at home at work - psychological consiquences for home-based working men

8/9/2019 At Home at Work - Psychological Consiquences for Home-Based Working Men

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MSc in Occupational Psychology

At Home at Work;

The Psychological Consequences for Home-based Working Men

David Dean

University of Leicester

2007


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Contents

1. Executive Summary PageTarget audience and aims 1

Research Summary & Key Results 1

Background to the modern home-based working man 2

Recent psychological research findings into home-based working 3

Current research aims and objectives 4

Research Methods 4

Summary of results 5

Conclusions and recommendations 8

References 10

2.Empirical Study

Abstract 1

Introduction 1

Home-based working: An Overview 2

The expansion of male home-based workers 2

Psychology of home-based work for men 4

Research Aims and Objectives 6

Methods 7

Developing the Interview

Developing the Questionnaire

Participants


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2. Empirical Study (cont) Page

Results 11

Summary of the main themes from interview data

Summary of the Questionnaire Data

Discussion 15

Further research 27

Conclusions & Recommendations 28

References 31

Appendices i Semi-Structured Interview Schedule 34

Appendices ii Questionnaire 35

Appendices iii Interview Transcriptions & Notation 40


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Executive Summary

Target Audience Intended for the informed manager, supervisor or H.R manager, with

staff working or destined to work at or from home, and the self-employed home-based

working networks and individuals.

The study endeavours to draw attention to the occupational psychological dimensions of being

a home-based employed or self-employed working man undertaking paid employment within

the domestic sphere. Moreover the conclusions provide a positive framework of supportive

recommendations and best practice for consideration.

Research Summary & Key Results

In recent years a growing number of men in various occupations have begun to work

from a home-base. This study contends that there are significant psychological

implications for both employed and self-employed working men that need to be

considered prior to any transition to becoming home-based. Despite the recent high

media profile on this subject and management focus upon the technical aspects of

home and work existence, there is little published occupational psychological research

on this ever-increasing group within the working population.

This qualitative semi-structured interview and questionnaire based research into the

psychological lived experience of a group of working men based in the South-East of

England and investigates the following issues. Social isolation owing to the separation

from colleagues, associates and social networks allied with organisational existence

along with technology induced stressors. The temporal and spatial boundaries

constructed to enable the man to work from home and the impact of the family, roles

and children upon work patterns and work based behaviours. This study endeavours

also to provide a valuable framework for further occupational psychological research

whilst highlighting key areas to support organisations, individuals, teams and the self-

employed during the transition to working at home.


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A brief summary of key results of this study;

Those self-employed men solely home-based suffer from social isolation from

colleagues and organisational interactions. The workers that visit clients or customer

a few days a week suffer less.

Aspects of occupational stress induced by computer mediated technology i.e.

organisational email, and the lack of appropriate technology training.

Difficulties maintaining boundaries between the domestic and work spheres

Lack of obvious transitions (i.e. no commute) to work and back home that

exacerbates the boundary conflict between home and work.

Children can create a major distraction to the male worker creating a need to be

highly disciplined. The findings suggest that the male worker finds combining family

life and work difficult and is in need of careful management.

The psychological implications of this study suggest very careful re-assessment and

consideration for those already working from or about to embark upon home-base

work. This study also provides a home-based action framework for organisations and

self-employed network groups to adopt.

Background to home-based working

A new and as yet under researched group of working men are now emerging into the

contemporary Information, Communication and Technology (ICTs) driven work

environment. Occupational definitions of Teleworking, Homeworking and Home-based

workerto name a few, occupy numerous column inches of business management and

employment trend articles in newspapers and human resource publications. However,

it is the lack of clear unambiguous occupational characterisation that has to a large

extent held back and fragmented occupational psychological study into this area of

working life. To that aim the working definition of this research will not ignore the

terminology of previous research, but suggests a definition that most home-based

work can be classified. The definition being that the characteristics of working from a

home-base are the close proximity to the private and personal worlds of domestic


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relationships and a geographical distance from colleagues, networks, co-workers and

managers (Felstead, Jewson & Walters; 2005).

Research from the Office of National Statistics by Ruiz and Walling (2005) highlight

that in 2005 there were 3.1 million home-based teleworkers in the UK and 2.2 million

of the total are in fact men. They are reported to be the most academically qualified,

occupy high status work groups and utilise computer and communication technology

that facilitates home-based working or work on the move. It is acknowledged that

women occupy the majority ofhomeworkinggroups and it is understood from National

Group of Homeworking that these jobs are generally seen as low paid with little or no

choice of employment status due to the need for traditional child-care flexibility.

Although not included in this study, the research from different areas of social

sciences into homeworking women provides an insight into the as yet un-researched

growing group of male home-based workers that are seemingly neglected through an

occupational psychological framework. This provides the suitable driver for this

research.

Recent psychological research findings into home-based working

The purpose of this and other recent studies is to highlight a number of both positive

and negative aspects of home-based working for both men and women. The main

areas of interest for this and many other studies from Mann and Holdsworth; 2003,

Jvitters, Akselson, Evjemo, Julstrud, Yttri, and Bergvik; 2003, Hartig, Kylin and

Johansson; 2007 and Felstead & Jewson; 2000 gleaned from internet sources and

publications is to provide an insight into the issues that lay behind this study.

Known issues of presenteeism and poor work life balance due to the close proximity

of the office or work area

An increased positive sense of the flexibility of working hours, control and

independence

Lack of organisational technical and personal support, poor job motivation, job

satisfaction and stress due to high degree of extra work load and availability of work

Social isolation from colleagues and associates

Stress


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Re-negotiation of the family space, boundaries and roles with the home to

accommodate work, as the two can seemingly be at odds with each other.

Distracted and interrupted work patterns due to the permeability of boundaries and

proximity of the home sphere.

Current research aimsand objectives

Naturally as research progresses the areas of interest may increase, however, the aim

of this research is to build upon a study from Moore and Crosbie (2002) into the lived

experience of a group of home-based workers. The intention is to investigate through

a transactionalist interpretive framework to draw the themes and meanings of the

home-based working life, i.e. issues of social isolation and other personal dimensions

to home based-work. Elements of schema theory are incorporated to investigate how

the house is divided to accommodate work time and space and how the family and

children inadvertently impact upon the work patterns of the home-based men.

Study research methods

This study fell into two parts; a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire study.

