Bosses must prepare for teleworking rise

IT managers must prepare their infrastructure and leadership skills for a rapid rise in the number of people working from home.

A new study by the Institute of Employment Studies (IES) shows that 27 million employees are expected to work remote from the office by 2010, three times as many as today. IT will be a key enabler to making staff more mobile, says IES associate fellow Ursula Huws. And the changing nature of the workforce means IT managers will need to brush up on their interpersonal skills, she says. Managers will need a different strategy of managing a remote workforce, she said. Processes and requirements have to be much more explicit and stated in a much clearer way. If someone is in the office, its easy to see if theyve got the wrong end of the stick. If theyre working remotely, it could be several expensive weeks later before you realise. Huws says that increased teleworking will also boost demand for broadband. This is going to be the coming of age of broadband, she said.