telework were related to work tasks, coping strate- gies, workgroup relationships, and policies/regulations, which were mostly in- terrelated. Collectively, the process of change of managers’ conditions and ex- periences of leading teleworkers before, during and after the pandemic were related to digital and social interaction, work performance, the work environ- ment in, and regulations of, telework.
Conclusions: The use of different research designs and methods showed that telework in academia could impact biological, psychological, social and pro- fessional aspects of academics’ well-being. The perspective of academic man- agers showed that the organizational context could impact on the conditions for providing academics with support in telework. We argue future studies to adopt different research designs and methods when studying well-being in tel- ework, and especially consider the professional and organizational context in telework.
... Thus, employers need to be aware of these challenges and take an individualized approach to supporting each of their workers [7]. Researchers highlighted this idea of the need for employers to be sensitive to the unique characteristics of their employees [51], to consider the different realities [7] and specific needs of workers [18], particularly those with disabilities. Research conducted during the pandemic demonstrated that a one-size-fits-all approach would not be optimal to promote a healthy work experience for workers with disabilities; an equitable approach that takes into account individual realities and needs would be preferred [8,52]. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to numerous changes in work environments. Thousands of workers quickly found themselves having to telework without being prepared, which had consequences on their work experience and health. Authors proposed telework practices that promote the healthy work experience of workers in a pandemic context, but less attention has been paid to consider the realities and needs of individuals with physical disabilities. Purpose This study aimed to explore the influence of telework during the pandemic on the work experience of people with physical disabilities. Methods Following an interpretive descriptive research design, interviews were conducted with 16 workers with physical disabilities (i.e., motor, or sensory). The data were analyzed using a thematic analysis strategy. Results The results revealed 15 factors that influence the work experience of teleworkers with physical disabilities. These factors are related to interactions between three spheres of the worker's life: the individual, the organization, and the environment. Ten recommendations are proposed to consider the reality and needs of individuals with physical disabilities in the telework practices. Conclusion Given that telework has expanded since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and will likely continue to remain a widespread modality of work delivery, it becomes even more important to expand knowledge about it, to benefit the work experience of teleworkers with physical disabilities.
... Sometimes telework was described as facilitating recovery and return to work after long-term sick leave. As we only found one previous study where telework options were implemented as a return-to-work strategy [39], this may be a subject for further investigation in future studies. ...
An increasing number of academic institutions offer their staff the option to work from other places than the conventional office, i.e., telework. Academic teaching and research staff are recognized as some of the most frequent teleworkers, and this seems to affect their well-being, work performance, and recovery in different ways. This study aimed to investigate academics’ experiences and perceptions of telework within the academic context. For this, we interviewed 26 academics from different Swedish universities. Interviews were analyzed with a phenomenographic approach, which showed that telework was perceived as a natural part of academic work and a necessary resource for coping with, and recovering from, high work demands. Telework was mostly self-regulated but the opportunity could be determined by work tasks, professional culture, and management. Telework could facilitate the individual’s work but could contribute to challenges for the workgroup. Formal regulations of telework were considered a threat to academics’ work autonomy and to their possibility to cope with the high work demands. The findings provide insight into academics’ working conditions during teleworking, which may be important for maintaining a sustainable work environment when academic institutions offer telework options.
... Bricout (33) introduce invece per i lavoratori che soffrono di lesioni del midollo spinale i possibili vantaggi derivanti da nuove procedure come il telelavoro. ...
Background. Disability Management (DM) was born to improve workers' health and to optimize return to work for people with disabilities. Objectives. The objective of this study was to elaborate a review of reviews published in literature on the use of Disability Management in international contexts and the strategies used to facilitate the return to work for individuals with cronic disabilities or post injury. Methods. The present review was carried out by consulting the Pubmed and Scopus database from 1994 to January 2021, according to the PRISMA guidelines. Initially, the duplicates were removed. Then, the eligible studies were selected through a multistep approach (title evaluation, abstract and full-text). The systematic reviews were evaluated using the AMSTAR method, while for the narrative reviews the INSA scale was used. Results. The research produced 186 results. Following the removal of the duplicates and articles with no available or not pertinent full text, 51 reviews were included: 17 systematic and 34 narrative. The analyzed studies were related to the DM policies of the United States, Canada and UK. Ten topics emerged, the most frequent ones including: possible solutions to adopt in the event of workers with musculo-skeletal diseases (50% of the studies); legal matters regarding issues of mental health and stress (41.2%). The quality of the articles was generally high. Discussion. The systematic review showed that the research activity on DM is conducted mainly in the Anglo-Saxon world. This review can give some interesting insights for the full implementation of DM at the national level.
... Restrepo et al. [9] concluded that teleworkers may have more time to prepare and consume food at home, and as home-cooked food has lower calories and higher nutrition, it may provide health benefits for teleworkers. Several studies have shown that teleworking can provide job opportunities for vulnerable people such as postpartum women [10], the elderly [11], and people with disabilities [12][13][14][15]. ...
Background:
Telework has been widely discussed in several fields; however, there is a lack of research on the health aspects of teleworking. The current study was conducted to determine the health effects of teleworking during an emergency statement as evidence for future policy development.
Method:
This was a cross-sectional study in which we administered an online questionnaire to 5,214 general workers (response rate = 36.4%) from June 2020 to August 2020. Based on working methods during the pandemic, workers were categorized into the office group (n = 86) and telework group (n = 1597), and we characterized their demographics, changes in lifestyle, telework status, physical symptoms, and mental health.
Results:
The results showed that the workers' residence, marital status, management positions, and employee status affected the choice of the work method. During the emergency, teleworkers experienced more changes in their habits than office workers. In terms of exercise habits, 67.0% of the individuals belonging to the office-telework (OT) group exercised less. Approximately half of the teleworkers were satisfied with their telework, and those in the OT group were less satisfied with their telework than those in the telework-telework (TT) group, and they reported an increase in both working hours and meeting hours. Work-family conflict was more pronounced in the TT group than in the two other groups. Only 13.2% of individuals did not experience any stress in the past 30 days, and all three groups showed varying degrees of anxiety and depressive tendencies. In addition, all teleworkers experienced adverse physical symptoms before and after the emergency.
Conclusion:
Health issues associated with teleworking should be given adequate attention.
... El aislamiento laboral, entendido como la sensación de que se está "separado de otros" (Diekema, citado por Golden, Veiga y Dino, 2008 p. 1412) ante "el deseo de apoyo, comprensión, y otros aspectos sociales y emocionales de la interacción no se cumplen" (Diekema, citado por Golden, Veiga y Dino, 2008 p. 1412), es un riego al que pueden estar expuestos los teletrabajadores. Pero también, según Bricout (2004), gesta la oportunidad de que las personas que han sufrido específicamente lesiones en la médula espinal, se reincorporen laboralmente sin la incomodidad del desplazamiento. ...
El objetivo de este capítulo es analizar la versión que los empleadores tienen del teletrabajo en Colombia. Se planteó una investigación que atiende criterios de un estudio cualitativo, con tres entrevistas en profundidad a personas que deciden los criterios para contratar teletrabajadores. Se usó análisis de discurso por mapas de asociación de ideas como técnica de análisis de información. Los resultados mostraron que el significado y valor que se le da al teletrabajo está alrededor del equilibrio vida familiar-vida laboral por la posibilidad de realizar varias tareas al tiempo, que las interacciones sociales se estrechan con la familia y vecinos, y se precisa compromiso, lealtad y competencias en TIC para relacionarse, que las rutinas y usos de los objetos no se conocen sino cuando el trabajador entra a plataformas de la empresa para la gestión laboral, y que el empleador se posiciona como dador de libertad al trabajador. Se discute la posibilidad del empleador de, como en el teatro, usar máscaras según le conviene su posicionamiento. El teletrabajo consolida una estrategia de productividad, una dinámica cotidiana de relacionamiento confianza/desconfianza en el quehacer del trabajador.
... Esto también aplica para los procesos de inclusión laboral de personas en situación de discapacidad en el mundo del trabajo. Esto según Bricout (2004) es la oportunidad que permite el teletrabajo a las personas que han sufrido algún tipo de accidente, se trata de reincorporarse laboralmente sin la incomodidad del desplazamiento. ...
