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The Demand for Telework of IT Self-Employed Workers

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 The Journal of E-working
Pages xx-xx, Vol 1, November 2007

The demand for telework of IT self-employed workers

Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay and Émilie Genin

Télé-université, Université du Québec à Montréal

Abstract
This article deals with the demand for telework of IT self-employed workers. Indeed, in
the context of self-employment, one would expect IT-independent workers to be doing
telework. We were surprised to find that IT self-employed workers did not benefit as
much as expected from this option, and therefore, we studied their actual working
conditions and the possibilities if they were offered to telework – or not. Our results
reveal that the demand for occasional telework is stronger than the demand for permanent
telework; and that the reasons that explain the demand for occasional or permanent
telework differ significantly.

1. Introduction

Telework, e-work, or work-at-home is a type of work organisation, which has increased

over the last decades, partly due to the availability of new modes of information and
communication technologies (Chapman et al., 1995; Hafer, 1992; Pichault and Grosjean,
1998; Pratt, 1984; Vandercammen, 1994). In addition, telework is particularly
representative of the activities of some independent workers. In this context, one would
expect IT self-employed workers to be doing telework, and it is in this perspective that
we developed a research project in the IT sector. We were surprised to find that IT self-
employed did not benefit as much as expected from this option, and therefore, we studied
their actual working conditions and the possibilities if they were offered to telework – or
not. This article, thus, deals with the demand for telework of IT self-employed workers.

In order to investigate the practices of telework and the possibilities available to IT

independent workers, this paper first presents some of the key characteristics associated

The demand for telework of IT... 1 The Journal of E-Working

with self-employment, telework and identifies advantages and drawbacks of this work
organisation as defined by the literature. We then present the methodology of the survey
and the profiles of our respondents. Finally, our results provide substantial data on the
practices and motivations for telework, and the reasons why it is accepted or refused by
client organisations.

2. Theoretical context of the research

Self-employed workers
Social, economic and political actors agree that there is no single definition of self-
employment. Although the expression “self-employed worker” is most commonly used,
the independent person may be distinguish from other self-employed persons who hire
help. In the last census, Statistic Canada included in the self-employment category those
persons who operate a farm either as owner or tenant; workers, for example, freelancers
or contract workers (architects and private nurses); franchise or concession holders in the
sale or direct distribution of products such as cosmetics, newspapers, brushes or
household products; and those who fish, either with personally owned equipment or
equipment in which they are co-owners.

Nevertheless, work activities involved in the self-employment concept cover more

ground and include the entrepreneur or contractor, the freelancer or the tradesperson,
professionals remunerated per consultation or contract, and day workers. In the
framework of our research, and in keeping with Delage’s investigation on independent
work (Delage, 2002), we shall consider self-employed including: independent workers
(self-employed and without hired-help), self-employed workers who hire a very small
number of associates - mostly casual freelancers under contract (translators, etc.) - and
professionals in co-partnership on an individual basis.

There were 2,541,100 Canadian independent workers in December 2005, a 3.6% increase
over the previous year (Labor Force Survey by Statistics Canada, 2006). Self-
employment registers the strongest increase among various worker categories. The
percentage of self-employed in Canada represents nearly 16% of all workers, 13% in
Québec (OECD, 2003). The national average is close to that of most industrialized
countries overall, although some countries do have a little more. According to 1997
Canadian data, non-farm self-employment has become the primary source of new jobs in
Canada (Moore and Mueller, 2002). As in the case of other workers, a majority of self-
employed workers are active in the service sector and the increase in their number is
stronger than in the manufacturing sector. In terms of self-employment, there is a typical
Canadian feature in the frequency of self-sufficient self-employment relative to self-
employment as an employer hiring other workers (OECD, 2000). This may be observed
for both women and men (except in agriculture).

