We are a virtual company that helps both public and private organizations implement telework. President Joanne Pratt approaches change as a futurist interested in what is going to happen next. We are reshaping ourselves into a more mobile, global workforce linked by technology. Today we have teleworking, telecommuting, the virtual office, mobile workers and home-based business owners and at-home professionals. “E-work” is the term used in Europe. On this web site we share with you trends that we see and proven "how to" tips for all forms of mobile work.

Future Trends:

Joanne Pratt spoke on Future Trends at the regional meeting of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Board. Among the most interesting of ten important trends for business is increased participation and competition. Think of the cheering for favorite TV personalities on Survivor, Amazing Race, and the consequence of failure in the form of Top Chef's "Pack your knives and go" and  Donald Trump's "You're fired." That eagerness to participate may explain why we are willing to shift to a "self-serve" economy where we now research air travel, buy tickets, and compete for seats online, and then check in at a computer, haul our bags to the screening area, buy lunch, and pack a pillow. Travel agents and the airlines used to do ALL that for us! See 10 Trends that will affect your Business.

Conferences:

Joanne Pratt presented her paper, Who Operates the Business? A Comparison of Husband and Wife Copreneurs from the Survey of Business Owners, at the annual conference of the United States Association for Small  Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), which was held in January in Anaheim, CA.

Research:

Telework Keeps Growing

Since 1980, the long-range upwards trend of working at home during the business day has followed growth in the workforce according to the Dieringer Research Group survey now sponsored by WorldatWork. The 33.7 million employees and independent contractors, up from 28.7 million in 2006, represents an increase of 17 percent since the previous survey. Counting home-based-business owners, there are 48.7 million individuals doing "any" work at home including nights and week-ends. They represent 39 percent of U.S. employed and self-employed adults.

The growth continues to be among employees, with a 39 percent increase from 12.4 to 17.2 million in two years. The number of contract workers has remained relatively flat at 16.6 million, representing a 2.5 percent increase since 2006.

With increasingly powerful and miniaturized technology--the combination cell phone, camera, PDA, GPS with wireless Internet access--Americans work wherever they find themselves. However, according to the WorldatWork report, although the number of telecommuters working while on travel has increased, even more--87 percent of telecommuut4ers compared to 76 percent in 2006--do work at home and also more are working at their clients' or customers' places of business. As shown below, full time work at home has decreased but teleworking at least once per month has increased by 17 percent.

Other new findings are that 80 percent of workers who do not telecommute now say that they could perform nearly one-fourth of their job tasks at home. Over one-half think their employer would permit them to do so, but most would not be willing to take a pay cut to gain permission. From my perspective, this is not surprising since teleworkers, in effect already lower their employers' costs by providing office space in their own homes (See, for example, Pratt, Cost/benefits of Teleworking to Manage Work/life Responsibilities).

See WorldatWork's Telework Trendlines 2009 for full report.

A New Framework Explaining Home-based Business Choice

Revisioning the  Home-based Business: An Exploratory Model of Home-based Location Choice is now available. The paper presented at the 2008 conference shows that business owners' decisions are based on both personal and business priorities and may vary at different life stages. Those choices determine whether the business will grow by adding employees or remain, by its owner's choice, a lifestyle business more likely to be operated from home.

Home-based businesses earn less than businesses in rented space, but they keep more of what they make. Joanne Pratt's new research for the U.S. Small Business Administration found that the average home-based entrepreneur earned $22,569 in net income compared with $38,243 earned by non-home-based firms. But due to lower expenses, particularly in rent and labor costs, the average home-based sole proprietor consistently gained a higher return on gross revenues, at 36 percent, versus 21 percent for the non-home-based. Not only that, but home-based sole proprietors generate $530 billion in annual revenue to the U.S. economy.

The research, based on an analysis of a sample of 1.6 million tax returns found that the most home-based businesses were in professional, scientific and technical services, construction, health care and social assistance, which includes daycare. The most profitable were those that dealt with the wholesale trade of durable goods and travel accommodations, such as bed and breakfasts.

The most non-home-based firms were in retail, professional services and health care. The most profitable were ambulatory healthcare services (including doctors' offices), insurance, real estate and consulting.

The research report, The Impact of Location on Net Income: A Comparison of Homebased and Non-Homebased Sole Proprietors will help entrepreneurs and individuals wanting to start a business  compare average revenues, expenses and net income within industries.

In the press conference announcing the study, Joanne Pratt said there are two kinds of home-based business owners: those who start their business at home with hopes of growing--The Steve Jobs and Michael Dells--and those who work to support a life style they enjoy without the hassle of employees. Pratt predicted that more home-based businesses will appear as baby boomers retire: "I see the baby boomers formally retiring at age 65, but choosing to run a home-based business to gain primary or secondary income or just to keep their hand in."
Full report

Research I presented at the American conference of Information Systems (AMCIS), gives the Economic Outcomes of E-Professional, Home-based Entrepreneurs. See Abstract

Privacy, a New Research Topic:

Privacy issues are a new research topic. With colleagues, I have developed a model that shows the path of data transfer once an individual engages in a transaction. Say you shop online for convenience or best prices: you give up at the very least your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and credit card number. Have you considered what happens to your personal information once you have made that trade-off?

Our model shows that data has a life of its own, beyond your control. Your data from one transaction may be combined with other information so that much more a bout you is knowable than you ever intended. That data integration has some benefits for you, say if you get ill on a trip, having all your medical records accessible could be life saving. On the other hand, you could be denied insurance if the same information were obtained by unauthorized parties. For more, see our paper, Without Permission: Privacy on the Line, by Joanne Pratt and Sue Conger, published in the International Journal of Information Security and Privacy (IJISP).

Other Links:

Several of Joanne Pratt's older research publications are now available on the website:

Cost/benefits of Teleworking to Manage Work/life Responsibilities 1999 Full Report

"Socio-Technical Issues Related to Home-Based Work" 1988 Book Chapter

"Telework and Society – Implications for Corporate and Societal Cultures" 2000 Full Paper

Teleworker Attitudes and Work Styles 1997 Full Report

Teleworking Comes of Age with Broadband 2003 Full Report

A caller had scoured the Internet for a definition of "informal teleworking." He needed a way to include ad hoc teleworking going on in his agency in a legal document. We can help organizations solve this problem. See Module 4 under implementation.

"Mobile Courtesy Matters" according to a survey by Sprint. 100% of mobile phone users felt they were courteous of other people: they moved away at least a couple of feet to take calls. But 80% felt that other people were "less courteous today than five years ago." Take a look at the imaginative ways people cope.

Speaking topics on future trends that we should prepare for.

Research publications on "Telework Trends in the United States," "Survey Instrument Design," and "Copreneurs".