The interview schedule and the questionnaire were based upon the model developed

by Moore and Crosbies (2002) with their agreement. A focus group of home-based

men in the Cambridge area was utilised to pilot the interview and questionnaire to re-

focus upon the home-based working male perspective. The participant pool was

accessed though a Cambridge based organisation, Cambridge Skills-Tap and

organisations with home-based employees. In total twelve (four employed and eight

self-employed) men were drawn from the South-East of England. All interview and

questionnaire information was treated totally confidentially and was only used for this

study. The participants identification was removed prior to the publication of the

study in accordance to the British Psychological Society Code of Conduct and Ethics

(2006) with full de-briefing following the interview process.

The interview schedule questions and the questionnaire were sent out to the

participants ten to fourteen days prior to the interview date, to ensure that the

participants could reflect upon the questions and any difficult issues could be discussed


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prior to the interview. The interviews were conducted during the period of February

to May 2007, either over the telephone or a face-to-face visit with prior approval to

the home-based workers house.

P-ID

Occupation of

Participant

Interview

Method Location Employment

Approx

Age

Interview

Date

0.1 Freelance Graphic Designer Face-to-Face Cambridge, UK Self-Employed 30-40 08/03/2007

0.2 Scientific Consultant Face-to-Face Cambridge, UK Self-Employed 51-60 16/03/2007

0.3 Design Engineer Telephone Peterborough, UK Self-Employed 41-50 29/03/2007

0.4 Computer Programmer Telephone Bedford, UK Self-Employed 41-50 03/04/2007

0.5 Management Consultant Telephone Luton, UK Self-Employed 30-40 11/04/2007

0.6 HR Consultant Telephone Newmarket, UK Self-Employed 41-50 10/04/2007

0.7 Quality Management Face-to-Face Cambridge, UK Self-Employed 61-65 13/04/2007

0.8 Journalist & Writer Telephone Berkshire, UK Self-Employed 51-60 24/04/2007

0.9 Mechanical Engineer Telephone Canterbury, UK Employed 51-60 05/05/2007

10 Sales/Application Specialist Telephone Herne Bay, UK Employed 41-50 14/05/200711 Sales Manager Telephone Dover, UK Employed 30-40 17/05/2007

12 Liberal Party Administrator Telephone Tuddenham, UK Employed 30-40 21/05/2007

Table 1- Participant Pool

The interview consisted of twenty-two questions, each interview was tape recorded

and subsequently fully manually transcribed and analysed through discourse analysis to

draw out the emergent themes. A series of transcription notation marks1was utilised

to ensure that the rich data from the discourses of the mens lived experiences were

captured. The questionnaire data was used to enhance the multiple data collection

techniques that contribute to the comprehensiveness function of the interview data to

provide further and enhanced explanatory insights about these varying data sources.

Summary of the study results

The interviews produced a rich array of qualitative data; whist the questionnaire gave

a systematic and wide-view of the home-based experience of these working men. A

summary of the main points of the interview and the questionnaire study results are as

follows.

1

G Jefferson Transcription Notation In J Atkinson and J Heritage (eds), Structures of Social Interaction, NewYork: Cambridge University Press 1984.


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Summary of interview results

Social Isolation

o Most of the self-employed men based predominantly from home

suffered from a sense of detachment and isolation from colleagues and

associates on a day to day basis. However, the interviewees that had

the opportunity to visit clients or customers were less affected.

Stress

o Although perhaps the social isolation could manifest its self as stress,

these conclusions could not be drawn from this study. However, some

participants felt that the technology used to enable them to work at

home created its own stress and presenteeism due to the close

proximity of computers, i.e. excessive use of email and mobile phones.

There is also an issue of the lack of training to use the technology that

then induces environmental stress.

Defining the home and work space boundaries

o The separation between house, home and work space produced

different cognitive constructs that produced a different set of

behaviours. For example the overarching construct of the house

contained both the home and the work environments. The home is

where the family resides and the work sphere within the house is

where paid employment is conducted. The difficulty resides with the

boundaries between the areas of the house and the conflicting

behaviours that they induce.

o Families with children created the need for discipline, both in terms of

the home-based man occupational success and for the children

boundary crossing during working hours. Families enter into complex

re-negotiations of the space within the home to accommodate the paid

work, not without some conflict.

o The men also experienced a lack of transition from the home

environment to the working environment i.e. the daily commute. The

transition from the domestic to employment sphere is important to

make the cognitive shift from one domain to the other.


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Summary of the questionnaire results

The men in the questionnaire study represent an occupational groups of professional,

managerial, technical and skilled and have houses large enough to have converted

work space should the need it. The men worked between fourteen to fifty hours at

home (self-employed) and fell with age groups of 30-40 and 50-60 years old and spent

an average of 25 hours a week utilising computer technology for the main basis of

communication. All the participants were white and from a British origin.

The main reasons given for home-based working were as follows;

Work-life balance

Redundancy (self-employed)

UK office closure (employed)

Industry standard (employees)

Most Cost effective (self-employed)

The main positives for home-based working were;

Flexibility in working

No commute

Reduced stress & no office politics

Less interruptions

More productive

Environmentally friendly (less travel)


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Research Conclusions and Recommendations

Clearly the positive aspects of home-based work for these men are important and

cannot be overlooked, though the key findings and results of this study suggest that

there are clear psychological aspects that need to be addressed whilst planning for or

as an established home-based worker. Working at home is not to be undertaken

lightly due to cultural and social needs that having a different and separate place of

work provides for the individual. To this end it is understandable that the key findings

suggest that social isolation is a serious matter for these men who work

predominantly from home. This is likely to be the same for all home-based workers

unless they are able to assume particular strategies that either creates social networks

within their immediate community, networking group opportunities or regular

meetings with organisational colleagues. The meetings and the opportunity for regular

breaks outside of the home to local services for example help to remove the worker

from the work environment and to socially interact.

Although stress could well be associated with social isolation it cannot be confirmed

by this study. However, the environmental stressors of poor technology training and

organisational support plus the deluge of email for example, suggests that technology

may induce a form of stress. Work seems to be ever present for these home-based

men and there always seems to be a tendency to overwork due to the close proximity

of work as highlighted in the study. Appropriate time-management training and an

acknowledgement of overwork from organisations of this fact may prove helpful.