Independent work is a growing form of employment in Canada and it seems that more
and more Canadians will be self-employed in the coming years. Self-employment is not

The demand for telework of IT... 2 The Journal of E-Working

only a rising tendency in the labour market; it also has an impact on work organisation
and on the development of telework.

Definition and scope of telework

The expression ‘telework’ can cover various realities and practices (Cefrio, 2001;
Tremblay, 2005, 2001a,b). Telework, mobile work (or e-work as it is sometimes called)
and home working have different meanings. Indeed, in some research, telework can refer
to work from home, which can be close to piecework, while for others; telework only
includes the modern forms of working at home, based on the use of ICT. It is quite true
that home working is not a new phenomenon per se, but it has grown and its
configuration has changed, at least as much as its practitioners, especially in the trail of
the Internet and Information Technology (IT) revolution. This more “modern” form of
telework, with ICT, has developed mainly from the 1990s on in many European countries
and North America (Bailey and Kurland, 2002; Hafer 1992; Huws, Werner and
Robinson, 1990; Hill, Ferris and Märtinson, 2003; Hill, Miller, Weiner and Colihan,
1998).

Sullivan (2003) proposes that telework be defined according to the nature of the relevant
work schemes as they are governed by transportation, information and communication
technologies, the work place, the extent or portion of distance work and the applicable
terms and conditions. The ‘home working’ category is a work program generally
associated with self-employed workers, piecework employees (e.g. seamstresses) or
salespeople operating from their home (telemarketing). The latter belong to ‘home
working’ and not so much to remote working or salaried telework.

For a number of researchers, especially European, telework includes work in delocalized

business centres or satellite offices manned by personnel of a same company, which is
sometimes referred to as mobile work or e-work. Others also include mobile work carried
out anywhere outside the office (sales persons, technicians, etc.), and TeleCenters,
TeleTowns, TeleCottage (telecommuting) where employees are gathered to serve
different employers. Some even consider that sales personnel and representatives are
teleworkers because they are most often at clients’ premises and sometimes work from
their home, but mostly because there is not an office or desk for them at their employer’s.
From this general point of view, we could distinguish three forms of telework: work at
home, work done in client’s offices, and work in business centers or satellite offices
(Tremblay, Paquet and Najem, 2006).

The time dimension can also serve to differentiate various types of teleworkers, since the
number of days spent out of the office leads to identifying full-time homeworkers and
part-time or occasional homeworkers, the latter only working a few hours or a few days a
week from home (Tremblay et al., 2006).

The absence of a common definition of telework makes it difficult to quantify this

phenomenon (Bergum, 2007; Felstead, Jewson, 2000). Whatever the definition however,

The demand for telework of IT... 3 The Journal of E-Working

official data seem quite low, that is between 2% and 7% of the labour force, and 4%
according to a previous survey in Québec (Cefrio, 2001; Tremblay 2001a,b). However,
the interest of individuals for telework is much higher, since some 29% of respondents in
the Québec survey had indicated that they would be interested in teleworking and thought
it was possible to do so in their specific job.

Finally, the definitions and modes of telework are quite varied. In our research, we
limited the expression “telework” to work from home, because IT self-employed workers
themselves make an important difference between working at the clients’ offices and
working from home. For the purpose of our study, we define telework as the part of the
work of self-employed IT workers, which is done at home and paid by a client. We,
herein, exclude the work done at home and related to the status of independent worker
(accounting, networking, etc…).

Benefits and drawbacks of telework

In this section, we focus mainly on the impacts of telework for individuals, given that we
studied self-employed workers.

Telework may represent a resource or a constraint, depending on the degree of autonomy

of workers. For example, working from home is sometimes presented as a possible
solution to work-family balancing problems or, on the contrary, as a problem in terms of
work-life balance because of blurring of boundaries between working and non working
time (Baines and Gelder, 2003; Duxbury and Higgins, 2003; Felstead and Jewson, 2000;
Tremblay, 2002 and 2003; Tremblay et al., 2006). While some research indicates that
telework can be an option for work-family balancing (Cefrio 2001; Tremblay, 2002,
Baines et al, 2003; Duxbury and Higgins, 2003), some authors also indicate that there are
also risks of a stronger work-family conflict (Taskin and Vendramin, 2004; Felstead,
Jewson, 2000).