Objetivo: caracterizar el teletrabajo desde una lectura psicosocial, según las versiones de integrantes del gobierno, empleadores y teletrabajadores. Método: se planteó una investigación que atiende criterios de un estudio cualitativo, de corte descriptivo con nueve entrevistas en profundidad a tres grupos sociales con incidencia en el tema (tres participantes por grupo social). Se usó análisis de discurso por mapas de asociación de ideas como técnica de análisis de información. Resultados: el significado y valor que le da el trabajador a esta forma de organizar el trabajo, así como las interacciones sociales, las rutinas y usos de los objetos y el posicionamiento, reportan una cotidianidad desconocida para los policy makers. Los discursos de gobierno y empleador son semejantes, por lo tanto, consolidan un tiempo de narrativa psicosocial; el otro tiempo lo construye el discurso del teletrabajador. Discusiones: En el primer tiempo psicosocial el teletrabajo significa una oportunidad de ayudar al trabajador en su calidad de vida y su productividad. En el segundo tiempo, significa una forma diferente de trabajar en el que la persona ocupa un lugar físico como trabajador, pero es en un lugar virtual el que en realidad permite significar su trabajo de un modo diferente al del trabajo tradicional. Conclusiones: el teletrabajo es visto por el gobierno como una oportunidad para mejorar los indicadores de empleabilidad y de brindar acceso a personas con características especiales al mercado; para los empleadores es un mecanismo de flexibilización que, al hilar delgado, les ayudaría con la reducción de los costos; mientras que para el trabajador es la búsqueda de libertad.
... More recent research on those with spinal cord injuries revealed that telework enhanced employment outcomes for those returning to work (Bricout, 2004). Telework enabled some barriers, such as mobility, transport and fatigue, for those recovering from spinal injuries to be addressed. ...
... • Como una definición funcional que beneficia a un grupo específico, como es el caso de personas con discapacidad, el TT permite que a través de las TIC's se realice el trabajo en el hogar permitiendo el retorno a actividades laborales para individuos con limitaciones físicas, permitiendo responder a las demandas de trabajo, superar las limitaciones del desplazamiento, las necesidades de transporte y fatiga, producto de las complicaciones médicas de su incapacidad (Bricout 2004). La idea central detrás del TT está basada en dos características: que el trabajo ha sido relocalizado y que esto se ha conseguido gracias a las inherentes oportunidades en tecnología (Salazar y Pacheco 2006). ...
EL Teletrabajo (TT) se ha ido incorporando paulatinamente en las
organizaciones incidiendo de manera importante en su estructura y
en las formas de gestionar los sistemas de trabajo en muchos países
del mundo. En Chile esta incorporación ha sido lenta; no obstante,
existen experiencias con resultados positivos tanto para las empresas
y los teletrabajadores y, a pesar de que el TT presenta algunas
desventajas para las personas, es una opción laboral que brinda la
posibilidad de acceder al mundo del trabajo y permite que personas
con discapacidad puedan ejercer plenamente sus derechos como
ciudadanos sintiéndose parte de la sociedad laboral.
El objetivo de este documento es: entregar una definición de TT que
aúne convergencias sobre el tema; conocer la realidad chilena respecto
al TT; caracterizar sus ventajas en el ámbito laboral identificando
los beneficios que proporciona a las personas con discapacidad.
Para lograr estos objetivos se realizó una revisión bibliográfica de
las últimas dos décadas con respecto al tema; además, se incorporan
los resultados preliminares de la encuesta “El Teletrabajo como
Aporte a la Inclusión Laboral de las Personas con Discapacidad y
con Formación Profesional en Chile”, que contribuye a una percepción
de la realidad a nivel nacional.
... Regardless of capitation systems in place, RTW (especially for those living with SCI) may be enhanced with a broader or more inclusive definition of work participation to include self-employment in the home or other choice settings. For instance, Telework via the Internet has become a mainstream option for employment and has the advantage for those living with SCI of minimising the impact of transportation and community accessibility issues (Bricout, 2004). ...
This chapter provides an overview on vocational rehabilitation services in rural Australia and New Zealand (Australasia), a region with significant geo-cultural diversity – ranging from extremely remote regions to highly urbanised areas. It surveys the work opportunity settings for residents of rural and remote Australasia and the types of vocational rehabilitation service needs in that setting. Both Australia and New Zealand’s indigenous have state-supported vocational rehabilitation services, which also allow private for-profit operators or providers. Indigenous people tend to be habitants of rural and remote Australia and less for New Zealand. They have significant disability prevalence compared to the general population and are likely to be unemployed − if with employment their vocational rehabilitation needs are less likely to be met due to scarcity of services in their rural and remote habitats. Vocational rehabilitation services in rural and remote Australasia are likely to be successful if designed for typical rural economy industry and with providers grounded in local cultures.
... Virtual workplaces provide increased opportunity for persons with disabilities to obtain a job. For workers with disabilities home-based telework provides possibilities to access employment unhampered by physical limitations, workplace accessibility, transportation needs and interpersonal problems at a workplace [46]. One of the common reasons for employers to adopt telework programs for disabled workers is to retain highly skilled workers. ...
Purpose Flexible work arrangements are growing in order to develop resource-efficient production and because of advanced technologies, new societal values, changing demographics, and globalization. The article aims to illustrate the emerging challenges and opportunities for work disability prevention efforts among workers in alternate work arrangements. Methods The authors participated in a year-long collaboration that ultimately led to an invited 3-day conference, “Improving Research of Employer Practices to Prevent Disability,” held October 14–16, 2015, in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA. The collaboration included a topical review of the literature, group conference calls to identify key areas and challenges, drafting of initial documents, review of industry publications, and a conference presentation that included feedback from peer researchers and a roundtable discussion with experts having direct employer experience. Results Both worker and employer perspectives were considered, and four common alternate work arrangements were identified: (a) temporary and contingent employment; (b) small workplaces; (c) virtual work/telework; and (d) lone workers. There was sparse available research of return-to-work (RTW) and workplace disability management strategies with regard to alternate work patterns. Limited research findings and a review of the grey literature suggested that regulations and guidelines concerning disabled workers are often ambiguous, leading to unsatisfactory protection. At the workplace level, there was a lack of research evidence on how flexible work arrangements could be handled or leveraged to support RTW and prevent disability. Potential negative consequences of this lack of organizational guidance and information are higher costs for employers and insurers and feelings of job insecurity, lack of social support and integration, or work intensification for disabled workers. Conclusions Future studies of RTW and workplace disability prevention strategies should be designed to reflect the multiple work patterns that currently exist across many working populations, and in particular, flexible work arrangements should be explored in more detail as a possible mechanism for preventing disability. Labor laws and policies need to be developed to fit flexible work arrangements.
... Teleworking has been suggested as an approach to help organisations reduce their infrastructural and utilities costs (Egan, 1997;Lister & Harnish, 2009;Van Horn & Storen, 2000), as a way of responding to employees' need for an enhanced work-life balance (Hilbrecht, Shaw, Johnson, & Andrey, 2008;Shamir & Salomon, 1985), a strategy for workers to care for dependents (Hartig, Kylin, & Johansson, 2007;Hilbrecht et al., 2008), or the greater inclusion of individuals with disabilities who have been previously excluded from the workplace (Anderson, Bricout, & West, 2001;Bricout, 2004;Hesse, 1995). Telework has also been proposed as an approach to reducing air and noise pollution, and traffic congestion in urban areas through the reduction or elimination of the daily commute to and from work (Banister, Newson, & Ledbury, 2007;Dwelly & Lake, 2008;Irwin, 2004), and efforts to tackle climate change should accelerate trends towards these more flexible, distributed organisations (WWF, 2009). ...
The ubiquitous nature and use of technology in contemporary societies continues to transform lives and work environments. At the same time, transport continues to be a major source of harmful emissions. Telework has been suggested as a means to reduce unnecessary work-related travel, including the daily commute. Telework occurs when Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are applied to enable work be accomplished at a distance from the location where results are needed. However, despite its promising nature and early optimist predictions, telework has largely failed to capture management and workers' attention and imagination. Using a multi-level perspective (MLP) on sociotechnical transitions approach, this study reveals why telework continues to remain a ?niche? practice dominated by a small set of industries, managers and workers. The paper builds on MLP thinking with a view to highlighting behavioural, cultural, and political aspects of socio-technical transitions and their interactions, which are frequently limited in classical MLP thinking. The failure to enrol additional niche-actors, the dominance of traditional forms of working and automobility, and the absence of policy and lack of legitimacy, all act negatively to keep telework from emerging from the niche to the regime level and becoming established as a more mainstream practice.
... The time savings from not having to commute and the ability to set a flexible work schedule may increase job satisfaction, enable one to reserve time for dependent care, reduce stress, and improve the teleworker's work-life balance (Day and Burbach, 2011;Hilbrecht et al., 2008;Leung, 2004;Major, Verive, and Joice, 2008). In addition, the ability to create a customized work environment may be accommodating to workers desiring greater privacy or with special needs or disabilities that limit their ability to relocate or commute to work on a sustained basis (Bricout, 2004;Collins and Moschler, 2009;Day and Burbach, 2011;West and Anderson, 2005). ...
