Electronics specialist Embedded Solutions has published the findings of a survey of 800 workers across sectors, ages and backgrounds. Over two thirds of those questioned said mobile office equipment such as hand held devices will mean more flexibility when it comes to balancing their work and home life.

Sheila McCaffrey, chair of the Teleworkers Association, said the industry is becoming sympathetic to teleworking because of the growing difficulties associated with staff retention.

However, the survey also revealed teleworking schemes could have a downside by increasing the pressure to work outside office hours. 54 per cent of those questioned expressed a fear that the growth in applications for mobile devices will allow employers to place unfair demands on employees time.

But McCaffrey dismissed these concerns saying teleworking only increases flexiblity because employees can choose exactly when they put the hours in.

One company taking teleworking to heart is BT which through a human resources scheme called Option 2000 is encouraging its workers to be based at home or dividing their time between the road and hotdesk facilities at their offices.

Option 2000 project manager Barry Jacques said BT aims to get 10 per cent of its workforce working from home by 2001. Currently the company supports 3,000 home workers via a variety of hardware, fixed-line and ISDN networks and expects this to expand to 7,500 by the end of 2001.