A New Way of Working

Andy Keedwell Jon Porter)

Imagine if your journey to work was from your bedroom to your living room. More and more people in the UK are doing their jobs at home.

Baz works as an engineer in a West London factory. Hes been an engineer since he left school—but hes not very optimistic about his future. Heavy industry in the UK has almost disappeared. More people work in Indian restaurants than in steel， coal and shipbuilding put together！ Baz also often gets fed up with his long journey to work. Whether he travels by car or by public transport， it can take up to two hours a day.

His sister， Liz， lives in the north of England. Shes an Information Technology （IT） trainer at a local college. Once every four weeks， she meets her trainees in person， but most of her training is done through IT.

Bazs wife， Helen， seldom travels to work at all. Shes a graphic designer for a London advertising firm. Once shes got the children off to school （they have three kids）， she starts work in front of her computer screen. Shes currently designing publicity material for a major London festival. When shes finished her designs， she sends them electronically to her director. He works from home too—occasionally they meet up for a coffee.

Most people in the UK， like Baz， commute to work—and moan about it， too！ But an increasing number of people work as telecommuters， whether full time， like Helen， or part time， like Liz. Almost all of their work is done online or by phone. There are 2.8 million telecommuters in the UK， about 10 per cent of the workforce.

So what are the advantages？ Teleworkers can save hours not travelling to work. ‘I hated my journey to work， says Helen. ‘Waiting at rainy bus stops or stuck in endless traffic. Now all I have to do is to walk downstairs！ Not commuting also saves money—in the UK， transport is not cheap. Many teleworkers say that working from home is much less stressful—good news for both workers and managers as around 6 million working days a year are lost because of stress.

Teleworkers have their own association and even their own National Day in May， when as many workers as possible are encouraged to work from home. Liz is a member of the association. One of her roles is to encourage employers to look for ways to help their staff work from home.

‘Think how much a company can save in rent， heating or air conditioning， taxes， maintenance … it all adds up， says Liz. ‘Working at home can also increase productivity by 25 per cent. And its much more environmentally friendly.

So is telecommuting for everyone？ ‘It was hard at first， says Helen， ‘because our living room is also my office！ Although there are challenges， teleworking is increasing by 13 per cent a year， not just in the UK but also in the USA. In Los Angeles， a hotel receptionist welcomes guests from her home 129km away！ And meanwhile， Baz is still stuck in the traffic…

Answers

Activity 1

1 H; 2 B; 3 H; 4 L; 5 B; 6 L; 7 H

Activity 2

a. hours Baz spends commuting

b. number of children Baz and Helen have

c. percentage of people telecommuting

d. percentage by which telecommuting is increasing each year

e. the percentage increase in pro-ductivity which can be achieved by working from home

f. how many kilometres the LA receptionist is from the hotel when she welcomes the guests

g. number of telecommuters in the UK

h. number of working days lost through stress per year

Activity 3

1 b e.g. telephone

2 f e.g. photograph

3 e e.g. submarine

4 h e.g. antiviral

5 g e.g. internet

6 d e.g. audiobook

7 a e.g. post-war

8 c e.g. philosopher

Activity 1

Read each statement below. Who would say this： Baz （B）， Liz （L） or Helen （H）？

1 ‘OK—Im sending the new promotional brochure with this email. ________

2 ‘Id love to telecommute—not much chance in my line of work. ________

3 ‘I save a fortune on London transport by working at home. ________

4 ‘Great—this must be the students next assign-ment. ________

5 ‘Traffic jam on the motorway—late for work again， just like yesterday. ________

6 ‘In my professional opinion， with bills as expensive as yours， Baz， more teleworking would really make a difference to your company. ________

7 ‘With three kids， working from home means I have to keep my working and personal lives separate. ________

Activity 2

What do these numbers refer to in the text？

a two       b three      c ten      d thirteen

e twenty-five      f one hundred and twenty-nine

g two point eight million      h six million

Activity 3

‘Tele- is a Greek word that means distance （‘television for example）. Many scientific words in English have prefixes derived from Greek or Latin.

Match the prefix with the definition and then write down a word of your own using each prefix.

1 tele- （Greek）

2 photo- （Greek）

3 sub- （Latin）

4 anti- （Greek）

5 inter- （Latin）

6 audio- （Latin）

7 post- （Latin）

8 philo- （Greek）

Word of the week

Telecommuting / teleworking

To work at home online

Over to you

Do people telecommute in your country？

Would it be popular in your country？

Why / why not？