Radical change

Teleworking in 2020

Scenario: Radical change

Due to the crowded highways in The Netherlands, around 200km of traffic jams each morning in 2009 (and increasing), the amount of employers allowing their employees to telework in the next decennia will significantly increase. Teleworking is when employers give their employees the flexibility in working in their own desired location and plan their own working hours. Some of the advantages of teleworking related to the future of mobility are the decrease of vehicles (cars, vans, buses) on roads and the decrease in need for other modes of transport, like airplanes.
To make teleworking possible, employees need fast reliable media to communicate with customers, employers and other employees (who also might work at their preferred location). Because of the recent technological developments supporting the ease of communication especially in the internet market where the broadband has significantly increased, teleworking will become nationwide accepted. With the roll-out of glass fiber in the upcoming years, fast internet is available everywhere and for everyone with reasonable prices. For example Skype and the use of portals will keep the costs respectively low for the organizations while they are being very effective.

Effect on the society

Air pollution 2009

Expected air pollution 2020

The amount of teleworkers in 2020 who work at least one day a week from another location will be around 62% of all the employees nationwide. This development and the increase in flexible working hours will lead to the decrease of the morning traffic peak by 25% from in 2009 a daily average of 200km to in 2020 a daily expected average of 15km. As a result of the decrease of vehicles on the road the amount of traffic jams will go down and because of the reduction in oil usage the air pollution will also significantly decreased, and the life expectation will go up.

Effect on the business

The organizations using teleworkers will also experience several positive and negative changes.

Benefits for the employer	Negative effects for the employer
Starting times will not be delayed anymore because there will be no problems with travel difficulties. Organizations really have the employees working when they are scheduled.	Where are the employees, i can't see them.
Less time taken off due to illness. Employees who feel a little bit ill can still work from home, making the company money instead of becoming an expense.	Are my employees really working?
Less time taken off due to family crisis. Employees can working again in less recovery time.	How can i control my employees if they aren't here?
There are also some direct cost savings for organizations e.g. - public transport season tickets - parking subsidies - catering subsidies	Less personal contact (face-to-face).
	Is the companies data safe ? - This is a big issue, you need to be sure that the company data is safe, and the employees handle and use the data with care. There are already many IT solutions to increase the security of the data, but the risk of exposure will always exist. For this reason trust will become much more important in the future, but harder to build because of the decrease in face-to-face meetings.

Effect on the employees

Not only employers but also employees experience changes from teleworking. Some of the examples are:

Positive effects for the employee	Effect
Travel difficulties are avoided which could have led to stress or loss in pay because lateness.	Guilt, are they doing more or less then non-teleworking employees ?
Because the employees are less time on the road, there safety will increase.	Unexpected investments, computer, phone, furniture etc.
Less time off due to illness and family problems.	Their business car, which they don’t have any more can’t be used for personal use.
Costs for the employee will go down e.g. - The employee can live further from his work in areas where houses are cheaper. - The employee need less business cloth/suits.	Environment, the employee can’t get away from work. He or she will always think of work when they are at home.

Conclusion

The overall mobility will increase due to the decrease of cars on the road. Especially during peak hours people will become more mobile and less traffic jam will occur.
Internet company's will experience a growth in customers and need to invest to deliver sufficient bandwidth and service in the future.