The majority of teleworkers consider that this form of work gives them more time to be
with the family in the morning and evening, to be available for family obligations, to be
able to prepare children for school or daycare in the morning and greet them when they
return (even if some will continue working afterwards). Flexibility of hours of work is
appreciated by many as a positive contribution to work-family balancing (Cefrio, 2001;
Tremblay, 2003) and many indicate that they can integrate some domestic tasks in the
workday, thus, freeing the evening or weekend (Cefrio, 2001).

While flexibility in working hours and work-life balance is often reported as one of the
main factors of interest for self-employment from home, the picture needs to be nuanced,
since there are also unwanted intrusions and blurring of boundaries between work and the
rest of life (Tremblay et al., 2006; Boden, 1999). Christensen (1987) indicates that
telework can create a work-family conflict because of the presence of work material in
the house and because family members can interfere with work. A survey done in three

The demand for telework of IT... 4 The Journal of E-Working

North American companies revealed that workers who still have children at home (Al
Bcherrawy, 1997) are less satisfied with working at home. Menzies (1997) highlights the
fact that work is returning to the homes and thus, sometimes, becoming partly hidden, or
“shadow” work; and Gurstein (2001) indicates that there are blurred boundaries that lead
to tensions in trying to combine work and domestic activities in the same setting.
Duxbury and Higgins (2003) also indicate that work to family interference increases
when role demands conflict and that women are more likely than men to suffer from role
overload. Dimitrova (2003) adds that one of the most important changes with telework is
the important temporal and spatial flexibility but the author observes that the gains were
not dramatic and that they were often countered by longer working hours. Other research
(Tremblay, 2003, Felstead and Jewson, 2000) reports that there are minor adjustments at
the beginning but that teleworkers manage to separate work and family life quite well
over time. This is all the more so when teleworkers have a closed room from which to
work (Felstead and Jewson, 2000).

Furthermore, many authors mention telework as a way of being more productive. It

would increase effectiveness: fewer interruptions and disturbances, and better
concentration (Taskin, 2006; Doucette, 1997), but this increased productivity remains
difficult to measure (Taskin, 2006). However, the observations of Metzger and Cléach
(2004) show that in the case of managers, telework is often considered as a solution to
deal with work overload. So they conclude that telework is not always a voluntary choice
of workers to improve their working conditions. It can also reflect stressful working
conditions!

The absence of colleagues’ interaction and feedback comes first among the negative
aspects of telework, followed by isolation of the difficulty to limit one’s working hours
(Tremblay 2001a,b; Cefrio, 2001). Actually, fewer men than women believe that working
alone without colleagues scores first among the drawbacks associated with telework;
people who work full-time at home are especially sensitive to this issue (Tremblay
2001a,b). Al Bcherrawy (1997) indicates that the feeling of isolation increases with age.
Nevertheless, it appears that working more, or too much, would be a concern of
executives and professionals.

According to a 1999 study that proceeded with close-ended questions, some 500
teleworkers in Québec associated the following benefits identified with telework: a more
flexible work-hours schedule; almost one third of all respondents, men and women,
recognized this feature, and among them 44% of full-time home workers. The second
important feature identified is the avoidance of commuting (one quarter of respondents).
Other perceived advantages were: being more productive at work (10% men and 4%
women); being able to spend more time with the family (8% women and 5% men), and to
a lesser extent, savings on transportation and meals, peace of mind and quality of life
(Tremblay 2001a,b). The avoidance of commuting is also underlined by Harpaz (2002),
Kurland and Bailey (1999), as well as Teo, Lim and Wai (1998).

