Hong Kong has some catching up to do as an increasing number of companies adopt work-from-home practices
What would you do with your time if you could eliminate the daily commute to and from work? Perhaps not surprisingly, increasing numbers of workers around the world (yes, even those in workaholic Hong Kong) are beginning to find out.
The concept of teleworking, also known as 'working at home', and 'telecommuting' refers to the elimination of the daily commute by linking workers to the office through telecommunications.
Driven by an increasing awareness of the need to maintain work-life balance, surveys around the world have shown that an increasing number of corporations are adopting such flexible working arrangements. Usually it involves an employee either working from their home, or from a remote location such as a coffee shop, instead of travelling to a central office location. They also use computers connected to the internet to maintain communication with their employers and to submit completed work tasks.
Recently a survey of 2,700 corporations in the United States and Canada conducted by WorldatWork, a non-profit professional association based in the US, found that the proportion of companies adopting teleworking practices has grown significantly this year.
It found that in the US in August, 42 per cent of organisations surveyed said they offered teleworking options to employees, up from 30 per cent a year before.
In Canada, the growth was even bigger, with 40 per cent of firms allowing some form of teleworking, up from 25 per cent the year before.