The difficulty separating the temporal and spatial boundaries is less obvious and can

have a disruptive influence upon the worker and the family. Separate rooms forworking are shown to be the ideal from this study, though there is an

acknowledgement that this is not always possible. Additional ergonomics and health

and safety support for home-workers is therefore necessary to align with

organisational policy and create a range of self-employed best practice guidelines. It is

imperative that families and in particular children, need to be fully consulted prior to

the commencement of home-based work. The support of the family or immediate

community is vital for the well being and success of home-based working. Lastly, it is


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not just the technicalities of equipment and communication that enable this method of

work to be successful. Planning and the observance of psychological best practice will

provide a framework for a transition toward home-based working for the men and

the organisation.


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References

British Psychological Society (2006) Code of Ethics and Conduct The British

Psychological Society, Leicester, UK

Felstead, A., & Jewson, N. (2000) In work, at home; towards and understanding of

homeworking, London: Routledge.

Felstead, A., Jewson, N., & Walters, S. (2005) Changing Places of Work Palgrave

Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire UK.

Hartig, T., Kylin, C., and Johansson, G. (2007) The Telework Trade-off: Stress

Mitigation vs. Constrained Restoration Applied Psychology: An International Review,

2007, 56(2), 231253

Jvitters, J., Akselson, S., Evjemo, B., Julstrud, T.E., Yttri, B. and Bergvik, S.

(2003) Impacts on home-based telework on the quality of life for employees and their

partners, qualitative and quantitative results from a European study Journal of Happiness

Studies 4: 201233, 2003. 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Mann, S., & Holdsworth, L. (2003) The psychological impact of Teleworking: stress,

emotions and health New Technology, Work & Employment 18:3, Blackwell Publishing

Moore, J., & Crosbie, T. (2002) Quality of Home Experience for HomeworkersESRC

End of Award Report (R000223592)

Ruiz, Y., & Walling, A. (2005) Home-based working using communication

technologies October, Office of National Statistics, Labour Market Trends


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Empirical Study

Abstract

The notion of men working at home is not new, however, in recent years a growing number of

employed and self-employed working men are opting to work from a home-base. Social

science and employment trend studies have identified a number of negative affective

psychological issues of stress, family conflict, isolation, a lack of career progression and work

life-balance to name a few. However, occupational psychological research is conspicuous by

its absence. This qualitative study with a group of twelve employed and self-employed men

corroborate previous research findings and discovers that purely home-based self-employed

men suffer from high-levels of social isolation from colleagues, alongside issues of technology

induced stress, extra work and grievances of un-paid overtime. Both sets of men experience

the temporal/spatial boundary complications and transitional difficulties to accommodate the

domestic home & work sphere; whilst those with children indicate major distractions during

their day-to-day working lives. This study has produced a set of occupational psychological

recommendations for future studies and a framework for organisations and self-employed

networking groups to consider the psychological implications for home-based working.

Introduction

The aim of this research is to study the psychological impact upon a group of home-

based self-employed and employed working men in terms of, (1) social isolation due to

the geographical separation from colleagues, associates and social networks associated

with organisational social existence, (2) the cognitive structures or temporal and

spatial boundaries constructed to enable the men to work from home, and (3) the

impact of the family, roles and children upon work patterns and work based patterns

and behaviours. The study uses qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews and a

questionnaire to identify these areas of occupational concern and provide a

framework of recommendations and for further study. Prior to the presentation of

the study, an overview of home-based working and current research is discussed.


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Home-based working: An Overview

Working at home, flexible teleworking, homeworking and any number of terms for

people working in their home has generated enormous media interest recently. A

plethora of human resources, management journals and newspapers carry articles on

the legal, technical and people management aspects of home-based work, that tends to

reflect the employers viewpoint and not necessarily that of the employees (Stanworth;

1996). Interestingly, these articles contain little or no occupational psychological

research into the impact of home-based working. Indeed the vast majority of research

in this area is from sociology, economics, womens/feminist studies and employment

trend studies (Huws; 1994, Beruch; 2000, Felsted, Jewson & Walters; 2005, Allen &

Wolkowitz; 1987, Phizacklea & Wolkowitz; 1995 and Felsted & Jewson; 2000).

However, research from Mann and Holdsworth (2003), Moore and Crosbie (2002),

Hartig, Kylin and Johansson, (2007) and Mann, Varey and Button (2000) have begun to

focus attention upon the psychological dimensions of home-based working.

Sullivan (2003) and Haddon & Brynin (2005) draw upon the uncertainty of what

actually defines home-based working, telework & homeworking, cumulating in a lack

of clear unambiguous terminology to bind a body of psychological research. Project-

specific heterogeneous definitions, as in this case are inevitable with the lack of

concrete descriptions of the multiple areas of research. As a result, this ambiguity has

impeded occupational psychological research into the new emergent groups of home-

based workers. However, to clarify the position for this research the working

classification will be that the distinguishing characteristics of working from a home-

base are the close proximity to the private and personal worlds of domestic

relationships and a geographical distance from colleagues, networks, co-workers and

managers (Felsted, Jewson & Walters; 2005).

The expansion of male home-based workers

As a proportion of traditional small scale homeworkingorpiecework, women occupy

over eighty percent of the work-force according to Linda Devereux, a director at the

National Group for Homeworking (http://www.ngh.org.uk). These jobs are

predominantly low paid and undertaken for traditional child-care purposes, and as a
http://www.ngh.org.uk/http://www.ngh.org.uk/


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consequence are isolated from the wider economy with little or no real choice of

alternative employment. Fortunately, a great deal of sociological research and

womens/feminist psychology has furthered the understanding of the plight of

homeworking women and has provided some insight for this and other research

(Allen and Wolkowitz;1987). However, the traditional organisational framework that

occupational psychology focuses upon tends to marginalise homeworking and home-

based work for both genders, perpetuating its apparent economic invisibility. Most

occupational/organisational psychological texts often make token reference to

homeworking, telework and home-based work within the context of fragmented

global organisational changes in the 21st century, or low paid workers, ignoring the fact

that more people including a growing number of managerial, professional and highly

skilled working men involved within knowledge economy industries are now working

from a home-base.

The Office of National Statistics (Ruiz & Walling; 2005) state that in spring 2005 there

were 3.1 million people in the UK that worked from a home-base, constituting 8% of

the UK workforce; a rise from 2.3 million in 1997. The forecast is that home-based

working and teleworking is likely to rise to 4 million by 2007 (Key Note Ltd; 2003).

