ABSTRACT

The notion of telework literally far-work, or working at a distance has existed since the 1970s. The general assumption was and is that telework will benefit workers and organisations in multiple ways. A study by the Social Cultural Planning Agency (SCP) in the Netherlands in 2006 mentioned that The Netherlands was currently taking the lead in teleworking in Europe, with about 20 per cent of the working population doing some office work from the home. Three types of teleworking could then be distinguished: Mobile working: workers have the means to work in many different places. Fixed teleworking: workers structurally work a fixed part of the working week at home. Flexible teleworking: workers have a fully equipped place to telework at home, but they only use it as a back up when incidents occur or to enable them to extend their working week. Contextual mapping uses hexagons: hexagonal, re-writable cards in different colours.