Literature was reviewed to investigate the forces that are driving telework arrangements, the perceived benefits and drawbacks from teleworking, and the extent to which teleworking arrangements are utilized in the United States in both the private and public sectors. Results of a qualitative case analysis are presented, comparing the experiences of managers in both a large profit-seeking travel management corporation headquartered in a large Midwestern city in the United States and a large state governmental agency headquartered within 50 miles of that city. Organizational similarities and differences are identified in the skills and competencies which are considered key in managing teleworkers, unique challenges to supervising teleworkers, and approaches used by managers to develop self-reliance and the capacity for teamwork in teleworkers. Finally, conclusions regarding key telework manager skills and strategies which may be effective for organizations offering telework arrangements to employees are presented along with suggestions for future research.
... Telework is a flexible working arrangement which enables employees work from home or over-distance through the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT); a case of moving the work to the workers rather than moving the workers to work [16]. It has been suggested as a strategy to help organisations reduce their infrastructural and utilities costs [17][18][19], as a way of responding to employees' need for an enhanced work-life balance [20,21], or as an instrument for the greater inclusion of individuals with various disabilities who have been previously excluded from the workplace [22][23][24]. Telework has also been proposed as a means of reducing air and noise pollution, and traffic congestion in urban areas through the reduction or elimination of the daily commute to work [25][26][27] and efforts to oppose climate change should accelerate this trend towards flexible distributed organisations [28]. It is further suggested that teleworking could result in annual savings of over 3 million tonnes of carbon and cut costs of £3 billion for industry, business, and society at large [29]. ...
Transport continues to be a significant user of energy and a major source of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions worldwide. Moreover, the ubiquitous nature and use of technology in contemporary societies continues to transform lives and work environments. Telework occurs when Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are applied to enable work be performed at a distance from the location where the results are needed, or where work would traditionally have been accomplished in the past. An essential feature of the Smarter Travel initiative, telework has been suggested as the means of reducing or eliminating unnecessary travel in the form of the daily commute to and from work, and a positive approach to reducing the overall consumption of distance in Ireland. As an innovative way of working, telework, however, has largely failed to capture management and workers' attention and imagination despite early optimist predictions and forecasts. It remains a marginal practice and its social and environmental impacts and consequences remain somewhat ambiguous. Using a multi-level perspective (MLP) on sustainability transitions framework, this paper considers telework as a sociotechnical practice and attempts to reveal why it continues to remain a 'niche' practice dominated by specific worker and management profile and industries. What conditions, barriers and pressures impact upon the development and spread of this method of working across various industries and workforces? This study finds that a failure to enrol additional niche-actors, the dominance of traditional ways of working, and a lack of legitimacy in terms of policy, governance and management, have acted negatively to keep telework from emerging from a niche to the regime level, or becoming established as a more mainstream practice and method of working. Telework appears destined to fail even before it has been given a chance to shine as an economic, social and environmental means of sustainability, and transport policy initiative. Acknowledgement
... The time savings from not having to commute and the ability to set a flexible work schedule may increase job satisfaction, enable one to reserve time for dependent care, reduce stress, and improve the teleworker's work-life balance (Day and Burbach, 2011; Hilbrecht et al., 2008; Leung, 2004; Major, Verive, and Joice, 2008). In addition, the ability to create a customized work environment may be accommodating to workers desiring greater privacy or with special needs or disabilities that limit their ability to relocate or commute to work on a sustained basis (Bricout, 2004; Collins and Moschler, 2009; Day and Burbach, 2011; West and Anderson, 2005). Teleworking promotes development of improved management skills in allocating tasks, planning, facilitating mediated communication, and in monitoring work (Leung, 2004). ...
The overall purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how one's motivation influences the relationship between work satisfaction and utilization of certain attributes associated with virtual team effectiveness. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used to measure and analyze correlations between individual work satisfaction and utilization of virtual team effectiveness attributes dependent upon participant motivation patterns and characteristics. In the first, quantitative phase of the study, the Motivation Sources Inventory (© Future Leadership) was utilized in collecting data globally from employed virtual team members via an online survey to measure participant work motivation for the five sources, as defined by Leonard, Beauvais, and Scholl (1999): Intrinsic Process, Self-concept Internal, Self-concept External, Instrumental, and Goal Internalization. A modified version of The Virtual Teams Survey instrument developed by Lurey (1998) was employed concurrently to measure perceptions about the levels of utilization of various virtual team effectiveness attributes and the level of work satisfaction. ^ In the second qualitative phase, follow-up interviews were conducted to confirm and help explain the quantitative results. Insight into how an individual's motivation influences the relationship between work satisfaction and utilization of virtual team effectiveness attributes suggests that individuals possessing moderate or higher levels of goal internalization relative to other types of work motivation may find virtual team work satisfying. However, findings suggest that work satisfaction, regardless of motivation pattern, may be improved by strengthening team leadership, aligning rewards with goals, and enhancing the communications technology utilized by virtual teams. More importantly, this knowledge may aid virtual team leaders in integrating, leading, and empowering diverse teams so that they function cohesively and effectively in achieving their missions.
... Regardless of capitation systems in place, RTW (especially for those living with SCI) may be enhanced with a broader or more inclusive definition of work participation to include self-employment in the home or other choice settings. For instance, Telework via the Internet has become a mainstream option for employment and has the advantage for those living with SCI of minimising the impact of transportation and community accessibility issues (Bricout, 2004). ...
Post-injury return to work (RTW) is an important rehabilitation outcome regardless of injury type. With Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), the odds of successful RTW are lower than for the general population of work-injured. Australians living with a SCI have a higher RTW rate than many other developed countries, including the United States. Important influences on relatively higher post-injury RTW rates in the Australian context include its universal disability care policy, Australia’s suite of no-fault accident insurance systems that allow for multi-faceted rehabilitation services to be provided to eligible individuals in addition to appropriate rewards for rehabilitation service providers. A combination of these systemic factors is important when delivering comprehensive rehabilitation services to those with catastrophic injuries, such as SCI. The empirical evidence on drivers of successful RTW post SCI is, however, limited in comparison to the evidence on interventions for enhanced coping following SCI. Future studies could consider the relative merits of specific RTW interventions with SCI contrasting policy and capitation systems as well as utilising study designs that take into account pre-morbid work participation and secondary health
conditions.
... Communication has the potential to be both a barrier and a facilitator in this situation -an area of relative strength, which may also be impaired. Information communication technologies, such as e-mail, videoconferencing, and telephones, allow greater flexibility in work setting, exploiting verbal and non-verbal communication where physical barriers may exist [66]. Similarly, where limb and trunk function can no longer meet physical requirements, individuals may choose to change roles, including vocational options relying heavily on agile speech and voice function (e.g. ...
Purpose: Communication is powerful predictor of health-related quality of life and overall wellbeing,
yet its role in promoting rehabilitation outcomes in spinal cord injury (SCI) is rarely mentioned. This article systematically analyzes and synthesizes literature from multiple disciplines according to a biopsychosocial perspective, providing an evidence base for clinical practice and clear direction for future research.
Method: Systematic literature review and analysis, incorporating mapping to International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) codes. Results: In total 4338 entries were retrieved from CINAHL, PsychInfo, Medline, PubMed and SpeechBite databases for the period 1990–2014. A total of 115 treatment
and observational studies (quantitative and qualitative) detailed aspects of communication according to structure, function, activity, participation and environmental factors; evident of the complex interactions between communicative function with daily living after SCI.
Conclusions: Communication is a relative strength in SCI, key to empowerment, independence, social
interaction, and well-being, yet its potential to enhance SCI rehabilitation outcomes remains largely underexplored and untapped. Through elucidating interactions between communication and functioning, the adapted ICF framework affords clinicians and researchers insight into areas of intervention most likely to result in widespread gains. Conscious consideration should be given to the role of communication, within an integrative, strengths-based, multidisciplinary approach to clinical practice and future research.
... This trend in the broader society has been mirrored in the workplace, where social networks have become central not just to productivity, but to social capital. These technologies and their applications, whether in e-mail or social networking websites, may also help or hinder employee participation and promotion potential, depending on the usability of the ICT, employer and employee readiness Bricout, 2004;Fugate et al., 2004). For people with disabilities, as well as the aging, increasingly interacting online, the readiness of social networking sites to accommodate their desire to participate, in conjunction with their readiness as users to maximize the potential of platform interfaces and architecture, are critical to achieving the medium's potential for enhancing community and employment benefits. ...