Home-based workers now use advanced Information Communication Technologies

(ICTs) and that 2.1 million could not work in this way without a computer or device.

Key to this study is that 65%-72% of all teleworkers (that are home-based) are in fact

men, representing 2.2 million of the home-based work force. These men are more

likely to have a university degree and twice as likely to have higher qualifications as

women working at home (Laurie and Taylor; 1995). Indeed Joemans analysis (1994; in

Felsted & Jewson; 2000) states that the high discretion home-based workforce weremore qualified than the workforce as a whole and this was entirely due to male home-

based workers. Interestingly, employed people working remotely for an organisation

account for a relatively small share of the home located workforce, some 62 per cent

were self-employed in spring 2005 (Ruiz et al;2005). Needless to say, global economic

conditions tend to dictate that organisations adopt modern methods of controlling

costs, outsourcing, redundancy and subcontracting offering new opportunities to

relocate paid work into the home, shifting the direct costs of energy & space onto the


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worker. Moreover, Felsted et al (2005) state that this is a major influence for the

steady increase in male home-located/based workers and not necessarily a choice

exercised by the worker.

The psychology of home-based working

Working at home may seem idyllic and no doubt is for a lot of people that perhaps

need the flexibility for child-care, a reduction in commuting and a perceived sense of

independence or starting a business as a sole trader. However it would seem the

reality for others can be far less attractive. Apparent issues of stress, presenteeism,

work life-balance, poor motivation, job-satisfaction and the lack of organisational

support are all constant research conclusions (Mann and Holdsworth; 2003, Bolger,

DeLongis, Kessler, Wethington; 1989). Moreover, from the organisational perspective

home-based men may appear to be superficially more productive, however, this does

not take into account or recognise un-paid overtime, household resources and out of

hours work that this method of working relies upon.

Men that are in need of a high degree of autonomy in managerial and professional

positions may of course benefit as an ability to work alone is essential. Other men

who may need the affiliation of co-workers or regular network interface may be

deprived of social interaction and suffer unwanted psychological affects.

Notwithstanding the obvious organisational and personal issues arising from working

remotely, Mann et al(2003), Desrochers and Sargent (2004) and Hardhill, Green and

Duddleston (1996) all draw attention to the blurring of both home and work

boundaries and complex re-negotiations of family life. The home and work-life create

different cognitive structures, social and cultural symbols, inequalities and rituals, it istherefore, important to understand the modes of organising and management of

boundaries between clients, colleagues and the mens private life. Furthermore, the

illusion of more temporal and spatial flexibility through a seamless transition from the

domestic/work domains may be seen as advantageous to workers, and regarded as a

privilege or non-salaried benefit. Partners and children on the other hand may well

regard this privilege as nothing more than distinct intrusion and interference in their

domestic life.


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Furthermore, there is a nave assumption of seamless assimilation integrating home-

based work into domestic time and boundaries tends to predict a construct of

constant temporal divisions between work and home (Steward; 2000). The

experiences of homebased workers can be contrary to the organisational and human

resource viewpoint discussed by Beruch (2000), with little of the predicted benefits or

opportunities for flexibility for autonomous self-employed and employed workers.

Home-based workers can and do experience severe psychological problems of social

isolation, stress and difficulty defining cognitive boundaries between domestic and

work spheres, whilst family life undergoes a series of complex re-negotiations. In the

light of these complex issues and the dearth of integrated research, this study will

investigate and integrate the current thinking within a framework for occupational

psychological understanding.


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Research Aims and Objectives

The purpose of this study is to understand the psychological impact upon a group of

home-based employed and self-employed working men. The aim is to understand the

cognitive and affective processes involved in established paid employment spatially

located within the domestic spheres, by utilising qualitative analysis of discourses and

meta-narrative history gained from semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire.

This analysis will be underpinned by transactionalist theoretical framework where

meaning and context are of key importance to explore the experience of the male

home-based worker; whilst incorporating elements of schema theory (Bartlett; 1932,

Brewer & Treyens; 1981) to investigate the temporal and spatial boundaries of the

home and working environment. It is intended to provide recommendations for

organisational and self employed home-based working men, whilst incorporating

suggestions for continuing future studies suggestions drawing from this study and

existing research.

The study will focus upon three broad categories;

The Personal

o Social isolation, stress and social networks

Conceptualisation of the home & work (physical/spatial) spheres

o Cognitive separation from domestic and paid work environment

Impact of the family and roles upon work patterns


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Methods

This study utilised semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire. The questions for

both interviews and questionnaire were developed from, and with the agreement of,

the researchers from the study conducted by Moore and Crosbie (2002) Quality of

Home Experience for HomeworkersESRC End of Award Report (R000223592).

Interviews

The interviews were geographically focused within the South-East of England. This was

due to the catchment area of the participant pool gleaned from the Cambridge Skills-

Tap networking group. The remaining participants interviews were based in Kent and

Suffolk. All participants worked in their home for part or full time work either self-

employed or employed by an organisation. To ensure the participants experience of

home-based work was not new, the criteria for inclusion was at least one-years

home-based work.

Developing the interview schedule

The semi-structured interview questions were piloted with a focus group of local

home-based working men that were known by the researcher and adapted

accordingly (appendix i). The interview schedule was modified to re-focus upon the

male perspective to explore their experiences of home-based work, the family

influences and established boundaries. The notable limitation is that the views of the

families and in particular partners of the home-based men were excluded.

Conducting the interviews

Both the interview questions and the questionnaire (appendix ii) were sent to theparticipants via email 10-14 days prior to the interview date. The intention was to

ensure that the participants had ample time to reflect upon the interview questions

and any implications for them as individuals, their relationships and negotiated

boundaries with the family members during working hours. It is a fine balance of

probing questions and specific questions, where too much of the former can be

experienced as overly interrogative, and the latter could mean that the interview is

difficult to focus and contain.


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Prior to and following the interview the participants were offered the opportunity to

discuss any matter arising from the interview, mainly to ensure that there were no

taboo topics. All participants were assured that data collected within the interviews

and questionnaire was completely anonymous and only to be used for research

purposes. Lastly, participants had full de-briefing2 to guarantee the opportunity to

explore any issues that may have arisen. However, no outstanding issues were

discussed as all participants were content with the questions and the context of the

interview.

