Telework in Australia – Challenges and Opportunities

Abul Rizvi, Deputy Secretary, Digital Economy

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Presentation Overview

> Definitions of Telework

> Benefits of Telework

> Promotion of Telework

> Progress to date

> Opportunities and Challenges

Definitions of Telework

> Option 1: – A form of flexible working which is enabled by

ICT and undertaken outside of a traditional office

> Option 2: – Paid employees who conduct their tasks from

home at least one day per week using communications technology

> Option 3: – Arrangement where an employee works from

home on a regular basis using ICT in the same manner as in the traditional office

Benefits of Telework

> Employees

– Work/Life Balance

– Cost and time savings

> Employers

– Increased productivity

– Reduced costs of office accommodation

– Staff retention and attraction

– Improved morale

5

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Promotion of Telework www.telework.gov.au

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> 2012

– Raised awareness of benefits

> 2013

– Training and skills for managers

and employees

> 200+ Telework Partners

What the Government is doing

Industries allowing employees to use ICT to work away from the office

8

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

Source: Business Use of Information Technology survey, Australian Bureau of Statistics 2013

% work from home % other locations

Telework: SMEs

> Case study

– Active Billing

9

Source: MYOB Business Monitor, 2013

Why hasn’t telework taken off?

> Inadequate broadband

> Attitude of employers to telework:

– Aging workforce

– People with disabilities

– Women in the workforce

– Decline of regional populations

> Unbalanced focus of the debate about congestion

Inadequate broadband

Broadband penetration and telework

Australians’ growing appetite for bandwidth

Employer attitudes

Aging workforce

Total fertility rate Life expectancy at birth

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

15

1,5

2,5

3,5

4,5

5,5

6,5

Australia Colombia

Source: World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision, UN DESA

People with disabilities

> Case study

– Department for Communities and Social Inclusion, SA

16

> In 2012 the ABS estimated that:

– Participation rate: 83%

– Disability participation rate: 53%

Source: Creating jobs through NBN-enabled telework, Deloitte Access Economics 2012

Women in the workforce

17

45

55

65

75

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

Australia

Colombia

United States

Latin America &Caribbean

OECD males

Source: Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+), World Bank

Regional population decline

Colombia

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Australia

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

18

% of pop. urban % of pop. rural

Source: World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision and World Urbanization Prospects: The 2011 Revision, UN DESA

Debating traffic congestion solutions

19

64%

34%

2% Australia Investment in roads

Investment in public transport

Telework

63%

36%

1%

Colombia

Thank you

> For more information

– Visit:

• www.telework.gov.au

– Contact:

• telework@communications.gov.au