Controlling teleworkers: supervision and flexibility revisited

This article revisits the issue of control and autonomy in telework using interviews with professional, managerial and sales teleworkers in a large Canadian telecommunications company. It finds that the changes in control and autonomy are limited to restructuring of the work schedules and the differences across teleworkers are reproduced.     

Visible moves and invisible bodies: the case of teleworking in an Italian call centre

Popular images of teleworkers' autonomy, such as 'the electronic cottage', give unrealistic pictures of the control exercised over teleworkers, particularly when these are call centre operators and highly integrated information and communication technology systems facilitate pervasive forms of control. However, this study of Italian home-located call centre operators demonstrates that extensive and multifaceted monitoring practices cannot 'solve' the controversial issue of control.     

All in a day's work,at home: teleworkers’ management of micro role transitions and the work–home boundary

Based on boundary theory, this study analysed the cues and rituals home‐based teleworkers use to facilitate transitions between work and home roles. Qualitative findings revealed that teleworkers primarily engage in strategies aimed at segmenting work from home roles, although some utilise cues to integrate work and home. Teleworkers used time, space, technology and communication as cues to aid role transitions and manage the work–home boundary. Overall, teleworkers appeared to grapple with the tension between the desire for flexibility and the need for structure, and use cues and rites of passage in order to facilitate this balance. Female teleworkers were more likely to use segmenting cues relative to male teleworkers. Teleworkers with children living in the home were less likely to integrate work and home roles. Extensive teleworkers used space more frequently than less extensive teleworkers, but otherwise, both groups reported similar use of cues.     

Social support in the workplace between teleworkers,office‐based colleagues and supervisors

This paper draws upon the findings of qualitative interviews carried out with teleworkers, their office‐based colleagues and supervisory staff of a teleworking initiative introduced by a UK public sector local authority to explore workplace social support relationships. Our study found differences between office‐based and permanent teleworking staff in terms of social support. For teleworkers relationships at work are complex, with social support networks being established prior to working at home. By working from home, teleworkers were able to develop greater social support relationships with some colleagues, predominantly other teleworkers, while at the same time allowing them to distance themselves from negative work relationships. Overall, a social disconnection developed between teleworkers and office‐based staff. In contrast social support was more important for office‐based workers, who valued co‐worker relationships with other office‐based staff.     

The neglect of spatial mobility in contemporary studies of work: the case of telework

Whilst many teleworkers are increasingly working beyond home and office, these mobile teleworkers are neglected in the telework literature. This neglect is addressed through reviewing relevant literature, developing a conceptual locational framework that accounts for mobile teleworkers and the presentation of an illustrative example which links to the theme of work–life balance in the telework literature.     

Psychological contract breach's antecedents and outcomes in salespeople: The roles of psychological climate,job attitudes,and turnover intention

Salespeople develop expectations of their organization based on actual and perceived promises. When the organization does not fulfill these promises, psychological contract breach occurs. This study investigates the association between psychological climate aspects, psychological contract breach, job attitudes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment), and turnover intention in salespeople. Using a sample of 308 respondents, results indicate that (1) psychological climate dimensions of autonomy, involvement, performance feedback, and clarity of organizational goals affect psychological contract breach, (2) psychological contract breach mediates the impact of autonomy, involvement, performance feedback, and clarity of organizational goals on job attitudes, and (3) job attitudes mediate the impact of psychological contract breach on turnover intention. Findings support psychological contract breach as a critical framework for understanding salesperson–employer relationships.     

A multivariate analysis of work–life balance outcomes from a large‐scale telework programme

A multivariate analysis identified six predictors to explain positive work–life balance (WLB) among 1,566 teleworkers. Time flexibility variables were found to be most dominant. Gender or having dependent children was not significant. These results demonstrated that controlling working hours was the most important ability for sampled teleworkers to achieve positive WLB.     

Remixing work,family and leisure: teleworkers' experiences of everyday life

This paper explores whether and in what ways telework is associated with a reconfiguration or remixing of daily work, family and leisure activities. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 51 teleworkers employed in a financial organisation in Canada. For some, telework was a condition of employment, while others negotiated part‐time telework arrangements with managers. Using interpretive thematic analysis techniques, intersections and inter‐relationships between experiences of work, family and leisure were identified. Three main themes emerged, including the need to not only protect, but also containing work time and space; the significance of family and being available for children; and, the relative devaluation of leisure. Although it was anticipated that differences between involuntary and voluntary teleworkers would be evident, gender and family stage were more influential in structuring daily life. The flexibility of telework was valued, but there was little evidence of a reconfiguration of life spheres except for women with children at home.     

The effects of integrated manufacturing on job characteristics

From a sample of 203 Spanish plants in all manufacturing sectors empirical results show that integrated manufacturing (IM) has a positive effect on job variety, job autonomy and job interdependence for production workers. It is also found that IM is associated with greater job complexity, this effect being mainly mediated by the three abovementioned job characteristics.     

Good to be home? Time‐use and satisfaction levels among home‐based teleworkers

Home‐based teleworking (HbTW) has the potential to provide significant benefits to both employer and employee, but also presents considerable challenges. This paper considers HbTW among UK employees, specifically exploring distinctions in the time‐use of men and women home‐based teleworkers and the impacts of HbTW on employee satisfaction levels, using cross‐section fixed effects panel regression analysis of the British Household Panel Survey. Findings reveal that total time‐use in work activities among men and women home‐based teleworkers is relatively comparable, but the distribution significantly different. For women, housework represents a particular time constraint, reflecting continued presence of the ‘double‐shift’. Homeworkers report greater levels of satisfaction, yet they are more pronounced in respect to paid work than leisure time. Extensive hours of housework reported among women may explain these differences. Nevertheless, home‐based teleworkers report greater levels of satisfaction than other workers, suggesting considerable benefits especially for working mothers.     