Twelve men took part in this study. All participants were interviewed either by

telephone or face-to-face and recorded using a portable cassette tape recorder for full

transcription. The research including pilot studies took place between 8 th February &

21st May 2007. The time for interviewing (30 45 minutes) varied depending upon the

individual participant. All participants were asked the interview questions (appendix i),

however due to the semi-structured questions; some questions were answered during

the dialogue and therefore not pursued during the interview question sequence,

therefore not all questions were necessarily asked in the same order. Finally, the 12

interviews were fully manually transcribed and notated in accordance with Jefferson

Transcription Notation3 to ensure an accurate representation of the interview data.

Discourse analysis of the transcriptions was performed to ascertain the emergent

themes of the phenomena of working at home through a transactionalist interpretive

framework.

Developing and administering the questionnaire

The questionnaire was piloted with the focus group as discussed and adaptedaccordingly for this study. The questionnaire was sent out to 16 participants that had

given their consent. However, only the interviewed participants returned their

questionnaires. As a result, the demographic is the same as the interviewed

2In compliance with the BPS Code of Ethics and Conduct; 2006

3G Jefferson Transcription Notation In J Atkinson and J Heritage (eds), Structures of Social Interaction, New

York: Cambridge University Press 1984; Appendix iii


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participants. Some participants were unwilling to engage with the questionnaire for

fear of repercussions from their employers, this information was anecdotal and stated

over the telephone as justification for non-participation. However, it is difficult to

present as concrete evidence of withdrawal. Nonetheless, the questionnaire data

incorporated to corroborate the multiple data collection techniques that contributes

to the completeness function of the interview data and provides explanatory insights

about these rich and varied data sources (Knafl and Brietmayer; 1989 in Moore et al;

2002).

Participants

The participant group, interview method and employment status is contained within

table 1. The participants have been allocated figures to protect their anonymity.

Though every effort was made, it is disappointing that the pool of participants for the

study was not wider to encompass the semi-skilled and unskilled male home-based

work force.

P-ID Occupation of Participant

Interview

Method Location Employment

Approx

Age

Interview

Date

0.1 Freelance Graphic Designer Face-to-Face Cambridge, UK Self-Employed 30-40 08/03/2007

0.2 Scientific Consultant Face-to-Face Cambridge, UK Self-Employed 51-60 16/03/2007

0.3 Design Engineer TelephonePeterborough,UK Self-Employed 41-50 29/03/2007

0.4 Computer Programmer Telephone Bedford, UK Self-Employed 41-50 03/04/2007

0.5 Management Consultant Telephone Luton, UK Self-Employed 30-40 11/04/2007

0.6 Self-employed HR Consultant Telephone Newmarket, UK Self-Employed 41-50 10/04/2007

0.7 Quality Management Face-to-Face Cambridge, UK Self-Employed 61-65 13/04/2007

0.8 Journalist & Writer Telephone Berkshire, UK Self-Employed 51-60 24/04/2007

0.9 Mechanical Engineer Telephone Canterbury, UK Employed 51-60 05/05/2007

10 Sales/Application Specialist Telephone Herne Bay, UK Employed 41-50 14/05/2007

11 Sales Manager Telephone Dover, UK Employed 30-40 17/05/2007

12 Liberal Party Administrator Telephone Tuddenham, UK Employed 30-40 21/05/2007

Table 1


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Gaining access to participants

Various methods of were used to attract potential participants for this research. Local

libraries and Post Offices (local to the Cambridge area) were leafleted and by word of

mouth. Internet sites predominantly for Homeworkers i.e. National Group for

Homeworkers, Teleworkers Association (http://www.tca.org.uk/index.html), A New Life

Network (http://www.newlifenetwork.co.uk/) and Homeworking

(http://www.homeworking.com/) were also notified. However, the biggest response

came from Cambridge Skills Tap (http://www.cambridgeskillstap.org.uk/) and

Cambridge Network (http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/) both networking

organisations promoting portfolio working for experienced professionals. Due to

limited resources, no financial inducements or expenses for the participants were

offered, as noted with Moore et al(2002) and perhaps had finances been available then

more participants may have come forward.
http://www.tca.org.uk/index.htmlhttp://www.newlifenetwork.co.uk/http://www.newlifenetwork.co.uk/http://www.cambridgeskillstap.org.uk/http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/http://www.cambridgeskillstap.org.uk/http://www.newlifenetwork.co.uk/http://www.tca.org.uk/index.html


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Results

The interviews produced a rich array of qualitative data; whist the questionnaire gave

a systematic analysis of the practicalities, motives and preferences for home-based

working of these men; supporting the work from Moore & Crosbie (2002). The

intention here is to present summaries of the interview and questionnaire results and

explore the main themes within the discussion. The results of the interview data

revealed four theoretical dimensions of the lived experience of home-based working

men.

Social Isolation

Social isolation and withdrawal from the corporate or work environment was

prevalent. The predominantly home-based self-employed men suffered from severe

social isolation and appreciably more than the self-employed and employed men that

visited customers or clients during the working week. These issues will be explored in

depth within the discussion.

Stress

Participants noted that environmental stress was a consequence of the close proximity

of the technology i.e. computers associated with work, the lack of computer/ICT

training. Additional un-paid overtime to deal with the sheer quantities of organisational

and client email and other duties were prevalent. The issue of un-paid overtime and

presenteeism was common for the employed participants who worked for the same

organisation. Stress may of course be associated with the social isolation, but cannot

be connected within this study and was an oversight, though the issue of technology

proved to incite degrees of narrative stress.

Defining boundaries of the work and home space

The cognitive segregation and constructs of a work area and what constitutes the

fabric of the house and family home is clear from the interviews; with a preference for

a separate work space with distinct barrier (door or spatial separation) to the rest of

the house. Participants described the office within the confines of the house as

opposed to the home. The home was discussed more in terms of a place, an


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investment or security and bricks and mortar and therefore creating three domains

within the context of the building that they work in and conduct family relationships.

The home is a place of wives/partners, children and a safe retreat from the world, thus

providing a conflict with work and domestic spheres for the some of the men and

family members. However, the house and dedicated office space is a priority for these

men when considering moving house. The men felt that their prime consideration

would be for an office space away from the main house if at possible, creating a

definite sense of separation and subsequent transition between domestic and

employment spheres.

