What Brazilian workers think about flexible work and telework?

Abstract

Organisations are enabling and encouraging the use of information technologies in work-related tasks. In Brazil, few organisations have implemented telework and some issues need to be discussed considering the Brazilian organisations' reality. Who is eligible to telework? What is the profile of the teleworker? How is telework evaluated from the viewpoint of teleworkers themselves? Thus, this paper examines the perception that Brazilian teleworkers have about the advantages and disadvantages of this labour regime. It determines which are the facilitators and obstacles of telecommuting within a large Brazilian organisation. The paper is based upon 67 structured questionnaires completed by Brazilian teleworkers. The findings show that some of the advantages are flexibility, greater family time and the lower displacement costs. The Brazilian teleworkers seem motivated with this kind of modality of work, although most people miss their daily social contact with co-workers. The effects of telecommuting must be investigated in later studies.