Choices for Today’s Flexible Workplace

Telework Report

What’s in a name?

Telework, for the Record

Did you know that telework is not in any dictionary?  Do you care?  Well, I do (sort of).  Since the name of this newsletter is Telework Report, I will chime in on this much bandied about subject.  Many people, including those who decide what is included in a dictionary, feel that there is already a perfectly good word that describes the practice of working away from the office -- "telecommuting."   It is unfortunate that the word stuck.  It probably sounded futuristic and somewhat exotic back in the 1970's.  Today, its common meaning doesn't fully describe what we have come to know as telework.

 

Telework is people doing their work virtually anywhere other than “at work.”  In most cases, this different location is still home but increasingly it is in satellite offices, in hotel rooms, at coffee establishments, and the airport or train station. 

 

There are differences of opinion about who falls into the category of a teleworker.  In his book Managing Telework, telework pioneer Jack Nilles includes home-based businesse operators among teleworkers.  But more often only salaried workers are considered teleworkers since the self-employed do not have ties with a central office.  Home-based workers, however, do use many of the same technologies as office workers who work from home.  Since these people are not telecommuters, it only makes sense to include them in the broader definition of telework.  The inclusion of home-based workers differentiates telework from telecommuting, and in turn, begs for its own place in the dictionary.

 

To the dictionary editor I submit for consideration the word "telework" for inclusion in the next edition.  Telework is the word widely used in all areas of office management.  Though the words “telework” and “telecommute” are frequently interchanged, most that work in this field find significant differences in their respective meanings.

 

telework, to work away from a traditional office (including from home, work-related travel, and at formal and informal satellite offices).  Usually communicating with one’s office by means of telecommunications for computer and voice access.  2.  A non-traditional form of work including telecommuting and self-employed home-based work.

 

An example of the word used in context:

“Work is becoming more dispersed, with big implications for people concerned about the quality of their life; finds that the trend toward 'telework,' an umbrella term for all kinds of remote work from home, satellite offices and the road, is stretching forecasters' definitions…”   Work & Family: 'Telework' is on the rise, but it isn't just done from home anymore, Sue Shellenbarger, Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2002.