Difficulties arose when work was conducted outside of the pre-described area from

partners and children. Children became aware of the need to work during office hours

and sometimes beyond. As a result, children became alert to the office space as out of

bounds within working hours and not normally available to them. The need for

discipline both in terms of the success of the individual worker and the control of the

children in the home was prevalent and often repeated to re-define boundaries and

attitudes to work.

Commuting is normally associated with travelling spatially from one sphere (home) to

another (an office/factory), the men clearly missed the transition or commute from

home to work. The transition to work allowed the men to cross the permeable

boundaries between home and work in preparation for the working day. The return

journey allowed them re-orientation opportunities for the move back to the home

sphere towards home-life and perhaps children. However, not all men felt the

transition was entirely necessary, participants that visited clients felt differently oncoming home than they would if they were based in the home all-day.

The impact of family roles and work

From the participants perspective, family members embark upon a distinct process of

acceptance that the male worker is at home at work and therefore not available to

the family members during working times. The children and partners experience a

degree of conflict when work boundaries are crossed by the family and conversely


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Participants conducting work tasks within the home environment i.e. working on the

kitchen table.

Summary of the Questionnaire Data

The age of the participants were as follows; 4, 30-40 yrs, 4, 41-50 years, 3, 51-60 yrs

and 1 participant 61-65 years old and have spent an average of 7 years working in

their homes. All were located in South-East of England (Berkshire, Cambridgeshire,

Kent, Essex and Suffolk). The participants spent typically 33 hours a week working

from their home base and 25 hours per week in front of a computer, working or

communicating via email and the internet. There proved to be similarities between the

men as regards to housing and stereotypical reasons for working at home, with some

notable differences between the self employed and employed men. Although all types

of home-based male workers were targeted for this study the pool of participants fell

into four main occupational groups; professional, professional-technical, professional-

managerial and skilled.

The hours worked at home ranged from 14 hours for participant 0.3 up to 50 hours

for participant 0.8, a self-confessed consequence of being a sole-trader. From the self-

employed data, all but one of the self-employed participants were made redundant

from their previous paid employment, this proved to be the reason for their own

business. Moreover, as a consequence of high external office costs self-employed

participants chose the home location to work from.

All have houses large enough to have rooms available for an independent work space

(if needed) and live in family owned and rented accommodation. All but-oneparticipant (11) had their own office space in their houses either converted from a

spare bedroom or garage (see table 2). From all of the participants, seven had

partners/wives and one or two children (below 16 years) in the house whilst two lived

alone. The remaining participants had grown-up children that were living with them

part-time or had left home. All participants were white British citizens.


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P-ID

Working at

home (yrs)

Hours worked

at home (per

week)

Hours

computer use

per week

Children that

can be at home

whilst working

Separate room for

work?

0.1 5.5 40 20 - Studio/office

0.2 4 ? ? - No specific room

0.3 5 14 12 1 Office

0.4 4 40 40 - Spare bedroom

0.5 9 22 27 3 Detached garage

0.6 5 50 4 2 Spare bedroom

0.7 12 38 30 1 Spare bedroom

0.8 3 50 40 - Study

0.9 17 20 20 - Study

10 4-5 20 40 2 Office/study

11 8 14 15 3 No-house & car

12 5 40 15 1 No-Living room

Table 2

The main reasons given for home-based working were as follows;

Work-life balance

Redundancy and then unable to get a full time job (self-employed)

UK office closure (employed)

Industry standard (employees)

Cost effective (self-employed)

The main positives for home-based working were;

Flexibility in working

No commute

Reduced stress & no office politics

Less interruptions

More productive

Environmentally friendly (less travel)


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Discussion

The results of this study provide a rich insight into how these men experience home-

based working. The data from both the interviews and the questionnaire reveal that

the men in this study emphasised the advantages, in particular the flexibility,

independence, convenience, the reduction in travel and opportunity to see their family

more, rather than simply suggesting that they didnt have any real choice in the matter.

These men feel they would not actively change their circumstances whatever the

psychological impact and return to organisational life full-time, though recognize the

difficulties of being at home at work.

The employed men (participants 0.9, 10, 11) experienced closure of organisational

offices and most of the self-employed men (7 out of 8 men) had been made redundant.

The fact that all but one research participants were made redundant, suggests that

they were not all instinctive self-employed people or natural home-based workers.

Those that took the home-working option without it being pressed by redundancy

might be more disposed to working from home without the stresses reported. As a

result, this study may be biased towards redundancy. A caveat to this is that some of

the men accepted redundancy to begin their own business, so the bias may be a

debatable point.

Social Isolation-Social Interaction

The overriding personal question raised both within this and other research studies is

the social isolation from social networks or colleagues coupled with the use of ICTs

producing virtual communities and stress whilst working at the home-base. The

negative emotion of social isolation is the most frequently cited disadvantage of being ahome-based worker (Mann at al; 2003). For office based workers, colleagues provide

both social and professional support, re-enforce roles and identities. Moreover, the

interaction with other workers provides opportunities to build networks and meet

friends to build a sense of a common solidarity. Home-based professionals and other

skilled workers tend lose the chance to socially interact, gain contacts and learn from

co-workers (Zerubavel; 1981). It is this apparent lack of resonance from colleagues

that mediates the sense of isolation.


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Participant 0.5

The lack of social contact is significant yeah. I mean obviously the family are here

but you know thats not the same. So the practical effects are sometimes you

internalise things a lot more when you could have worked though if a colleague

was available.

I would have to score myself low on social networking. It tends to make you quite

hungry for casual interaction with people, so I am quite keen for the relationship

with clients to be quite casual. So perhaps some of the casual chat about the

football and stuff comes from the client interaction. Though with some clients who

prefer a more rigid client relationship it can mean that perhaps I appear over

familiar.

This participant is keenly aware of the degree to which he suffers from social isolation

from colleagues. In these circumstances the socially hungryworker actively seeks out

social interaction regardless of the relationship and the levels of expectation of the

client. In this instance he may seem, by his own admission, overly familiar and perhaps

inappropriately so for the client-consultant relationship.

Myers (1996) suggests that the emphasis is upon the individual to become more

socially active with colleagues on a regular basis by utilising communications

technology such as tele or video conferencing. This seems to be a paradox for home-

based workers, as modern ICTs enables world-wide range of communication. Yet

social isolation is a psychological problem for these and other individual home-based

workers regardless of technology. An interesting aside from this study concerns theBlackberry technology4. Blackberry represents a high-water mark for participants in

this study; it is seen as a technology that permeates all areas of the mens lives.