In short, the logics behind telework can be very different, even contradictory. Telework
can be interpreted simultaneously as a constraint or as a resource for workers. In order to

The demand for telework of IT... 5 The Journal of E-Working

better understand these practices and theirs implications, let us further discuss the case of
IT self-employed workers. Indeed, their practices and activities provide remarkable
examples of the advantages and drawbacks of telework. In this research, we tried to
understand to what extent IT self-employed workers would like to telework and why they
are interested, or not, by this type of work arrangement.

3. Research Method

In this paper, we present the results of a vast survey carried out in collaboration with the
professional association of ICT self-employed workers in Quebec (AQIII: Association
Québécoise des Informaticiennes et Informaticiens Independants). The data was collected
via Internet during the Spring of 2007. An e-mail was sent to the 700 members of the
association. It contained a hypertext link giving the members access to an on-line
questionnaire.

The respondents (n=196) represent 28% of the total population of the AQIII members.
There were a total of 196 participants at the beginning of the survey and 116 at the end,
that is to say, a final retention rate of 59% throughout the questionnaire. A large majority
of the participants were men (82%). This is expected since the percentage of women in
the total population of AQIII members is 11%. In the study, 18% of the participants were
women, so women are over- represented in the sample. The respondents are quite young:
71% of the participants were less than 44 years old and 53% were between 35 and 44
years old. Also, 80% of the respondents were living with a partner or spouse and 55%
with dependent children. Finally, 83% of the participants work alone; they have neither
employees, nor subcontractors. On average, the respondents have been self-employed for
seven years and a half, whereas the average experience in ICT is of 17 years. This means
that a large majority of participants had a solid experience in ICT before becoming self-
employed.

The questionnaire starts with general socio-demographic questions on age and gender,
etc. The participants were asked to specify their family status (i.e. day-to-day living
situation). In addition, the participants were asked to specify their annual income and the
hourly rate they charge their clients. The questionnaire also included a list of questions on
telework (frequency, rhythm…). The participants were asked to indicate the usual
distribution of their workplaces (in hours per week) as well as an ideal distribution of
these workplaces. Given the specific situation of self-employed worker, the questionnaire
contained open questions on telework (for example: explain why you work at home, is it
positive or negative, why, etc. The participants were asked to evaluate some working
situations on Likert’s scales in six points. These questions were validated by Bonnet-
Polèse (2003) and Genin (2007).

4. Results

The demand for telework of IT... 6 The Journal of E-Working

The demand for telework
The results of our research first provided data on the usual distribution of workplaces for
IT self-employed workers. On average, they work 32 hours and 18 minutes per week in
the offices of client organisations, 4 hours and 30 minutes from home and one hour and
42 minutes in an office rented for the purpose of work. This last information must be
considered carefully because it is a mean; standard deviations are very important. In fact,
some of the respondents work full-time in an office rented for the purpose of work,
whereas many others do not rent any office space at all. The following table gives the
distribution of workplaces on a weekly basis:

Table 1: Average distribution of working places (per week)

- Work at home = 4 hours 30 minutes
- Work at the client’s site = 32 hours 18 minutes
- Work in an office rented for the purpose of work = 1 hour 42 minutes
- Total = 38 hours 38 minutes

We observe that telework is a frequent practice, since nearly 75% of the respondents
work, or have worked, from home. However, home is not the main workplace. The
respondents work from home only occasionally, so we can conclude that telework is not
the dominant form of work for IT self-employed workers.

In addition, our respondents were asked to give an ideal distribution of workplaces. The
results reveal that a large majority would like to have the possibility to telework much
more than they do. On average, the ideal distribution of workplaces would be as
presented in table 2.

Table 2: Average ideal distribution of working places (per week)

- Work at home = 17 hours 36 minutes
- Work at the client’s site = 17 hours 24 minutes
- Work in an office rented for the purposes of work = 2 hours 42 minutes
- Total = 37 hours 42 minutes

The gaps between the effective distribution and the ideal distribution of workplaces are
very important, in particular, between work at home and work at the client’s site.

