Title: What Brazilian workers think about flexible work and telework?

Authors: Francisco Antonio Coelho Junior; Cristiane Faiad; Mariana Carolina Barbosa Rego; Wilsa Maria Ramos

Addresses: Department of Management and Business, University of Brasilia, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Brasilia-DF, 70910-900, Brazil ' Institute of Psychology, University of Brasilia, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Brasilia-DF, 70910-900, Brazil ' Federal Institute of Brasília (FIB), Campus Brasília, Brasilia-DF, 70910-900, Brazil ' Institute of Psychology, University of Brasilia, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Brasilia-DF, 70910-900, Brazil

Abstract: Organisations are enabling and encouraging the use of information technologies in work-related tasks. In Brazil, few organisations have implemented telework and some issues need to be discussed considering the Brazilian organisations' reality. Who is eligible to telework? What is the profile of the teleworker? How is telework evaluated from the viewpoint of teleworkers themselves? Thus, this paper examines the perception that Brazilian teleworkers have about the advantages and disadvantages of this labour regime. It determines which are the facilitators and obstacles of telecommuting within a large Brazilian organisation. The paper is based upon 67 structured questionnaires completed by Brazilian teleworkers. The findings show that some of the advantages are flexibility, greater family time and the lower displacement costs. The Brazilian teleworkers seem motivated with this kind of modality of work, although most people miss their daily social contact with co-workers. The effects of telecommuting must be investigated in later studies.

Keywords: telecommuting; job design; organisational behaviour; work arrangement; organisational context; person and job-fit.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2020.104842

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2020 Vol.20 No.1, pp.16 - 31

Received: 29 May 2018
Accepted: 02 Sep 2018
Published online: 04 Feb 2020 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article