Whereas the computer can be turned off and left behind in the office space. The

Blackberry projects an image of an imbalance of organisational or client power over

the user in making these men persistently contactable and present to clients and

4

The Blackberry is a wireless handheld device introduced in 1999 which supports e-mail, mobile telephone, textmessaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services.


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employers. No participant on this study was prepared to use this technology for those

reasons.

Mann et al (2000) advocate that an increase in computer mediated communications

can in fact reduce the feelings of belonging, affective bond with an organisation or the

necessary motivation for self-employed working. Mann et al go on to add that

loneliness is categorically not experienced by office or factory based workers. It would

seem as though the digital technologies are perhaps erroneous virtual modes of

communication for any meaningful or lasting sense of real social interaction. The

proximity of people who share common goals and aspirations, socially locating,

categorising and defining these men (Jahoda; 1982) appears to be the absent ingredient

to salve the missing work schema or script to satisfy role conflict in this instance

provides evidence for an hypothesis of contradictory cognitive schemas and role

conflict for home-based men.

Participant 0.8 suggests that;

You are lonely and you are on your own, you miss that bumping into people in

the corridor for a quick chat about nothing at all. You do need to know what it is

you want to do, as if you are flailing around and you need guidance you really are

lost.

Participant 0.1

Its pretty much Mr Hermit sat at home most of the day most days.

The self-employed men in this study suffer from a greater sense of isolation. In mostcases its due to the economic circumstances of beginning their own business. They

are forced to work within the confines of their own home and away from the

traditional office environment, frequently as a consequence of redundancy from paid

employment.


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Participant 0.4

Having decided that I was going to be working for myself the only viable way of

doing it is to work from home. Otherwise youve got costs of premises etc and I

didnt consider any other option.

Apart from the economic considerations the predominant reason for being self-

employed and home-based is a perhaps nave sense of independence and increased

flexibility. However, the passage from participant 0.8 highlights that home-based

working offers independence then describes how lonely and socially needy he may

become with little or no motivation with jobs for the day. This independence has a

high price to pay, as the worker embarks upon the self-employed working existence

without employing suitable strategies or with a thorough understanding of the

psychological impact of home-based working to combat the problem of being isolated

and the potential for stress and perhaps depression.

Participant 0.8

Its the independence of it and that is the main positive by a long way, working

for my self and working from home is by far the cheapest and most cost effective

way of doing it. Its very lonely actually you end up having long conversations like

with you in the middle afternoon. So it can be quite lonely.I end up having too

much work at a time, like now Ive got about five different things I am trying to

think of I sometimes worry that none of them get my full attention.

On the other hand, what Participant 0.6 alludes to offers some insight into the points

raised regarding the potential for social interaction though visiting clients premisestherefore re-connecting with the working environment and triggering appropriate

behaviours and interactions.

Participant 0.6 also suggests that;

I suppose another negative thing is that lack of social of interaction and can be

quite isolating. Though with my balance of work at clients sites and working at

home tends to now give me the social interaction that was missing in the start.


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When you are constantly at home, the drive and motivation to get on with things

is sometime lacking.

This Participant again returns to motivation and drive to get things done. This

emphasises that the lack of motivation, clear goals and targets and job satisfaction is

dependant upon the home-based location of the person and the potential for spill-

over into the home domain creating the distraction and a potential for

procrastination. The narrative ofbumping into people in corridors, flailing around, being

lost and isolation present an illustration of the cognitive and environmental influences

upon motivation as advocated by Bandura (1977). By stripping away the culturally

mediated forms of organisational communication or complex socially driven networks,

it erodes the ability to construct new networks of social interactions with these men.

The opportunity for consultants to visit clients is an important need with the

participants. However, the home-based participants struggle to maintain contact with

networks and organisations that may be able to help them. Though most do attend

regular networking meetings on a monthly or bi-annual basis the common problem

here was that they perceived the other men as competitors and were unable or

unwilling to discuss certain personal matters. Another problem is that the meetings

cost too much to arrange, though most found them to be a valuable outlet socially and

for new business contacts.

Participant 0.4

I would ideally see the team on a weekly basis, come together once a week. Its

the cost that is a factor there. Consultancy is about time and time costs youmoney, plus it is difficult to arrange diary time. There are some members of the

team I will phone up and have a chat for an hour in the evening or what ever just

to chew things over. Though its only some of the team I can do that with.

Participant 0.2

We all find it difficult being self-employed to give too much away as in one sense

they are competitors. There is nothing shared no shared goals


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Indeed from the literature reviews for this research only one systematic study was

found to deal with the issues of isolation (Felsted et al; 2000). The strategy of taking

breaks and seeking out interaction with clients, friends and family is primarily a view

gleaned from employment trend studies and not driven by psychology and research.

Clearly, this is an area neglected by occupational psychology given that the matter of

social isolation may grow as home-based working increases. However, not all of the

self-employed or for that matter the employed men suffered from social isolation.

Indeed the employed men in this study spent part of the day travelling to customers

premises and therefore gained regular interaction with like minded people as well as

regular contact with colleagues. On the other hand, this self-employed man is plainly

situated within his community and has no need for additional work based contact or

for that matter did not enjoy the culture of organisational life.

Participant 0.4

My social interactions are outside work, and not inside. I live in a small village

with a good community so you know the work social interaction is not such a big

deal.

I have very rarely had any social interaction with people at work

The coping strategies employed by this participant do seem to protect him from the

problems expressed by working men as previously discussed. It is an interesting issue

from the research of Moore et al(2002) that it appears that home-based workers that

had control over their work (internal locus of control) were more likely to possess an

internal motivation to set goals and work longer hours. Although more research inthis area may be necessary, it is an interesting area to extrapolate an hypothesis that

home-based workers that possess a high internal locus of control may not suffer from

a lack of motivation and therefore not so much loneliness and social isolation. The

data from the questionnaire shows that all of the men prefer working at home

compared to organisational/corporate life, so it is reasonable to suggest that there are

additional reasons for some of the men to feel this sense of social isolation. Future

research may reveal correlations between personality traits and an ability to work


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successfully from home. Notably some participants felt that an introvertedcharacter

would be better suited to working alone. The same participant adds that;

Participant 0.4

I think it depends very much on their own sense of independence, there are some

people who are quite happy with their own company and dont regard the social

side of work as being the most important thing and they are going to be quite

happy working for themselves. There are others that are terribly social and would

suffer badly if they didnt have the social side.

