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62 MANAGING KNOWLEDGE WORK AND INNOVATION

from their normal place of work during business hours (Australian Government,
2008). Nevertheless, even given that they were including anybody who ever
worked away from their normal place of work, they still found that 70 per cent
of workers never do this.
So, while ICTs provide the opportunity for knowledge workers to work
from home at least some of the time, the evidence suggests that in fact very
few make use of this opportunity. Moreover, this is the case despite the fact
that the balance of evidence shows that teleworking has benefits for the
individual, for the organization and for society. From the perspective of the
individual, research shows that most people like teleworking, finding that it
allows them to better balance the demands of a family and a job. For example,
Gajendran and Harrison (2007) found that teleworking had positive effects
on perceptions of autonomy and actually reduced family-work conflicts. From
the perspective of the organization, there are also benefits associated with
teleworking. For example, it has been suggested that teleworking allows firms
to tap the expertise and skills of workers in high demand who do not wish to
be tied to permanent employment and of workers who cannot be physically
present during the normal working day because of other demands on their
time, especially childcare. Teleworking is also advocated as a way of reducing
capital costs and overheads (because fewer offices and buildings will be needed
if people are working from home). Finally, from the perspective of society,
teleworking is seen to be beneficial because it reduces commuting and all the
associated costs, especially costs in relation to the pollution of the environ-
ment – a topic that is high on the list of priorities in many countries right now
because of climate change concerns.
So we are left with a question – why has the proportion of knowledge
workers engaged in teleworking remained small, despite the opportunities
afforded by advancements in ICTs and despite the obvious benefits for indi-
viduals, organizations and societies? To address this question we can take an
institutional-level perspective – teleworking has not become more widespread
because it challenges existing norms and practices. In particular, teleworking
challenges existing norms about control that are central within the context
of employment relations. These mechanisms of control vary by the type of
work. For clerical and factory workers, their output is tangible and so easily
measurable. This measurable output means that workers can be readily moni-
tored and controlled. However, managerial, professional and knowledge work
is primarily mental and interpersonal/social, and so is difficult to monitor. In
this situation, physical presence has been used as a proxy for productivity. You
are assumed to be working hard if you work long hours. This helps to account
for the long-hours culture that has become ubiquitous in many countries.
Moreover, knowledge workers have come to believe that they will only be
promoted if they are visibly present in order to be noticed. Staying late and
arriving early can be particularly important in this respect, even to the extent
that in some cases workers use their agency to ‘fiddle the system’ by going
home but leaving their work station open and their jacket on their chair, to

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