What are the advantages of setting up an office at home?

Teleworking employs barely 1.1% of the workforce in Europe, even though it has been shown that it can improve productivity by up to 25%. The problem is that teleworkers have to tackle problems on their own, and often lose out on holidays.

Teleworking in Spain

It has been calculated that 1% of the workforce of the European Union teleworks, whereas 7 million people do so in the US, which means it accounts for 5% of the workforce. In Spain between 100,000 and 300,000 people work from home.

Teleworkers in the European Union

Sweden
Finland
United Kingdom
Ireland
Holland
France
Spain
Portugal
Luxembourg
Belgium
Greece
Germany
Denmark
Austria

"Teleworking shouldn't be confused with home working", comments Agustín Capilla, who teleworks for Cisco España. Although the meaning of telework is working at a distance, it's not easy to define. According to the European Community Telework Forum (www.telework-forum.org/es/index.htm), an association set up by the European Commission, teleworking "is a flexible system of work organization which does not require the physical presence of workers at the company's offices in order for them to carry out their functions. This generally implies the use of electronic data-processing equipment and permanent contact with other people or systems at the company via telecommunications."

Higher productivity

Adapting to the changes implied by teleworking not only means getting used to increased dependence on electronic devices, but also undergoing a change in mentality. It is a phenomenon with a direct impact on the personal and business economy, and also on employer-employee relationships. A teleworker who doesn't need to travel every day to the same place of work gains time and can improve his or her overall output by up to 20 or 25%, this freedom from set hours and rates of work can also improve job opportunities.

Obviously, this requires significant investment in staff training, support and infrastructure from the company - computers, fast networks, telephony - but it is an investment in the future and a way of redistributing responsibility in the company.

'Teleskiving'

'Teleworking is suited to executives and other employees whose income is results-dependent, otherwise teleskiving would be the order to the day" jokes Agustin Capilla. The problem is that teleworkers have more responsibility, are more isolated and have to face problems virtually alone.

"It is true that you work a lot more hours, almost all of us end up without holidays and you don't earn that much when you take off tax and expenses. But, on the other hand, you can enjoy your free time in a way that would be impossible otherwise. And what is more important still is that you are not tied to just one employer but can work for several at a time", comments José Arroyo, a teleworking translator.

According to Fausto Checa, consumer computing marketing director at Hewlett Packard, the kinds of jobs best suited to teleworking "tend to be related to individual businesses" and can be divided up into several groups:

· Software. Writing computer programs and reference manuals for both hardware and software for manufacturers.

· Data. Text processing, translation, proof-reading and editing, accountancy and computerized financial services.

· Communication. Design of electronic journals, distance teaching for tele-students, journalism, digital video and advertising are also areas in rapid expansion for the self-employed.

· Commerce. Telemarketing services for the promotion of products, administration and stock management. Commercial activities not requiring physical presence, such as consultancy and remote technical services.

According to Fausto Checa the full possibilities offered by teleworking have yet to be defined, "at the moment the most probable trend is the mobile office and a situation where workers visit the office occasionally."

Whatever the case may be, the employment status of teleworkers has yet to be defined. There is not yet any legislation applicable to these circumstances, although, according to Francisco Briales, an information technology consultant, "some companies include clauses in their job contracts to cover teleworking."

OSCAR VILLAFUERTE

National Association of Teleworkers.

Telephone 91 351 58 75

The types of business that are best suited to teleworking are computing, accountancy and telemarketing.

What you need in order to start teleworking

Whether you plan to work from an office set up at home or if your business means you have to travel, it is essential that you have a computer with sufficient RAM memory and a telephone connection (fixed or mobile) in order to connect to the network.

Working without leaving home

The Office

The best thing is a separate office away from noise and disturbance, with enough power points and telephone sockets to install full home telecommunications, including telephones, fax and answering machine.

Digital Network (ISDN)

Allows faster transmission of data. The card costs around 40,000 pesetas. It costs 15,000 pesetas to install, and the monthly line charge is 5,000 pesetas.

A good computer

The minimum would be a Pentium MMX PC running at 200 MHz, with 64Mb RAM, CD-ROM drive, sound card, graphics card with thousands of colours, a 33.6kbs modem and network card or ISDN card.

Peripherals

It's a good idea to have a scanner - which costs about 40,000 pesetas - a laser printer - about 80,000 pesetas - a mass storage device - removable external hard disk (optical disk, Zip or Jazz) or a tape drive.

Modem/Fax

It should be able to transmit/receive at up to 33.6kbs and costs around 20,000 ptas.

Internet

Companies with teleworking systems often offer ISDN connections in order to access their intranet and obtain higher data transmission rates. However, options such as digital satellite stations shouldn't be ruled out - a satellite dish at home downloads data from the satellite to your computer - or cable or fibre-optic modems which can transmit up to 1Mb/sec.

E-mail

It is best to have one or two addresses so as to organize Internet communication better. Opening an e-mail account costs about 10,000 ptas/year.

Laptop computer

The best thing is a 133MHz Pentium MMX with a 1.3Gb hard drive, 16Mb RAM, a 12.1 inch TFT colour screen, two PCMCIA slots and a 10x CD-ROM drive. This costs around 425,000 pesetas.

Mobile Telephone

This needs to be able to transmit data, receive e-mail and short messages and offer an effective voice mailbox. Prices start at around 50,000 pesetas.

The teleworker needs to be well-organized, emotionally stable, and able to withstand solitude.

Advantages

· The worker saves time at work and doesn't need to travel, which means less pollution

· The company workforce can be more dynamic

· Smaller offices and savings on electricity, cleaning, air-conditioning, etc.

· Improved quality of life for workers.

· Workers can offer their services to various companies.

· The disabled can access the job-market more easily.

· A driver for the development of new technologies.

Disadvantages

· The worker is alone, unaccompanied by colleagues.

· It is more difficult to supervise the worker's output, which can have repercussions for quality.

· Homes tend to be small. Teleworking has taken off in the United States because homes are spacious, which is not true in many other countries.

· The cost of paying for or subsidizing working tools increases.

Essential Tools

The software you need depends on the type of business you are in, but the basic applications you need cost around 120,000 pesetas.

OFFICE AUTOMATION PACKAGE

Used to prepare reports, work presentations, to handle data and create tables. The most widely used package in the world is Microsoft Office (which costs around 60,000 pesetas). Alternatives are the Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 and Lotus SmartSuite (around 35,000 pesetas).

ELECTRONIC MAIL ADMINISTRATION SOFTWARE

The program automatically sets up a connection in order to check mail and allows you to collect mail from various service providers from the same computer. Eudora 3.1 costs around 30,000 pesetas and Checkmail 32 can be downloaded free from the Internet.

WEB BROWSER

As well as functioning as Internet browsers the Internet Explorer and Netscape - which are usually free - allow file transfers from other computers, chat, and can be used as communications software to create a virtual meeting.

WORK SCHEDULE

Used to plan group activities and know what activities are going on at any time. Output 97 costs around 17,500 pesetas. Lotus Organizer costs 18,900 pesetas.

DECOMPRESSORS

Essential utilities for compressing and decompressing files and converting data formats. Some, like Winzip, can be downloaded free from the Internet. PKZip 2.60 (Windows) is available for 9,900 pesetas.

HYPERTEXT

Remote Technical Consultancy: A remote computer technical support service.

TELECENTRES: Companies offering 365-day a year, round the clock, office automation technical consultancy for one off jobs are becoming common.

Sending a fax costs 400 pesetas per page and browsing the Internet costs 800 pesetas per hour (www.telecentro.net).