| dc.description | I was asked to present at an intensive session entitled “Understanding Place when Work may be Telework” on June 2, 2010 at the 41th Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association held in Washington, DC, USA, June 2- June 6, 2010 after one of the organizers became aware of my publications. My presentation entitled “Physical workplaces of teleworkers” was an overview of the research literature regarding issues for employees teleworking from their home and other places. In my presentation, I drew on the two journal articles I had published in the last few years and supplemented with more up-to-date information and issues. Other presenters focused on the social and cognitive effects of teleworking, mediated communication, and the business perspective. About 25 scholars, researchers, and practitioners in architecture, communication studies, psychology, and other disciplines from the U.S. and other parts of the world attended the session. The presentation was received well as the audience seemed attentive and interested. A few questions were asked. The audience was particularly interested in how teaching and working in a distance, online education university was like. Two senior researchers made positive comments about my two publications and two other researchers asked for a copy of my recent publication “Teleworkers’ home office: An extension of the corporate office?” in the journal of Facilities. Two of the presenters informed the group of opportunities for funding and collaboration.
I also took part in the panel discussion as a panelist to talk about our experience of being a teleworker. The panelists included academics from traditional universities who are teleworking to some extent, teleworkers from a government department and a private firm, and a self-employed consultant. The panelists’ answers to a set of questions generated a stimulating discussion among the audience, which only ended because the allocated time was up. One of the panelists e-mailed me later to thank me for bringing up the issue of life stage cycle.
In addition, I attended several sessions that focused on the relationships between office/workspace design in organizations and employee well-being and performance, wayfinding in various physical settings, walkability in neighborhoods for the elderly, etc.
Attendance and participation in this conference has benefited me. I was able to meet in person a number of researchers whose work I have read for years. In addition, I attended the business meeting of the work environment network. Being a member of these networks has allowed me to connect with active researchers and practitioners in the field and to possibly collaborate. I was also able to introduce AU to colleagues in traditional universities from many parts of the world.
I wish to thank the Committee for giving me this opportunity to discuss my work and to network with other researchers. | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Teleworking has become quite popular in developed countries in recent years, but its growth has stabilized. A comfortable work environment at home is often cited as one key advantage of teleworking from home. Little research interest has, however, been focused on the physical conditions of the workspace at home. Research suggests that only a small percentage of teleworkers work full-time from home; most teleworkers work from multiple sites including the organizational workspace, their home, and other public and private spaces (e.g., client’s office and “third places”). This presentation will highlight the results of a literature review of the home offices of teleworkers employed by organizations in any attempt to understand the relationships between the design and physical conditions of home offices and teleworkers’ work behaviours and job outcomes. This review has located no recent studies that focus on the design and conditions of home-offices of teleworkers employed by organizations, but some research has been focused on homeworkers. By integrating research from multiple disciplines in two related areas: homeworking and conventional offices, this review suggests that teleworkers desire similar qualities in their home offices as for conventional offices. Future research needs to examine how the physical conditions of dwellings and family variables affect the effectiveness of home offices as a workplace. Practical implications for the design of home workspace and organizational policies are discussed. | en |
