Teleworking: potential employment opportunities for older workers? Available to Purchase

Advances in technology have significantly expanded the capacity of individuals to undertake their work role outside the confines of their employers’ premises, and changes in industrial relations policies and practices in Australia have facilitated organisational willingness to explore such possibilities. A significant portion of all off‐site working is undertaken by employees at home, and this group increasingly consists of teleworkers who undertake data processing activities in a home office communicating the results to their employer via modem or phone. This paper considers whether such changes, especially the recent growth in teleworking, can generate potential work opportunities for those who have traditionally been marginalised in the workforce. In particular the paper explores whether teleworking might open employment opportunities to older workers. It concludes that though older workers might offer as potentially viable candidates for this type of work activity they are unlikely to be successful in gaining employment given present employer attitudes and practices.