It gives people more time and helps them balance their lives. In the community, it reduces commuting traffic and the associated air emissions. It provides businesses more productive and loyal employees and can cut real estate costs. Frankly, the more we telework, the more we all benefit from it. To better serve the cause of telework, we need to consider the people that do the actual work, and what they need.
Technology is the biggest barrier to telework.
Speedy connections are needed to help make communication and access to information as expeditious in the home as in the office. Technology also provides tools to help address the second biggest barrier uncovered by our research - the need for human interaction. But these technology tools either aren't being used in a way that helps teleworkers communicate more richly and effectively, or they aren't available at all. I live in a little town in the country, and there's no cable available here. Or fixed wireless.