1.2.8. The Future of the Office Teleworking

Traditionally all office work was carried out in the organisation's own premises either in large, centralised offices or dispersed throughout the organisation. This is still largely true but developments in information technology and communication networks mean that an increasing number of people are able to work from home at least for part of the week. The use of faxes, E-mail and personalised telephone numbers which enable a subscriber to be tracked down anywhere in the world mean that, with the right facilities, a person can always be in two-way contact. Teleworking is defined by British Telecom (BT) as 'working in a location that is remote from an employer or from the normally expected place of work either on full-time or part-time basis. The work generally involves the electronic processing of information, the results of which are communicated remotely to the employer, usually by a telecommunication link.

As yet teleworking affects only a tiny minority of office workers although some forecasters think that the numbers will increase dramatically. In reality, progress is slow and there is considerable resistance from staff who miss the personal interactions and soсial aspects of working with other people.

The increase of the number of home-based workers is expected to come from non-manufacturing activities and could include, for example, designers, accountants, computer programmers and architects.

Advantages

Employers:

• Reduction in office costs, e.g. office space, furnishings and secretarial services.

• Greater productivity, because of less distractions.

Employees:

• Saving on travel and lunch expenses (an average person spends 14 hours travelling each week to and from the office).

• Less stress from travel.

• Greater flexibility to fit work around other home activities.

Disadvantages

• Isolation of people at home and need for interaction with colleagues;

• Lack of administrative support

It could be that the availability, portability and lower cost of communication systems and computers will threaten the traditions of a city-located office in the future.

The integrated office

The idea behind the ‘integrated office’ is that wherever possible there is not duplication of equipment and that different equipment is able to share the same information.

As a single stand-alone micro can only do one job at a time, it seemed beneficial if a number of micros could be linked to central databases to enable the same information to be shared by users simultaneously. Multi-user systems can be suitable for two to 32 terminals and consist of a number of ‘dumb’ terminals (which can only receive or input data) linked to a central processor for intelligence, programs and files. So one person could be doing word processing at the same time as another is doing accounting work.

Assignments

I. Suggest the Ukrainian equivalents of the words and phrases below:

developments in information technology; to track down; full-time job; resistance from staff; to miss personal interactions; home-based workers; reduction in office costs; an average person; to threaten the tradition; duplication of equipment; to share the same information; to do one job at a time; simultaneously; accounting; distraction;

II. Answer the questions:

1. What is teleworking? What does it involve?

2. What spheres of activities are the home-based workers expected to come from?

3. What are the advantages of teleworking for employers/employees?

4. What are the disadvantages of teleworking for employees?

5. What is meant by the integrated office?

III. Translate into English:

1. Дистанційна робота — це робота на певній відстані від роботодавця, яка включає в себе електронну обробку інформації, результати якої надсилаються роботодавцеві через телекомунікаційні мережі.

2. Головним недоліком дистанційної роботи для службовців є брак спілкування з колегами.