Communication-oriented Internet technologies and activities such as social media sites and blogs, have become an important component of community and employment participation, not just in the specific function of activities, but as a link to larger communities of practice and professional connections. The occurrence of these activities, evident in their presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and other online communities, represents an important opportunity to reframe and re-conceptualize manifestation of communities especially those in which distributed networks and communities substitute for geographic proximity, offering new opportunities for engagement, especially those who might be functionally limited in terms of mobility.
For people with disabilities, as well as the aging, increasingly interacting online, the readiness of social networking sites to accommodate their desire to participate in conjunction with their readiness as users to maximize the potential of platform interfaces and architecture, are critical to achieving the medium’s potential for enhancing community and employment benefits. This essay explores representation/presence of disability and aging using as frames, Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Target identity/member groups on Facebook and LinkedIn were cataloged to explore the presence and representation of disability and aging identities in a socially networked setting.
The groups for this study were identified using the search feature designed into the platform architecture, which allow a user to search on specifically designated entities or keywords. Findings suggest that from a policy perspective, institutions need to be cognizant of population characteristics as well as platform opportunities implementing advocacy and relevant support services for people with disabilities and older adults to full ensure engagement and participation.
... Recently, scholars have noted that emerging information and communication technologies (ICT), led by the Internet, are having a profound impact on the knowledge, services, employment and social exchange opportunities available for people with disabilities (Ritchie & Blanck, 2003;Bricout, 2004). The Internet promotes social interaction by allowing people to communicate in a virtual space. ...
This paper explores the use and impact of the Internet by disabled people in China, informed by the social model of disability. Based on survey data from 122 disabled individuals across 25 provinces in China, study findings suggest that there is an emerging digital divide in the use of Internet amongst the disability community in China. Internet users in our study do not appear to be representative of most disabled people in China. For the minority of disabled people who do have access to the Internet, however, its use can lead to significantly improved frequency and quality of social interaction. Study findings further suggest that the Internet significantly reduced existing social barriers in the physical and social environment for disabled people. Implications for future research, and strategies for increasing reducing the digital divide between the minority of Internet users and the majority of disabled people in China are discussed.
... Recent research has begun to examine the potential that the Internet has in increasing knowledge, services and social exchange for people living with disabilities (e.g. Bricout, 2004;Guo, Bricout & Huang, 2005;Miller, 2008;Ritchie & Blanck, 2003). The current research aims to examine the potential of such websites to enhance the well-being of their members, through facilitating social interaction and social support between people with a physical disability. ...
People with a physical disability are a population who for a number of reasons may be vulnerable to social isolation. Research into Internet-based support sites has found that social support and an online sense of community can be developed through computer mediated communication channels. This study aims to gain an understanding of the benefits that membership of disability-specific online communities may have for people with a physical disability. An online survey was administered to a sample of users of such sites (N = 160). Results indicated that users did receive moral support and personal advice through participating in such online communities. Further, results indicated that online social support and feeling a sense of community online were positively associated with participants' well-being in the areas of personal relations and personal growth. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... This trend in the broader society has been mirrored in the workplace, where social networks have become central not just to productivity, but to social capital. These technologies and their applications, whether in e-mail or social networking websites, may also help or hinder employee participation and promotion potential, depending on the usability of the ICT, employer and employee readiness (Baker, Moon &Ward, 2006; Bricout, 2004; Fugate, Kinicki, & Ashforth, 2004). For people with disabilities, as well as the aging, increasingly interacting online, the readiness of social networking sites to accommodate their desire to participate, in conjunction with their readiness as users to maximize the potential of platform interfaces and architecture, are critical to achieving the medium's potential for enhancing community and employment benefits. ...
Communication-oriented Internet technologies and activities such as social media sites and blogs, have become an important component of community and employment participation, not just in the specific function of activities, but as a link to larger communities of practice and professional connections. The occurrence of these activities, evident in their presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and other online communities, represents an important opportunity to reframe and re-conceptualize manifestation of communities especially those in which distributed networks and communities substitute for geographic proximity, offering new opportunities for engagement, especially those who might be functionally limited in terms of mobility. For people with disabilities, as well as the aging, increasingly interacting online, the readiness of social networking sites to accommodate their desire to participate, in conjunction with their readiness as users to maximize the potential of platform interfaces and architecture, are critical to achieving the medium’s potential for enhancing community and employment benefits. This paper explores representation/presence of disability and aging using as frames, Facebook and LinkedIn groups. Target identity/member groups on Facebook and LinkedIn were catalogued to explore the presence and representation of disability and aging identities in a socially networked setting. The groups for this study were identified using the search feature designed into the platform architecture, which allow a user to search on specifically designated entities or keywords. Findings suggest that from a policy perspective, institutions need to be cognizant of population characteristics as well as platform opportunities implementing advocacy and relevant support services for people with disabilities and older adults to full ensure engagement and participation.
Using the 2022 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, this study examines whether perceptions of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) help explain why federal employees with disabilities have lower levels of three predictors of work motivation: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job involvement. All aspects of DEIA have impacts, but accessibility matters most. People with disabilities have greater accessibility needs and are less satisfied with organizational responses; this difference explains much of why they have lower DEI perceptions. Lower DEIA perceptions account for nearly all the differences in job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job involvement. Although the federal service has been more effective than other sectors in achieving representation of employees with disabilities, objective measures of disability representation have minimal impact on these outcome variables. Instead, improving accessibility appears to be the key tool to making full use of the talents of federal employees with disabilities, alongside more equitable development and advancement opportunities and the espousal and enactment of inclusive leadership practices.
Scholars have investigated numerous barriers to accessible software development tools and processes for Blind and Low Vision (BLV) developers. However, the research community has yet to study the accessibility of software development meetings, which are known to play a crucial role in software development practice. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 BLV software professionals about software development meeting accessibility. We found four key themes related to in-person and remote software development meetings: (1) participants observed that certain meeting activities and software tools used in meetings were inaccessible, (2) participants performed additional labor in order to make meetings accessible, (3) participants avoided disclosing their disability during meetings due to fear of career repercussions, (4) participants suggested technical, social and organizational solutions for accessible meetings, including developing their own solutions. We suggest recommendations and design implications for future accessible software development meetings including technical and policy-driven solutions.
The aim of this article is to describe the notion of telework and show the most popular aspects of telecommuting. Detailed review of the literature points out that there is no one, widely accepted definition of telework. Thus, for the purpose of this article, telecommuting is defined as “Every sort of money-gained activity, caused by external motivation of the individual and/or induced by the organization, no matter what is the extent of time spent on teleworking. What is very important is the fact that teleworking is connected with fulfilling the obligations in a flexible way, outside the conventional workplace, with the use of available telecommunications or computer-based technology to transport it’s effects”. Further investigation of the literature shows that 3 aspects are being the most popular among telework researchers: 1) demographic and psychological characteristic of telecommuting individuals, 2) causes of teleworking, 3) outcomes of teleworking, such as: increased productivity, organizational loyalty, satisfaction and high morale, decreased level of stress and positive work-life balance. Majority of the surveys have got plenty of methodological limitations, thus the results are not to be generalized on wider population. Moreover, obtained data varies in different studies, so that telework with all it’s aspects needs further investigation. At the end of the article there are proposed new directions for the future research.
The aim of this paper was to investigate whether job characteristics are associated with time interval for return to former professional activity (return to work, RTW) after arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM). A retrospective study was carried out in a sample of 63 patients in working age who underwent an APM between July 2018 and July 2020. The following preoperative characteristics were assessed: age at surgery, meniscal side, sex, physical job demands (white versus blue collar worker), telework and work status (salaried versus self- employed). A linear regression analysis was used to study the association between job characteristics and RTW interval adjusted for socio-demographic and medical (meniscal side) factors. Telework was most strongly associated with interval for RTW (p <0,001, adjusted R Square: 20,8). The results suggested that telework supports early RTW independently of sociodemographic and medical factors. This study supported the need for a tailormade approach in the prescription of sick leave.
This paper assesses disabled employees’ likelihood of working from home relative to non‐disabled employees, and the implications of doing so for their experiences of work. Analysing British nationally representative data, the findings suggest that disabled employees are less likely to work from home than non‐disabled employees, given they are disproportionately excluded from the higher‐paying and/or managerial roles in which working from home is more widely available. In addition, organizations in which working from home is more commonplace do not employ a higher proportion of disabled people. The results also confirm disabled employees report poorer experiences of work than non‐disabled employees regarding job control, job‐related mental health, job satisfaction and work–life balance. Although working from home is positively associated with these outcomes (except for work–life balance) for both disabled and non‐disabled employees, there is very little evidence it is associated with smaller disability gaps in these outcomes. Therefore, our analysis questions the potential for working from home to reduce disability disadvantage within organizations, and highlights the need for more substantial action to address the barriers to employment that disabled people encounter.