Compensating Wage Differentials versus Efficiency Wages: An Empirical Study of Job Autonomy and Wages

Efficiency wage theory as incorporated in the shirking model predicts that firms may substitute wage premiums for costly monitoring. This means that wage premiums should be expected for loosely monitored workers. By regarding extensive monitoring as a lack of job autonomy, efficiency wage theory predicts a positive relation between autonomy and wages. The theory of compensating wage differentials, however, predicts a negative relation between autonomy and wages. When workers prefer autonomous jobs, employers have to offer higher wages for less autonomous jobs in order to recruit labor.
Swedish micro data are analyzed in order to examine the predictions of these theories. A proxy for the monitoring problem of the firm measures workers' possibilities of effort variation. Since this proxy is autonomy, it enables us to test the two rival hypotheses on the relation between job autonomy and wages. We find a positive relation in the private sector as predicted by the efficiency wage hypotheses and a negative relation in the case of the public sector, which accords with the theory of compensating wage differentials.     

Why and When Are the Self‐Employed More Satisfied with Their Work?

Analysis confirms that the self-employed are more satisfied with their jobs because their work provides more autonomy, flexibility, and skill utilization and greater job security. These underlying mechanisms have been stable over the last 30 years and are not due simply to personality differences. The self-employed job satisfaction advantage is relatively small or nonexistent among managers and members of the established professions—occupations where organizational workers have relatively high autonomy and skill utilization.     

A systemic approach to interpersonal relationships and activities among French teleworkers

Within a systemic and interactional approach, this study seeks to understand how French teleworkers (re)organise their relationships with others as well as their activities. Lexical analysis of interviews with 24 telecommuters (nomadic, alternating and working at home full‐time) confirms and complements the results in the literature in this field. On one hand, the findings confirmed a decline in the quality of professional relationships due to their being mediated through technology. On the other hand, there was a distinction between the ways in which different types of teleworkers ascribed meaning and adapted their activities and business, family and social relationships.     

The psychological impact of teleworking: stress, emotions and health

The paper examines the psychological impact of teleworking compared to office-based work. Results suggest a negative emotional impact of teleworking, particularly in terms of such emotions as loneliness, irritability, worry and guilt, and that teleworkers experience significantly more mental health symptoms of stress than office-workers and slightly more physical health symptoms.     

Unions and Work Attitudes in the United States and Japan

Examining whether Japanese enterprise unions have a negative effect on employee job attitudes or whether they forge a stronger bond between the worker and the firm, our results indicate that union membership has no effect on Japanese employees' job satisfaction, but that there is some negative impact on company commitment. Much of the union effect on U.S. workers' job attitudes stems from lower job complexity, work autonomy, perceived promotion chances, and quality circle membership.     

Rural telework: case studies from the Australian outback

This paper examines the effects of infrastructure and isolation on rural telework, and the potential of telework for rural communities. It draws on findings from two Australian case studies: a government initiative and a community-initiated training project. Differences between the experiences of rural and urban teleworkers are highlighted.     

Navigating the demands of increasing customer participation through firm and individual job resources

Many firms are increasing the amount of customer participation required in B2B sales in efforts to improve firm performance. Unfortunately, little is known regarding how increasing customer participation expectations effects the firm's salespeople. To address this issue, using the job demands-resources model, this study examines how increases in customer participation influence salesperson burnout and salesperson investment in resources, while accounting for the job resources of job autonomy and belief in innate selling ability. The potential moderating effects of competitive intensity are also captured. The findings, based upon a survey of 210 B2B salespeople, indicate that increasing customer participation does not increase salesperson burnout, but increases investments in resources aimed to increase salesperson professional development. Further, greater job autonomy was found to decrease salesperson burnout and increase investment in resources, with the latter being moderated by competitive intensity. Belief in innate selling ability, in contrast, was found to increase burnout and decrease investment in resources by salespeople, with the latter being moderated by competitive intensity. This study highlights the multiple positive and negative effects of increasing customer participation in B2B selling, providing new insights for how firms can set policies to enhance salesperson well-being and effectiveness in a B2B setting.     

Skilled maintenance trades under lean manufacturing: Evidence from the car industry

This article explores how skilled maintenance trades have fared under lean automotive manufacturing, a cohort of workers relatively neglected in the literature. Historically, such trades possessed a distinct ‘craft consciousness’ derived from apprenticed-acquired skill, autonomy in job execution, strict job boundaries and relative occupational status and prestige. The article assesses how lean has impacted this craft tradition over time, drawing on a case study of one UK car plant to assess its trajectory across three decades. Four different skilled cohorts—electrical, mechanical, control engineers and die maintenance fitters—are examined to gauge respective trends in skill, autonomy, demarcation and status. While the study finds variation in experiences across different trades, the general trend points to a deterioration in work conditions on all four benchmarks of assessment. The article concludes by inferring implications for the future trajectory of skilled trades considering recent accounts provided in Industry 4.0 narratives.     

Impact of telework on exhaustion and job engagement: a job demands and job resources model

Teleworking, the increasingly common practice, which involves working away from the office using technology, entails changes in the experience of work. Such changes may influence the demands and resources associated with a job. While research on burnout has addressed the role of exhaustion and job engagement using the Job Demands‐Resources model, existing literature has focused on traditional work modes. This paper explores the effects on job demands and resources to understand the processes through which telework impacts the exhaustion and engagement of the teleworker. We find that the positive effect of telework revolves around reduced work pressure and role conflict and increased autonomy. The negative effect of telework is expressed through increased role ambiguity and reduced support and feedback. Overall, we find that telework is negatively related to both exhaustion and job engagement and that job demands and resources mediate these relationships.