Whether we like it or not, new technology is changing the way we work. Telework will affect the way that the majority of Europe's labour force is employed in the future. The question may not be where will the work be done - at home, with the customer, on the road or in the office - but how and for whom it is done.

Telework entails employees using information and communication technologies to perform their work away from the employer's premises. In practice, employers use teleworking under a variety of labels. It is called homeworking, hot-desking, distance working, remote working, telecommuting, teletrade and teleco-operation. But whatever you call it it is here to stay.

It's estimated that there are about 6.5 million teleworkers in Europe today, with more than 60,000 of them based in Ireland. The International Telework Association and Council claim that the number has jumped 10 per cent in America in the last year, with nearly 20 million "telecommuters" recorded in 1999.

Two key factors have combined to stimulate its growth - telecommunication advances and the demand for greater flexibility in working arrangements.

According to Mr Noel Treacy, Minister of State for Science, Technology and Commerce, the main driving forces behind the rise of teleworking in the US and Britain have been the problems caused by commuting to city centre offices, including stress on workers, environmental pollution and energy and property costs. These influences have a familiar ring about them.

With workers now demanding greater flexibility, the National Advisory Council on teleworking, which reported to the Government last year, predicts a considerable increase in teleworking over the next five years. Under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness this "flexi-place" or teleworking is a family-friendly practice, which employers and unions are now expected to actively pursue at the workplace.

Some companies have been quicker off the mark than others. For example, about half of the Hewlett-Packard staff now do some form of telework. Interesting consequences include a reduction in the number of desks and noise levels around the office.

When recruiting new staff the company also ensures that specific and measurable objectives are set down, so that individual performance can be assessed, whether people are sitting in the office or in their bedroom. This fits with the advice of Riona Carroll of Telework Ireland, that managers of teleworkers should use a management-by-objectives style rather than a management-by-time approach.

Groups of managers in companies like IBM, Hewlett-Packard and 3Com have devised a pattern of working from home in the early morning (e.g. 07h30 to 11h00). This enables them to deal with business requiring intense concentration - or overnight queries from the US parent office.

These productive hours leave the rest of us to battle the morning traffic, as they sail to their destination after we've cleared the roads and they've cleared their work priorities.

In a 1998 survey of employers (commissioned by Telework Ireland, with support from Eircom and the Dublin Transportation Office), it was discovered that 72 per cent of the survey group would not like to have some or more of their staff working from home. This throws up a vision of the workplace as centralised, specialised and tightly supervised, subject to the "command and control" army model of management.

But again the research results are positive, with a study at the University of Massachusetts discovering that teleworkers or telecommuters were:

as productive as, or more productive than, their non-telecommuting work colleagues,

happier, more dedicated employees,

better able to balance the pressures of their work and family lives,

contributing to reduced overhead expenses and air pollution, traffic congestion and fuel consumption and;

improving employee attraction and retention statistics.

These findings are supported by a project undertaken by AT&T and the State of Arizona. It found that telecommuters were more available for consultation with clients and their supervisors at home by phone than they were in the office.

The UK's Income Data Services survey has identified lower absenteeism rates as another merit of the practice. It recommends that supervisors build a relationship of trust with their teleworking staff, maintain frequent contact and act as a facilitator between home-based workers and their colleagues in the office.

The key features of successful telework management appear to be:

building a relationship of trust

regular informal and formal communications

regular meetings with colleagues

clearly defined targets to manage results and;

formal performance appraisals.

Fear of the unknown nevertheless is human nature. This underlines the necessity for training supervisors in such practices as "remote management" and management-by-objectives or results.

Most agree that telework is here to stay. It can help produce better and more rewarding work for many, whilst contributing to greater efficiencies and growth. The trick lies in how to get the traditionalists to move from here to there.

Dr Gerard McMahon is a lecturer at the Faculty of Business, Dublin Institute of Technology.