Much of the discourse on the digital divide focuses on issues of information disparity and accessibility, frequently in socioeconomic terms. This perspective overlooks an important aspect of the digital divide, the lack of access and missed opportunities faced by persons with disabilities, referred to here as the “disability divide.” Barriers to access and knowledgeable use of information and communication technology (ICT) represent more than simple exclusion from information to encompass social segregation and devaluation. At its most insidious, barriers to ICTs limit full community engagement in employment activities. This chapter examines the ramification of the impact of digital divide on the nature of employment and participation in the workplace, using ICT to conduct telework, and explores challenges to social policy with respect to ‘reasonable’ accommodations. In the absence of practices, structures, and policies targeting the distributive work environment, telework is much less likely to close the digital divide for persons with a disability. This suggests the need to explore and develop potential policy options to close the disability divide.
This paper presents a review of the existing literature on the subject of home-based telework from an inclusion and diversity perspective, with a particular focus on workers with disabilities and workers who have family members with disabilities. The review aimed to map research articles that provide insights into the issues of work-life balance, work-life conflict and work-life enhancement. The articles were screened based on publication date, relevance and research contribution. The selected articles after the screening were synthesized, and their main themes organized in five groups: 1) employment; 2) work patterns and accommodations; 3) performance, 4) policy, and 5) work-life balance and enhancement. The article concludes with an overview of the implications of the findings of the survey for future research directions and highlights the need for a greater focus on diversity and inclusion when studying home-based teleworking and issues of work-life balance, work-family conflict and work-life enhancement. Suggestions as to how this can be achieved are presented, for example in considering new research designs that would include more diverse populations of teleworkers among informants or respondents.
Human resource (HR) management has broad roles and responsibilities in organizations, such as payroll, administration, and guiding, motivating, and mentoring employees. Manual HR systems may not be adequate in today’s work environment. Systems such as management information systems (MIS) and human resource information systems (HRIS) provide support in an organization’s daily activity. This book explores human capital issues in human resource management (HRM), which is related to the redesigning of MIS. It highlights that when MIS is implemented or changed, the responsibilities of organizational members can be drastically altered. Employee resistance is one of the main challenges of this process. To solve this problem, several behavioral strategies are required, such as encouraging employees’ involvement in adopting effective MIS to help them overcome resistance during organization changes. The volume includes a literature review that focuses on this discussion. This book also highlights the changing skills requirements of the employees in the context of both MIS and HRM perspectives. It describes how the current trends have evolved in this fast-emerging market of competitive advantages and rapidly changing environments toward globalization. The
literature review starts with an introduction of what HRM and MIS are all about and the linkage between them, followed by examples of some useful journals, articles, and websites to support the topic “Changing Skills Requirement: An MIS Perspective.” Considering employees as assets of an organization who contribute effort, time, energy, and knowledge, the organization must accept the responsibility of sustaining efficiency through operation, execution, implementation, and the acceptance of changes, which
involvesleaders and managers, as well as employees. Consequently, implementing and designing the MIS is paramount to bringing both benefits and challenges related to the financial costs, the quality, and the performance of the organization. Human resource information systems (HRIS) have aided many organizations by replacing traditional HR functions. Files, documents, and papers kept under HR are now replaced with electronic documents under a system that saves physical space and mitigates potential damages or losses to these files if the system is harmed. HRIS files are easily backed up and
can be stored away from the original system. The challenges with HRISs xiv Preface
are with the security of keeping the data and information within the system. Threats from hackers, information leakages, and natural incidents such as fire could disruptthe system and would jeopardize the data and information of the organization. There needs to be emphasis on security of HRISs to protect important data and information and prevent threats that could affect the system.
Finally, within the book, we have provided several case studies that have been used to strengthen our findings, and hence, we conclude that changing skills requirements in the MIS perspective are really important for improving the performance of employees in order tolead to greater efficiency and productivity of the organization.
Today, the mass media are now regarded as essential for keeping people up to date with the world around them. In order to combat the negative influences media may have on youngsters, media literacy education has been called upon and was implemented in some primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. However, the benefits have not been extended to the field of special education. This paper attempts an argument for the incorporation of media literacy education into the special education curriculum. Here special education means education for children and adolescents with various physical disabilities—hearing/visual impairments, mobility impairment, and so forth. The paper argues that media literacy education can help students with disability combat media stereotypes, actively participate in society, and become engaged in media production.
Given changing work demands, organizations are increasingly reliant on the use of telecommuting. The overarching goal of this chapter is to provide organizations with evidence-based actionable tools for effective telecommuting arrangements. Although telecommuting has grown over the past several decades, scholars and practitioners have not yet developed a comprehensive understanding of what telecommuting is, why it should (and should not) be used, when it is appropriate, and how it can be successfully implemented. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to review (1) the concept of telecommuting and its various forms (what?), (2) the consequences of telecommuting, both positive and negative for employees and organizations (why?), (3) antecedents of effective telecommuting (when?), and (4) recommendations for best practices (how?). We conclude the chapter with considerations for the future of telecommuting
The Internet can be used with clients with SCI to address the broad array of necessary skills and knowledge to regain functional independence.
A conceptual framework of workplace accommodation issues associated with the employment of people with disabilities and the aging was developed to help identify policy barriers and opportunities, using online policy Delphi Method, an iterative polling instrument used to assess key issues and intervention options. This paper presents the results of research conducted toward articulating policy initiatives that address the key issues critical to the development of effective approaches for the implementation of workplace accommodations.
Demand-side and supply-side factors are explored related to workplace accommodations for individuals with disabilities. Employers who had sought and received consultation from the Job Accommodation Network were later contacted for a follow-up interview. The data from these 1,293 interviews include effectiveness of customized employment, direct benefits to employers, and indirect benefits to employers. The primary demand-side benefits of effective accommodation implementation identified by these employers were (a) retained a qualified employee, (b) increased the overall company's productivity as well as employee's productivity, (c) eliminated cost of having a new employee, (d) increased overall company morale, and (e) increased the accommodated employee's attendance.
This paper uses a case study to examine attitudinal barriers to employment and underemployment. We follow the career path of PR, a woman with multiple physical impairments, as she seeks financial independence through several employment strategies. In these, she faced attitudinal barriers and employment situations without opportunity for advancement. Eventually, PR opens her own business, turning to an alternative loan program to acquire the funds necessary to purchase a ready-made vehicle that matches her needs for accessible transportation. Use of this vehicle to provide delivery services for her business has more than doubled her income.
The prevalence of telework among people with disabilities is not as great as the general population, despite the accommodative benefits of telework.
This study of employment and accommodation use patterns of people with disabilities investigates relationships between functional abilities, work location and nature, and accommodation use.
Currently employed subjects with disabilities were recruited from client lists of research, technical assistance, and service provision centers, as well as through over 100 social networking venues focused on individuals with disabilities.
A national, cross-sectional survey was administered electronically. Details of accommodation use for 373 individuals were compared using Chi-Square distribution analysis.
Those in white-collar and knowledge-based jobs were twice as likely to telework as other worker types, and teleworkers were twice as likely to use flexible scheduling. Only 47% of teleworkers reported telework as a job accommodation. Of those, 57% were satisfied with telework and 76% reported it as important to job task completion.
Increased use of flexible scheduling, particularly among those who view telework as an accommodation, suggests the primary accommodative benefit of telework is to reduce pain and fatigue-related barriers to traditional employment. Relatively low satisfaction with telework suggests that it presents other employment-related barriers.
The full text of this article is available from the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) by request at: https://search.naric.com/research/redesign_record.cfm?search=2&type=all&criteria=telework&phrase=no&rec=124912&article_source=Rehab
Telework has been promoted as a viable workplace accommodation for people with disabilities since the 1990s, when information and communication technologies (ICT) had developed sufficiently to facilitate its widespread adoption. This initial research and accompanying policy recommendations were prescriptive in nature and frequently aimed at employers.
This article adds to existing policy models for facilitating successful telework outcomes for people with disabilities. Drawing upon two studies by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Workplace Accommodations, we expound on employee-side considerations in the implementation of telework.
Our policy model utilizes established typologies for policy evaluation to develop a process model that considers rationales and implementation factors for telework among people with physical disabilities.
Telework may be used as an accommodation for disability, but employee rationales for telework are more complex, involving work-life balance, strategies for pain and fatigue not formally recognized as disability, and expediency in travel and transportation. Implementation of telework as a component of workplace operations is similarly multifaceted, involving non-technology accommodations to realize job restructuring left incomplete by telework.
Our model grounds new empirical research in this area. We also renew our call for additional research on effective telework practices for people with disabilities.