Table 3: Gaps between the ideal and the effective distribution of working places (per week)
- Work at home = + 13 hours 6 minutes
-TheseWork at the
results client’s
stress a verysite = - 14 hours
significant 54 minutes
demand for telework. On average, the respondents
-wouldWork in an office rented for the purposes
like to work 17 hours and 36 minutes per of work
week= at
+ 1home,
hour that is to say 13 hours
-more Total
than = - 48they
what minutes
currently do. In line with this observation, more than 60% of the
respondents answered yes to the question “If my clients agree, I would like to work at
home occasionally”.

The demand for telework of IT... 7 The Journal of E-Working

However, this demand mainly concerns occasional telework. Indeed, only 42% of the
respondents would like to work at home permanently. Thus, according to the
respondents, an ideal distribution of workplaces would be fifty-fifty between home and
the client’s site.

Motivations for telework

Our results highlight a significant demand for telework and thus, this section examines
the motivations for telework.

We found that telework is frequently described as a positive experience. Indeed, almost

90% of the respondents who have worked from home consider this experience positive.
In opened questions, the respondents were also asked to justify their demand for telework
and why telework was a positive or a negative experience. After a qualitative analysis of
the answers, it appears that telework generates different sources of satisfaction.

First of all, our respondents insist on flexibility. Indeed, flexibility and freedom of
organisation, authorized by telework, are important factors of satisfaction because they
can improve quality of life. Many respondents state that telework facilitate the
articulations between professional time, and personal and family activities:
“Telework is positive. I could: - provide client support before a conference - work before
and after an appointment with the dentist - have lunch with my family – take care of my
son after school.”
“You have flexible working hours”
“Telework is positive: better organisation of work”
“More time left for supper and social activities with my children in the evening”
“Telework improves quality of life…”
“I control my schedule & business travels… Why would I be dissatisfied?”
“To have more time with my family”
“For a better balance between work and family (less time wasted commuting)”
“To work 4 days a week”
“To have more spare time at home”
“I work better at home and I have more flexibility. I have experienced this possibility for
7 years, and I know it is ideal”

Another important factor of satisfaction is the improvement of productivity and

concentration. Many respondents state they are more efficient at home than when they
work at the client’s office. According to them, home provides a quiet and peaceful
working environment. They say they are less disturbed at home, which contributes to
increase in their productivity:
“Telework is positive because I produce the documents more quickly”
“Telework is positive because sometimes you need not to be disturbed”
“Very positive; far from the telephone and clients, my concentration is at its maximum”
“My productivity is increased at home, especially for tasks requiring concentration and
documentation.”

The demand for telework of IT... 8 The Journal of E-Working

“Positive. The fact of alternating home/client’s site makes it possible to change
environment and ultimately I am more productive”
“Very positive, I am more productive and thus less expensive for my clients”
“Positive because I work better without noise in my work environment”
“I am much better installed at home to produce (office completely equipped)”.
“Telework allows an increased concentration, more effectiveness”
“More concentration in my calm house”.

The third factor of satisfaction is the reduction of the costs, stress and time linked to daily
commuting:
“Telework is positive. With tools like MSN and e-mails, you can keep a continual contact
with your clients. And time spent in traffic jam is avoided”
“Positive… no commuting…”
“Without commuting, I spare on average 2 hours a day.”
“Positive: less stress, less waste of time in traffic jam and less pollution”
“Less time wasted on the road”
“Less time wasted in traffic jam (productivity ++)”.

Finally some respondents consider telework as a win-win solution:

“Telework is positive, if both parties to a contract are satisfied, it is necessarily a win-
win solution.”
“Telework satisfies all the parties”
“Telework is positive, a win-win solution”.

