David Cole and Company are an international firm of Business Consultants which employs telephone researchers throughout the world. The company now has opportunities available in Australia. The work involves calling large companies and obtaining information about their future plans. There is no selling and no pressure involved. Home teleworkers need to be bright and chatty with a genuine interest in talking to other people on the telephone. The company provides full on-line training. If you are interested visit www.australia.dcathome.co.uk for more information and to complete an on-line application form.

Telework for individuals

This page presents a best practice guide to starting your own telework arrangement. Whether your employer has an initiative already or not, the guidance provided will help you establish the work arrangement that suits you.

Telework means reducing and eliminating the frustrations and stresses of traditional work. It supports personal aspirations and opens new avenues of employment by enabling the performance of work at alternative locations and times—locations and times you can often choose for yourself. (More information about the benefits that telework offers is available here.)

Personal planning

You have a life to lead. Sure you've got to work to pay for the things you want from your life but that is not a good argument for allowing work to take over. Telework, when it is properly implemented, means you can take control.

To take control, three core things are necessary:

1. Work out what kind of life you really want to live. How do you want to spend your time? What achievements do you want to be able to tell your grandchildren?
2. Develop a Personal Plan. This should include goals and objectives, the money you will need and how you will balance your time. It should also assess the other resources you may have. The plan should also identify the challenges you may face and how you intend to deal with them.
3. Answer the BIG question: ‘What do you want or need from 'work'? And from 'home'?’ Determine what role work should play in your life.

The answers to these questions are important if you intend to telework: they help shape the kind of working arrangements that will be right for you.

Financial planning

There are many costs associated with working in town. Working from home can save many of these costs but it is important to consider all the possible costs and savings. If working from home will cost you money, think carefully about whether it is the right option for you.

You should consider the following:

• The monthly costs of working lunches, childcare, transport and parking and personal expenditure incurred as a result of working away from home;
• The annual costs of work clothing, accessories and vehicle maintenance;
• The additional costs of increased home telephone use, home heating and power;
• The costs involved in setting up your telework arrangement, e.g. home office design, furniture, telephone lines and broadband connections and computer equipment; and
• The costs of operating a home office (stationery, couriers, connection charges, etc.)

Setting up a personal telework arrangement

The first step in establishing a telework arrangement is to see whether you will be a good teleworker. Take the teleworker self-assessment questionnaire to find out. If your score is high enough, you should be able to persuade your employer to let you telework. This might sound easy but it can also be a bit of a challenge.

The following process might make things easier but always remember that you are only proposing a telework arrangement for yourself. You are not trying to change the whole organisation overnight. The organisation can change, but if you come on too strong to start with, you probably won’t get anywhere. Be prepared to take your time.

1. Ask: Does your employer or its parent company, have a telework initiative you can be part of? What do you have to do to become part of it?
2. Research: What is possible already? What challenges will you have to address? Who is already working from home, even occasionally? Is the organisation’s information and communication technology able to support doing work from alternative locations? Ask IT what equipment they think you will need to install at your alternate office. Can you get high-speed Internet and mobile phone reception where you live?
3. Prepare a proposal: If there isn’t already a telework initiative, you will need to start discussions with your manager. The first step is to prepare a proposal. Your proposal should state the primary objective (why you think your manager should let you telework), demonstrate how telework will improve the bottom line for your employer and prepare answers to the questions your manager is likely to ask.
4. Identify allies: Some of your colleagues may be interested in telework as well and some of them might be senior enough to influence management. The more people you have who are prepared to support your proposal, the better.
5. ‘Trojan Horses’: Keep your eye open for opportunities that make telework more useful and attractive. Traffic problems, business restructures, cost-cutting exercises and staff who already work from home (even out of hours) can all provide opportunities and support for telework approaches.
6. Present your proposal: Finalise your proposal and be prepared to really sell it. You should make it clear that there’s nothing unusual about telework, that it will offer benefits and that you’ve thought about how it will work. You could also mention that additional help and information is available, e.g. through this website.
7. If your employer agrees, you can then discuss whether a formal telework agreement is required. (A telework agreement template is available here.) If he or she does not agree, find out what the objections are and whether the answer could be YES if you overcame these objections. Look for compromises that might make it easier.