ABSTRACT
Telework has been linked with a de-urbanisation of employment and a shift to hi-tech homeworking in the countryside, engendering notions of telework as a panacea for many of society's ills. This chapter shows some of the key findings and relates them to wider debates on telework and the rural economy. Although telework has often been linked to the exploitation of a marginal, low skilled and low paid workforce, the demand for self-employed telework has been primarily for specialist skills beyond the capabilities of in-house staff, rather than an overflow from the in-house functions of organisations. In addition to offering an insight into the various policy initiatives regarding the facilitation of telework in rural areas, the findings from the research have a number of implications for telework, and wider, areas of rural policy. Indeed, the research has indicated that telework has facilitated, and may further facilitate, the increased in-movement of professional service classes into rural areas.