The full-text of this article is available from the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) by request at: https://search.naric.com/research/redesign_record.cfm?search=2&type=all&criteria=telework&phrase=no&rec=131030&article_source=Rehab
Purpose:
The aim of this exploratory study is to gain an understanding of the outcomes of home-based employment service programs for people with disabilities and their related factors in Taiwan.
Method:
This study used survey method to collect 132 questionnaires. Descriptive and two-variable statistics including chi-square (χ(2)), independent sample t-test and analysis of variance were employed.
Results:
The results found that 36.5% of the subjects improved their employment status and 75.8% of them improved in employability. Educational level and and vocational categories including "web page production", "e-commerce", "internet marketing", "on-line store" and "website set-up and management" were significantly "positively" associated with either of the two outcome indicators - change of employment status and employability.
Conclusions:
This study is the first evidence-based study about the outcomes of home-based employment service programs and their related factors for people with disabilities in Taiwan. The outcomes of the home-based employment service programs for people with disabilities were presented. Implications for Rehabilitation Home-based rehabilitation for people with disabilities can be effective. A programme of this kind supports participants in improving or gaining employment status as well as developing employability skills. Further consideration should be given to developing cost-effective home-based programmes and evaluating their effectiveness.
This article presents the findings from research to identify key barriers and opportunities in the provision of workplace accommodations for employees with disabilities in the United States. Using the policy Delphi method, a multiround, iterative polling technique used to assess key stakeholder perceptions, the study probed on five areas: awareness, policy/regulatory, economic, technology, and social. For each of these areas, the Delphi panel was asked to comment on the reliability of forecasts, importance of issues, desirability of goals, and finally, the feasibility of policy options. The Delphi study concluded with a set of 22 policy options to address barriers to the provision of workplace accommodations. Many of these options take a collaborative approach, but they emphasize involvement of federal agencies such as the Office of Disability Employment Policy in the U.S. Department of Labor and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Task Force of the U.S. Department of Justice.
This paper reviews the literature pertaining to the employment of people who experience spinal cord injury (SCI) in the United States and recommending future research.
The literature was reviewed with search terms such as SCI, employment, working from home and telework using databases in EBSCO, including Academic Search Complete and the American Psychological Association’s databases.
Literature and findings on key factors related to employment illustrate the multiple dimensions of work environments, and health demands, that effect employment outcomes for people with SCI.
Employment is important for people with SCI and valued in society. The literature reviewed indicates that researchers understand the work demands for people with SCI and may help to identify suitable supports, training and job opportunities. There remains a need for research focus on understanding future employment demands, necessary work skills, differing work environments and methods for increasing and preserving employment.
There are many problems involved in maintaining safety for different kinds of handicapped workers. One of the biggest problems is how these persons can commute to their workplace safely. One possible solution to this problem is using a teleworking system. This system is also good for saving money and the environment because it does not require commuting. The teleworking system has many other merits including enhanced safety and can be applied to many other aspects of life. For example, it can be used for the care of solitary elderly persons, watching small children in a two-income family, and working or providing medical treatment in remote and underpopulated areas. However, these applications are not yet common, and few reports have dealt with such merits. The case studies of disabled workers using teleworking reported here demonstrate the safety, financial and environmental benefits of teleworking.
Few concerns are more important to managers than providing for the needs of employees who have been encumbered with short‐term or long‐term disabilities. The information society, with its advances in telecommunications technologies, is making it increasingly more possible, and more plausible, for human resources managers to implement the organizational strategy of telework to help accommodate their employees who have disabilities. Telework—or the use of telecommunications and/or computer technology to support working away from a primary worksite—is suitable for employees who are in some way disabled for at least three reasons: (1) it provides a buffer against the stress of work‐life disruptions, by offering control over the worksite; (2) it facilitates the inclusion in the work force of employees with severely limiting disabilities and (3) it helps “level the playing field”; for persons with speech or mobility impairments. In this context, the U.S. Department of Defense instituted a pilot program. The results from the formative evaluation of this telework project are discussed.
Whereas the Industrial Revolution attracted workers away from home-based community settings to central locations, the current proliferation of personal computers and asynchronous telecommunications technologies is reversing this trend. By networking employees from different geographical sites together, these technologies are producing “hybrid” organizational structures that permit their members to work within flexible schedules and in flexible places, even to the point of working at home. The result is the electronically distributed work community: a population of nonproximal coworkers who labor together electronically. This paper presents a springboard for conducting research on telework as it is understood within the context of that community. The paper begins with a brief history of telecommuting and describes its influence on the electronic community and organizational structures in general within the past two decades. The paper concludes by presenting implications for research on telework in the areas of privacy regulation, emergency preparedness, self-efficacy, temporal aspects of employee behavior, communication patterns, and organizational effectiveness.
This paper reviews international trends and associated issues of telework (work that is performed remote from clients or employers assisted by electronic communication facilities). It examines whether telework in New Zealand is following reported trends and concludes that the forces driving telework in New Zealand are different from those elsewhere, for structural reasons which are described. The results of a small survey of New Zealand teleworkers suggest that the growth of teleworking in New Zealand is among professional and technical workers with scarce skills or in small innovative home-based businesses. The implications of these findings for New Zealand's future development are discussed.
Telework has inspired research in disciplines ranging from transportation and urban planning to ethics, law, sociology, and organizational studies. In our review of this literature, we seek answers to three questions: who participates in telework, why they do, and what happens when they do? Who teleworks remains elusive, but research suggests that male professionals and female clerical workers predominate. Notably, work-related factors like managers' willingness are most predictive of which employees will telework. Employees' motivations for teleworking are also unclear, as commonly perceived reasons such as commute reduction and family obligations do not appear instrumental. On the firms' side, managers' reluctance, forged by concerns about cost and control and bolstered by little perceived need, inhibits the creation of telework programmes. As for outcomes, little clear evidence exists that telework increases job satisfaction and productivity, as it is often asserted to do. We suggest three steps for future research may provide richer insights: consider group and organizational level impacts to understand who telework affects, reconsider why people telework, and emphasize theory-building and links to existing organizational theories. We conclude with lessons learned from the telework literature that may be relevant to research on new work forms and workplaces. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cluster analysis of sign-in log data for 115 users of California telecenters was conducted to identify patterns of telecommuting engagement and frequency over a six-month window. Three engagement clusters were identified: Persisters, Decliners, and Dabblers. Four frequency clusters were identified, classified as Low, Medium, High, and Erratic. Nearly half of the Persisters belonged to the Low Frequency cluster, highlighting the need to count not just telecommuters, but telecommuting occasions. Variables significantly associated with cluster membership were identified. Consistent with other research, management-related issues seem to play a substantial role in affecting both the engagement in, and frequency of, telecommuting.
This manuscript reviews recent research on return to work (RTW) for individuals who sustain spinal cord injury (SCI), including the effects of demographics variables, occupational characteristics, workplace accommodations, quality of life, physical functional limitations, and other variable. Demographic variables that influence RTW for persons with SCI include age at injury onset, chronological age, gender, education, ethnicity, marital status, and per-injury work intensity. Others include satisfaction, and adjustment to sustaining SCI. In an effort to enhance employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities including SCI, Ticket to Work Incentive Improvement Act of 1999 (TWILA) has been passed by Congress and some states have begun implementing targeted initiatives through the State Partnership Systems Change Initiatives (SPI). Future research directions are recommended in light of recent legislative initiatives.
Return to work after injury or illness is a behavior influenced by physical, psychological, and social factors. Disability research lacks a conceptual framework for combining these factors in the study of the return-to-work process. Two extant theoretical models within the social context are considered as they apply to the behavior of returning to work: 1) the Readiness for Change Model originating from the field of health promotion and addressing the issue of motivation for behavior change, and 2) the Phase Model of Disability developed for the epidemiological study of occupational disability addressing the developmental and temporal aspects of disability. A new Readiness for Return-to-Work Model is proposed focusing on the interpersonal context of the work-disabled employee. Employee interactions with the workplace, the health care, and insurance systems are considered as they impact the three defining dimensions of change--decisional balance, self-efficacy and change processes. The evidence for their impact on return-to-work is examined within the framework of the Phase Model of Disability, which puts forth the phase-specificity of symptoms, risks, and interventions for disability. The Readiness for Return-to-Work Model has the potential to account for individual variation in optimal stage-specific timing of interventions based on an individual's readiness for return-to-work. The model therefore complements the Phase Model of Disability by allowing for an individual-level staging of the disability and recovery process within the broader group-level-derived framework of occupational disability phases. This link between the two models needs to be empirically tested in future research.
