Revived Interest in Teleworking

I'd wondered whether the rising cost of fuel might generate some interest in work from home options. A report from the Ministry of Economic Development thinks teleworking could save fuel costs, and our experience would support that.

The Katipo team work from their own homes and have done since our conception nearly 10 years ago. We have 12 staff and no offices which could accomodate us all. We don't so much "telework" as have a distributed workforce.

Reading an article in Computerworld - Study: telecommuting could reduce national fuel bill, which essentially picks information out of the MED Report Oil Demand Restraint Options for New Zealand, I was struck by this comment in particular:

"Telecommuting is likely to be more effective in the short term," the report says, "over the long term issues over management of employees [are] likely to become more significant."

I'd argue that you can succesfully manage people remotely over the longer term, but that it does help if you start out with that intention.

We've developed a number of tools and techniques for working together, so if you're considering teleworking, or moving to a distributed workplace model feel free to drop me a line and I'll be happy to share our experiences.

Posted by: rachel - at - katipo.co.nz

Revived Interest in Teleworking

6 October 2005

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