The respondents who do not wish to telework insisted particularly on their needs for
direct communication:
“I need human contacts”
“I need to keep direct contact with my client”.

When IT self-employed workers are asked why they are satisfied with telework and why
they wish to telework more, three main categories of justification are reported: flexibility
and quality of life, productivity, and avoidance of commuting. In order to complement
these general justifications and to better understand the motivations for telework, the next
section explores the profiles of teleworkers.

Profiles of teleworkers
Nearly 75% of our respondents answered yes to the question “When the nature of work
allowed it, have you ever asked your client for the possibility to work from home?” This
section presents the profiles of theses respondents.

First of all, the respondents interested in telework are also significantly motivated by the
flexibility offered by self-employment. When they are asked on their motivations to
become independent workers, these respondents are significantly more motivated by
flexibility than the respondents who are not interested in telework (chi-square test).

The demand for telework of IT... 9 The Journal of E-Working

Indeed, 48% of the respondents interested in telework state that flexibility was a very
important motivation to become an independent worker. This percentage falls to 15% for
those who never asked for the possibility to telework. The respondents interested in
telework have an average score of 4.1 on the Likert’s scale (of five points) measuring the
importance of flexibility. The average score is 2.9 for the respondents who are not
interested in telework. This difference is statistically significant (ANOVA). Flexibility
thus appears to be an important advantage of self-employment, and of telework, for the
respondents interested in telework.

Table 4: When you decided to go on your own, what was the importance of the following
motivation? To have more flexibility*
When the nature of work allowed it, have you ever Flexibility Standard
asked your client for the possibility to work from home? Mean N deviation
No 2,8889 27 1,52753
Yes 4,0909 77 1,18301
Total 3,7788 104 1,37916
ANOVA
Sum of squares Df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 28,883 1 28,883 17,638 0,000
Within Groups 167,030 102 1,638
Total 195,913 103

* 5 = Very important, 4 = Important, 3 = Moderately important, 2 = Barely important, 1 = Not important

Table 5: When you decided to go on your own, what was the importance of the
following motivation? To have more Autonomy and Independence*
When the nature of work allowed it, have you ever Autonomy Standard
asked your client for the possibility to work from home? Mean NR deviation
No 3,8148 27 0,99526
Yes 4,5100 80 0,94716
Total 4,3346 107 1,00180
ANOVA
Sum of squares Df Mean square F Sig.
Between Groups 9,756 1 9,756 10,601 0,002
* 5Within
= Very important,
Groups 4 = Important, 3 = Moderately
96,626 important,
1052 = Barely important,
, 920 1 = Not important
Total 106,382 106
Moreover, respondents interested in telework were also more motivated by autonomy and
independence, when they chose self-employment. The average score of this motivation
for self-employment is 4.5 (on a Likert’s scale in 5 points) in case of respondents
interested in telework. The average score drops to 3.8 for the respondents who never
asked for the possibility to work from home. This difference is statistically significant.

The demand for telework of IT... 10 The Journal of E-Working

We therefore conclude that the respondents interested in telework are individuals
particularly motivated by flexibility, autonomy and independence in general. These
preferences are consistent with important characteristics of telework. However, we found
no correlations between the demand for telework and gender, age or professional
seniority.

Occasional or permanent telework

In the preceding sections, we saw that the demand for telework was justified by
flexibility (better quality of life), productivity and avoidance of commuting. Consistent
with these findings, we also showed that the respondents interested in telework were
individuals motivated by flexibility, autonomy and independence. Consequently,
flexibility could appear as the key factor to explain the demand for telework. But this
would be without considering the fact that 60% of the respondents would like to have the
possibility to telework occasionally, and 42% would like to work at home permanently.
In order to better understand the motivations for telework, this section investigates the
differences between the demand for occasional and the demand for permanent telework.