Over the past five years, reports on the gains associated with telework have been remarkable(Murphy, 1996; Hesse, et. al, 1991). Productivity can be increased by 30%, workers are more satisfied with their jobs and telework could reduce traffic and pollution problems. However, there is also research that speaks about the resistance to telework. Firms are reluctant to adopt telework programs and employees are reluctant to give up traditional work structures (Handy & Mokhtarian, 1995). Pan of this reluctance can be described in terms of ethics and evolving behavioral norms. Telework is posing new questions about rules of conduct, work ethic and work privacy Kurland (1996). This study examines ethical scenarios that arise in telework environments. This study reports the ethical attitudes of 134 Los Angeles area managers and professionals on telecommuting scenarios. Eighteen ethical scenarios, Table 2, relating to freedom of work ethic, workplace monitoring, compensation, work and family, and equity were posed. Results of the survey show that organizational level, telecommuting experience and gender issues do not strongly influence ethical decisions in the given scenarios. People at lower organizational levels do not appear to be any more traditional in their view on telework than people at higher organizational levels. People who had telecommuting experience were no more liberal in their work ethic views than those without telecommuting experience.
This article reviews theoretical and empirical work in labor economics and the sociology of work relating to the segmentation of the labor market into a primary and a secondary sector and examines the implications for vocational rehabilitation. Demand-side and supply-side factors associated with labor market segmentation and movement of workers from the secondary to the primary sector are reviewed. Transition into primary sector employment is explored as an important aspect of career development for individuals with disabilities. Recommendations for working toward this goal are offered for job development, job analysis, and job training and support.
This study provides baseline data from a nationwide sample of telecommuting programs in organizations with facility managers. Based on Rogers’ Adoption/Diffusion Theory, the two-phase study revealed a 38% telework adoption rate. The data describe the telecommuting programs, their attributes, and resultant off-site work environments and central office changes. In conclusion, among U.S. organizations that employ facility managers, the rate of adoption of telecommuting is growing steadily, primarily in large, reengineered, and services-oriented firms. The perceived attributes of these programs are (a) their relative advantage as an effective informal method for organizations to attract and retain valued employees and (b) their compatibility with theorganization’s corporateculture. Thus far, thesamplefacility managers’limited involvement in the corporate decision to adopt telecommuting and in evaluating work environment outcomes may constrain their potential effectiveness as telework change agents.
Telework ("telecommuting") has been predicted to dramatically alter the place-dependence of information-based work. Instead, the implemented incidence of employees being permitted to work at home remains quite low. This is puzzling, given the potential benefits of telework, including reduced commuting time, positive environmental impacts, decreased absenteeism, enhanced employee retention, and an expanded employee recruiting area. This study explores the relationship between environmental variables and the adoption and diffusion of telework among computer specialists in an effort to understand telework's slow growth. A national survey of information systems managers was conducted, with the result that the environmental factors of market competitiveness, competitor use of telework, industry globalization, and legislative mandates were found to be significantly related to adoption of telework. Competitor use of telework and external corporate communication significantly related to diffusion of telework. These results are useful in guiding managers who wish to stimulate teleworkpractices, and to researchers exploring telework in greater depth.
Telecommuting is a work arrangement in which an employee regularly works at a site other than the employer's place of business—often the employee's home or a so-called telework center. Telecommuting may increase employees' job flexibility, retention, productivity, and motivation. However, telecommuting also carries distinct implications for legal liability. Among the issues are safety, adherence to disability-access laws, and wage and hour regulations. For instance, employers face issues connected with workplace safety, because they can be held accountable for accidents at a telecommuter's home office (even though the employer does not manage the premises). Telecommuting may come to be seen as a “reasonable accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act, although few cases have been decided regarding this contention. Moreover, the simple fact that an employee is setting her own hours does not exempt the employer from the wage and hour provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Workers must either fit that law's specific exemptions from hourly and overtime pay or else keep careful track of their hours. Perhaps the most important means of limiting problems arising from telecommuting is to implement a firm, company-wide policy (rather than apply ad hoc criteria), and to make certain that both job duties and the worker personally are suited to the minimal supervision and self-direction involved in telecommuting.
Telecommuting practices and their environmental and organizational performance impacts have stimulated research across academic disciplines. Although telecommuting trends and impact projections are reported, few true longitudinal studies involving large organizations have been conducted. Published studies typically lack the research design elements to control a major confounding variable: rapid and widespread organizational change. Yet social science ‘Best Practices’ and market research industry quality control procedures exist that can help manage organizational change effects and other common sources of measurement error. In 1992, AT&T established a formal, corporate-wide telecommuting policy. A research and statistical modeling initiative was implemented to measure how flexible work arrangements reduce automotive emissions. Annual employee surveys were begun in 1994. As telecommuting benefits have been increasingly recognized within AT&T, the essential construct has been redefined as ‘telework.’ The survey's scope has expanded to address broader organization issues and provide guidance to multiple internal constituencies. This paper focuses upon the procedures used to reliably measure the adoption of telework practices and model their environmental impact, and contrasts those procedures with other, less reliable methodologies.
Reports the results of a preliminary study of a new work environment, the home office (HO). This study was designed to develop a test instrument that would facilitate the investigation of a set of variables that might influence the corporate decision to relocate employees from the employer’s office space to the employees’ homes. Additionally, the paper seeks to identify the variables that will affect both the employer and the employee, for example, employee productivity and costs of employment. This report does not attempt to generalize concerning the population of home office employees, nor does it attempt to generalize the current employer perspective of the telecommuting employee, but rather it attempts to identify numerous variables that should be investigated in more detail.
Now that all over the western world the Welfare State is presenting the bill, the social security system as we know it begins to weigh down more and more heavily on our national economies. And this pressure has af-fected our attitude towards it, and even the way we talk about it. Terms like ‘disability’ and ‘unemployment’ are no longer primarily associated with human suffering: they have become matters of facts and figures. The days are long past when the position of the disabled arid the unem-ployed belonged to the domain of the social worker only; his concern is now shared by the economist and the politician, though perhaps not for quite the same reasons.
Information and communication technology (ICT) provides organizations with a whole range of new possibilities for performing work and structuring the organization. The technical, and to a certain extent the organizational development, has been rapid and there has not been the time for any consensus on concepts to evolve. This article is concentrated to a limited part of the area of organizations and ICT, telework and concepts related to telework. It is argued that many of these conceptsnotably teleworkhave been used by so many authors in so many different ways that they have lost their specifity. They are defined in so many ways in different studies that they in each instance need to be further defined to clarify exactly what is being studied. The aim of the article is therefore not to propose new definitions but to show instead how it is possible to discriminate among telework situations by using dimensions, along which new ways of doing work can be further specified. We distinguish among forms of organizations such as telecommuting, multiflex, mobile work, satellite office, and virtual organization. We also discuss concepts regarding work places, such as neighbourhood work centres, resort offices, satellite work centres and mobile workplaces. We discriminate between the telework situations by discussing dimensions for forms of organization and workplaces, respectively.
Telework, which is defined as work performed at home or a satellite office to reduce commuting, is attracting much attention as an alternative way to organize work. Numerous studies have pointed out a variety of advantages of telework for individuals, organizations, and society. Current telework research, however, displays many weaknesses that inhibit use of this alternative as an effective vehicle to promote distributive organizational design. This study was undertaken to characterize existing telework research, improve understanding of problems and issues of telework, and guide future research directions. A review of the relevant literature and a characterization of telework were conducted from 3 different angles: the research methodology, the focus of existing telework studies, and the research paradigm. First, an overall lack of robust research methodology was found in many studies. Second, although telework is an organizational phenomenon, disproportionate attention has been given to teleworker-related personal issues. Finally, the current telework paradigm was discovered to be characterized by suitability-based planning that selects appropriate persons and tasks and by ad hoc implementation in response to local needs. We suggest that future research could be enriched with more rigorous research methodology, more balanced focus for studies, and more flexible perspectives in the research paradigm.
This article describes the growth of telecommuting as an employment
The research reported here examines the claim that the concept of teleworking will attract well qualified individuals to join an organisation. A cognitive mapping technique was used to determine the extent to which negative perceptions were associated with teleworking. The findings have implications for the design and promotion of teleworking.
This article reviews relevant literature as to the labor pool of qualified individuals with disabilities and employment in information technology (IT) sector jobs. First, the article reviews the empirical literature on barriers to employment in IT for persons with disabilities. The examination then is extended to studies of barriers to employment for individuals with disabilities in other employment sectors. Findings illustrate the limited experiences that IT and non-IT companies have in employing and accommodating employees with disabilities. Implications are discussed for enhancing the employment of qualified workers with disabilities in IT through research, education, training, and mentoring programs. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This study employs a grounded theory methodology to compare the impact telecommuting has on public and private employees perceptions of professional isolation. It relied on 93 semi-structured interviews with telecommuters, non-telecommuters, and their respective supervisors in two high technology firms and two city governments. These organizations had active telecommuting programmes and a strong interest in making telecommuting a successful work option, providing an opportunity to investigate the challenges of telecommuting that existed even within friendly environments. The interviews demonstrated that professional isolation of telecommuters is inextricably linked to employee development activities (interpersonal networking, informal learning, and mentoring). The extent to which telecommuters experience professional isolation depends upon the extent to which these activities are valued in the workplace and the degree to which telecommuters miss these opportunities. Public respondents appeared to value these informal developmental activities less than private employees. Therefore, we stipulate that telecommuting is less likely to hinder the professional development of public sector employees than that of employees in the private sector. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
There is a growing need for research examining the effective implementation and management of teleworking as it is increasingly being used as an organizational work structure. The enhanced functionality of many information technologies facilitates the completion of work across geographically dispersed teleworkers while simultaneously providing a vehicle to overcome social isolation that has been viewed as an inhibitor of teleworker effectiveness. This research assesses two training methods that can be used to help teleworkers develop skill sets for using these technologies. The results suggest that using a game-based training method facilitates the training process by increasing users' intrinsic motivation resulting in increased intention to use the technology. This can be particularly important in enhancing the effective completion of team and individual telework while at the same time providing a mechanism to minimize teleworkers social isolation.
Telework is a strategic IS-based tool that can help achieve the timeliness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness critical to organizational effectiveness and competitive advantage. As the keepers of one of telework's main enablers, IT managers should understand telework's success factors and such key implementation issues as operational requirements, security, hardware and software, training and support, and organizational players.
A survey containing 18 ethical scenarios involving teleworkers, their managers, and the organizations that employ them illustrates teleworking's challenge to the issues of trust, time versus quality, and the definition of what work entails. New corporate policies that support all stakeholders will help resolve these issues and achieve telework's proven benefits.
TEDIS (Teleworking for Disabled People) is a research and development project of the research group on Human Computer Interaction at the German National Research Center for Information Technology (GMD). TEDIS is an assistive technology contribution to the promotional program “Telecooperation — Value Added Services” of the German Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF) and accordingly funded. The general goal of the project is to implement a generic human computer interface for accessing Internet, which can be adapted to a variety of different needs of handicapped as well as elderly people. As part of a field-trial, the internet-based telecooperation environment BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work) was installed to manage the teleworking process for two severely physically disabled teleworkers. At present, BSCW is adjusted to their special needs based upon data gained by structured usability-interviews. As a result, complete accessibility of BSCW by keyboard will soon be available, since operating a mouse causes many problems for motorically-disabled, blind or visually impaired end-users.
This feasibility study, based on intensive casework, examined the potential of home-based teleworking arrangements for people with severe physical disabilities. Eleven teleworking arrangements, each involving a unique combination of work, working conditions and worker characteristics, were set up in different parts of Ireland and monitored over periods ranging from 6 to 18 months. Eight were still operational at the end of the project and, with one exception, were set to continue as longer-term arrangements. Outcomes from this action-research project suggest that teleworking is a feasible form of employment for such persons--provided care is taken over selection of workers, identification of work that is suited to the telework format and management of telework units by employers. They also suggest that teleworking arrangements can be quite flexible, ranging from examples in which work is performed mainly from home to those which combine home-based activity with varying degrees of conventional office-based activity. It is concluded that telework will create new opportunities for people with severe disabilities, as well as enabling others who become disabled during employment to retain their jobs. However, it is important that workers are appropriately trained in the use of computers and advanced telecommunications and, in many cases, home-delivered training is required.
Computer use and training may be of special benefit to people with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) because computer technology may help lessen the impact of mobility limitations that are inherent with this disability. This article summarizes several findings from a 1994 survey conducted of New Jersey residents who suffered SCIs within the previous 10 years. The results indicate that, among people with SCIs, 46% currently use a computer in some capacity and 22% received computer training since the date of their injury. Perhaps surprisingly, both corresponding percentages are higher in the general population. People with SCIs appear to have less access to computers because most people learn how to use computers at work, and only a minority of people with SCIs work. The lower rate of use of computers among people with SCIs is unfortunate because the steep employment and earnings declines often experienced after an SCI are partially mitigated for those who have computer skills. The results suggest the importance of policies and programs aimed at increasing access to computers and computer training for people with severe disabilities.
This study examines the effect of a certain number of factors on the resumption of working life after a spinal cord injury, in a population of 277 people of working age. The effect of a number of socioeconomic variables, the degree of social support and the age at the time of impairment are examined. Particular attention is paid to satisfaction in work for those who are active, and satisfaction in not working for those who are not. The results confirm certain effects which have already been observed: a high educational level and a handicap acquired early in life increase the probability of a working life. They also show that, while those who are active tend to be satisfied with their work, and those who are inactive dissatisfied at not working, the satisfaction at not working nevertheless increases with educational level. The authors question a policy aimed at systematic resumption of working life, and suggest that rehabilitation strategies should incorporate recognition of the value of not working.
1. Telecommuting is a work arrangement in which employees work part time or full time from their homes or smaller telework centers. They communicate with employers via computer. 2. Telecommuting can raise legal issues for companies. Can telecommuting be considered a reasonable accommodation under the Americans With Disabilities Act? When at home, is a worker injured within the course and scope of their employment for purposes of workers' compensation? 3. Occupational and environmental health nurses may need to alter existing programs to meet the distinct needs of telecommuters. Often, there are ergonomic issues and home office safety issues which are not of concern to other employees. Additionally, occupational and environmental health nurses may have to offer programs in new formats (e.g., Internet or Intranet programs) to effectively communicate with teleworkers.
It is rare for rehabilitation researchers to report substantial relationships between functional capacity and vocational rehabilitation achievements. The reason for this is that there are many other factors that also impact on the return-to-work outcomes people achieve. A solution to the problem of having to take into consideration the effects of multiple factors when evaluating intervention effectiveness is to focus more directly on cognitions and behaviors that have been theoretically and empirically linked with a satisfactory return to work. The aim of this paper is to explore and describe a measure of rehabilitation effectiveness based in cognitive-behavioral theory. Rather than the measurement of employment per se, the described measure is focused on the efforts individuals make in relation to achieving their desired outcome. To test the effectiveness, acceptability, and utility of the approach, the measure was trialed with 170 people with a spinal cord injury. This preliminary work has revealed that participants found the measure acceptable and gave detailed responses in regards to: their satisfaction with their vocational status; what it is they would prefer to be doing; and what it is that they are doing to achieve their aims. Study findings suggest that while the approach is likely to require further development, focusing on process variables holds promise as an evaluation approach when assessing the success of vocational rehabilitation intervention effectiveness.
The 'accessible' job market of the 1990's has given way to a challenging job market in a climate of economic uncertainty in the early Twenty-First Century. For vocational rehabilitation professionals this change requires the strategic use of workplace supports to increase the value and sustainability of work performed by people with disabilities in competitive jobs. An analytical framework for leveraging the natural supports of the workplace is provided by the workplace ecology as a bounded environment in which relationships between workers and supervisors promote learning and enhanced performance. The dynamics of the workplace ecology are explored with particular reference to workers with disabilities receiving supported employment services. Recommendations are made for leveraging the workplace ecology to the benefit of the supported worker. Implications for supported employment services in the new millennium are discussed.
In designing travel behavior surveys, the problem is to define “work,” “home,” and similar words that are commonly used in our language but which have acquired a plethora of associated meanings. The difficulty has not been resolved by the many new terms coined to describe non-traditional ways to work. Such words as “telecommuting,” “teleworking,” “at-home work,” “hoteling,” “homebased business,” “road warriors” and “mobile workers,” lack any agreed-upon definitions yet they are used in common parlance as if they did. These new workstyles are of interest to travel planners because they may involve trip reduction. To forecast just how much trip reduction will occur, behavior needs to be measured by objective criteria.
To avoid definitional traps, we recommend phrasing questions in terms of measurable variables such as the place of work and the time in days and hours spent at each location. That approach leaves researchers the option of applying their own definitions that fit the context of their analyses. Thus, rather than ask “How many days a week do you telecommute?” the more precise question can be asked: “How many days last week did you work at home instead of going to your usual work location?” This approach has the advantage that information gathered over years can be used unambiguously in various contexts. Definitions can be applied at the point of analysis.
This paper illustrates errors and confusion that can arise from casually worded surveys using examples from private and public surveys. The author proposes a set of core questions with four levels of priority for consideration in designing future surveys of travel behavior.