The demand for occasional telework is clearly stronger than the demand for full time
work from home. Furthermore, our results highlight significant differences in the
motivations for occasional and permanent telework. Let us examine these differences in
more detail.

The demand for occasional telework is correlated with the following items:
- “I am more efficient at home than when I work at the client’s office”
- “I work at home to finish what I have no time to do at the client’s office”
- “Staying late at work is appreciated in client organisations”
Regressions coefficients are presented in table 6.

Table 6: Regressions on the demand for occasional telework

I am more efficient at home than when I work at the client’s office 0.227
I work at home to finish what I have no time to do at the client’s office 0.173
Staying late at work is appreciated in client organisations 0.052
Adjusted R2 “I would like to telework occasionally”

The demand for occasional telework is associated with the perception of being more
efficient at home. Moreover, the respondents who work at home in order to finish what
they have no time to do at the client’s office are also more interested in occasional
telework. Thus, the demand for occasional telework mainly corresponds to the will of
working more effectively. Occasional telework is used to get work done more quickly or
within a given deadline.

It is interesting to note that the demand for occasional telework is correlated to

organisational cultures. The demand for occasional telework is stronger when the practice

The demand for telework of IT... 11 The Journal of E-Working

of working late is appreciated in organisational cultures. It appears that some of the
respondents, who would like to telework occasionally, have few occasions to do so. For
them, telework may be a way to avoid such practices. Telework can thus, represent a way
to escape constraining organisational cultures which tend to force people to stay late at
work.

Contrary to the demand for occasional telework, the demand for permanent telework is
negatively correlated to income. This means, the weaker the income, the stronger this
demand for permanent telework. Regression coefficient is presented in the following
table:

Table 7: Regression on the demand for permanent telework

Income 0.087
Adjusted R2 “I would like to telework permanently”

On average, the respondents who answered yes to the question “If you could telework,
would you accept more contracts?” have a score of 4 on the Likert’s scale (in six points)
measuring the demand for permanent telework. By contrast, the respondents who
answered no have an average score of 2.8. This difference is statistically significant. This
means that the demand for permanent telework is linked to the motivation of having more
contracts.

Table 8: I would like to telework permanently

If you could telework, would you accept more Standard
contracts? Mean N deviation
No 2,8333 48 1,77852
Yes 3,9815 54 1,66530
Total 3,4412 102 1,80524

Thus, the demand for permanent telework is largely explained by the will to increase the
number of contracts and eventually, the income. More than 55% of the respondents who
would accept more contracts if they could telework, actually, would like to work from
home permanently. On the other hand, only 27% of the respondents who would not
accept more contracts wish to telework permanently.

The motivations for occasional and permanent telework, thus, seem to differ in many
ways. Permanent telework could enable some respondents to accept more contracts.
Consequently, permanent telework would make it possible to increase their volume of
work and eventually their income. Hence, we can conclude that the demand for
permanent telework generally results from the hope to improve one’s income. It is
certainly for this reason that the demand for permanent telework is stronger for the
respondents having the weakest incomes.

The demand for telework of IT... 12 The Journal of E-Working

To sum up, the demand for occasional telework is mostly motivated by flexibility and
effectiveness, whereas the demand for permanent telework is more linked to pecuniary
factors. These findings nuance and complement the features identified to explain why IT
self-employed workers wish to telework more than they do.

Why is telework sometimes refused?

In spite of the advantages of telework related by our respondents, the “ideal” distribution
of workplaces is often difficult to reach. Even if one thinks that self-employed have a
certain level of autonomy in their work, they face strong constraints: the demands and
requirements of client organisations. In this section, we will see why their level of
autonomy is actually quite limited as concerns working space.

The theoretical autonomy of IT self-employed workers meets a critical limit when it

comes to authorise, or not, telework. As a matter of fact, they cannot always decide on
their own of their working times and spaces. Indeed, the client imposes the workplace for
nearly 46% of the respondents; only 11% of the respondents decide on their own, and for
42%, workplaces are negotiated with the client.

The respondents were asked why telework was possible or not (opened question).
According to them, the main reason why client organisations refuse telework lies in the
security of confidential data. Secondly, many clients prefer IT self-employed to work on
their work sites in case they need help or they have questions. Also, some clients refuse
telework in order to keep an eye on independent workers and control their work. Indeed,
clients do not allow telework if they do not trust self-employed workers.

The issue of visibility for the client and the degree, to which he or she trusts an
independent worker, are key points to understand why telework is possible or not.
Though some respondents regret it, trust is a necessary condition to telework:
“The argument of “technological constraint” does not hold. It is the fear of paying us for
something else than our work!”
“The client feels insecure with telework. He is afraid that the freelancer might not fulfill
his working hours.”
“Telework is positive but I have to do it discreetly because it is not very well accepted by
permanent employees”.

The notion of trust is worthy of note. Actually, some respondents consider the fact that
their clients allow them telework as a proof of their trust. They consider it as a mark of
professionalism:
“Telework shows that I am a responsible person, trusted by my clients”
“I believe that telework is positive, because my clients want results and not my presence
in their buildings.”
“Telework is a mark of trust between the client and the freelancer”.

The demand for telework of IT... 13 The Journal of E-Working

In conclusion, an IT self-employed worker needs to first develop a relation of trust with
his client before asking for telework. Otherwise, clients will tend to refuse this work
arrangement in spite of its advantages for both parties.

5. Conclusion

In this research, we tried to understand to what extent IT self-employed workers can

telework and why they are interested in this work arrangement.

Though we expected independent workers to be doing telework, we were surprised to

find that this work arrangement only represent few hours in the week. We also found that
their actual distribution of workplaces was far from being considered ideal by IT self-
employed workers. Indeed, our results clearly reveal a significant demand for telework.
Our respondents would like to work nearly 18 hours a week at home but it is impossible
due to the refusal of clients, where these IT professionals usually work for many months,
sometimes even a year or more. The gap between the actual and the ideal repartition of
workplaces strongly questions the degree of autonomy of independent workers.

To sum up, our results underline the fact that self-employed workers do not always
manage to obtain the work format they wish, particularly as concerns telework or e-work.
So the potential offered by Internet and information technologies depends on their degree
of autonomy and the way they deal with clients’ requirements and demands. Also, we
identified trust as a key element to understand why telework is accepted or refused.
Hence, we advice self-employed workers to first develop a relation of trust with their
clients before asking for telework.

In addition, our results contribute to better understand the motivations of teleworkers.

Consistent with previous studies, we found that the demand for telework was mainly
justified by flexibility and quality of life (Baines and Gelder, 2003; Duxbury and
Higgins, 2003; Tremblay, 2002, Cefrio, 2001), productivity (Taskin, 2006; Doucette,
1997) and avoidance of commuting (Harpaz, 2002; Kurland and Bailey, 1999; Tao et al.,
1998; Tremblay, 2001a,b). In line with these findings, we show that the respondents
interested in telework are individuals motivated by flexibility, autonomy and
independence. There is congruence between the motivations for self-employment and the
motivations for telework. Maybe, this is the reason why so few drawbacks of telework
were mentioned, except for the lack of human contact, which is generally associated with
full-time telework (Tremblay, 2001a,b).

Finally, we found significant differences between the motivations for occasional and
permanent telework. This result tends to confirm that time (number of hours, days, or
weeks spent out of office) is a relevant dimension to differentiate and classify teleworkers
(Tremblay et al., 2006). While the respondents interested in occasional telework are
mainly motivated by flexibility, autonomy and independence; those interested in
permanent telework see it as a way to increase their volume of work and eventually their
income. The impact of the time dimension on the demand for telework is therefore, an

The demand for telework of IT... 14 The Journal of E-Working

important line of future researches, along with a study on the various strategies it can
encompass.

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