For the most part the self-employed men see the issue of isolation as a trade-off for

the perceived benefits of a greater sense of independence and increased flexibility . As

a result they are prepared to forgo day-to-day contact unless via a virtual network

utilised by many of the participants of this study. The use of ICTs is obviously helpful

but one employed participant is stressed due to the lack of training to use software or

the company databases. The irony here is that the participants organisation offers on-

line computer training only and therefore fails to meet the training needs of this

employee.

Participant 0.9

I mean I hate the computer. I dont know how to use it, its a tool that is so

versatile and I dont really know how to use it properly. All I do is word processing

and data crunching, but the guys are always doing you know reports and all the

stuff thats in Excel, graphs and move it from this and move it from that. Ive got

no idea whats so ever, I have trouble cut and pasting and things like that. I knowformal training would make my job a lot easier but you know I just havent got

the time to do it. Dont get me wrong, the company do a lot of e-learning courses

over the computers but you have to take the time to participate in it.

I suffer from a lot of stress, in as much as, when I wake up Im, Im awake and

as sharp as a pin, cos the first thing I am thinking about is, is work.


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Interviewer

What about the negatives of home-based work?

Participant 11

Well answering emails and trying to get out of the door and working on my

laptop doing emails in the evenings and not getting away from it.

The point here then resides with the ICTs, the use of email and the domain of being a

home-based employee. The tyranny of email is not new, however, this employee

professes hate for the computer because he cannot use it and as a consequence is

stressed due to the lack of abilities compared to his colleagues (Furnham; 2002). It is

reasonable to assume that should the problem have arisen from a personal and

domestic perspective then perhaps training would be gained locally. However, the

fixed work-home boundaries or schema do not allow the easy transition between the

two, and an inability to manage the technologies devoted to the interface within the

household and the switching of work toward a domestic environment (Felsted et al;

2000). Indeed one could conclude that the social isolation alone may be an

environmental stressor. However, a caveat to this study is that these links cannot be

made or substantiated.

Physical and psychological boundaries

The issue of spatial and temporal separation within the home may not necessarily

seem to be an issue for occupational psychology. However, to ignore this is to ignore

a key factor of a growing number of people adopting different methods of work. The

discipline is a study of the psychology of people at work and the effects thatorganisations and occupations have upon the individual; the only difference therefore

is that these people work within the confines of their own home as opposed to an

office or factory environment. The factors of ergonomics, health & safety as discussed

by HSE (2006) Homeworking; Guidance for employers and employees on health and

safetycoaching, new methods of managing people remotely, how leadership effects

people via computer mediated communications etc are all pertinent and vital areas

for further occupational psychological research.


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However, returning to the issue of temporal and spatial separation of home and work,

it could be argued that the larger houses of this group of professional, managerial and

skilled men are not representative of traditional homeworkers lower down the socio-

economic structure. The comparison between men up and down the social spectrum

with smaller houses is a severe limitation of this study. All but two men have a

separate office space to work and establish daily routines and behaviors. The

interviews revealed that the men would be reluctant to work from a home-base

without a dedicated room and envisage that work materials strewn across the home

would cause household stress for family members.

However, one employed worker (participant 11) did not have a dedicated space and

acknowledged that at times children did distract him and the paperwork was a

problem if the phone rings I walk outside or go and sit in the car and I just chuck

everything in my car. I did have stuff in the shed but I got rid of all that. The paperwork sits in

my car and is out of the way. Participant 0.3 is made aware that spilling over into his

partners domain is not acceptable and that the work is to be confined within the office

space. Another who had a bedroom converted prior to situating outside in an

office/garage acknowledged the presenteeism was a problem and described it as;

Participant 0.5

There is a sense of separation when I am in the office, whereas when I used to

work in the back bedroom I felt that this was our home and it was difficult to sit

down in the sofa and get back up again. Psychologically there are lots of

distractions and the kids want to play.

This participant (10) created a sense of separation by dressing for work.

I certainly attire for the occasion, I need to get myself ready for work and its a

way that I do it.

The construct of the fabric of the house is discussed by the men as a way of

connecting both the home that they live with their families and the work space. The


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creation of the internal boundaries requires cognitive schemas to separate and

maintain the boundaries for the worker and the family (Zerubavel; 1981, Campbell-

Clark; 2000). The time for work is strongly mediated by organisational time, men

start at 7-8am and work through to 6-7pm. Though as mentioned before there is a

strong emphasis upon the close proximity to work and availability to just pop in

(office) and check emails (Participant 10). The additional unpaid overtime discussed by

three employed participants is resented, underpins presenteeism and the nave sense

of being more productive. The lack of commuting to and from work is seen as being a

positive, though this time is being used for work thus giving the illusion of higher

productivity. The transition to work for these men is too short, there is a palpable

sense that a traditional commute allows the men to re-align themselves toward the

sphere of work and then back again to the domestic environment, and Participant 0.5

notes that;

When I have got the travelling, there is sense of an easier transition when

travelling home, especially travelling home on the train when you can switch off.

There is that hour, hour and a half that allows you to think about work for a

while and by the time you get home its sort of done. Whereas the 10 paces

make it quite difficult to achieve any sense of resolution between the office and

house where my head is still in work mode.

Home-based work does not allow easy transitions from one sphere to another

allowing no time to un-wind or releasing the transfer of any negative emotions evoking

poor work-life balance or perhaps the opportunity to think about the day ahead. The

home-based workers time is spent trying to manage divisions within and between thehousehold boundaries that define and control time and space within the household

and work sphere. Work provides structure, income, social comparisons, status and

achievement, whereas home-life satisfies the need for close family relationships and

friendships and a sense of personal happiness. Work and home cultures although not

always immediately obvious from the individual, forms collective expectations and

shapes behaviour (Campbell- Clarke; 2000).


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Impact upon the family and work patterns

The construct of home-base work suggest two distinct views of the affect upon the

family; either it increases or it decreases the conflict. In this study there seems to be

an apparent neutral effect for the men. Again a weakness of this study does not

include the wives and partners who may have a contrary view. The effect upon work

patterns for the men is not obvious; the working time at home is not challenged or

disputed by the family members. However, the men with children or children that may

visit the house describe the children as a major distraction to work and need to be

controlledduring work hours; this is juxtaposed with a sense of guilt at the levels of

control.

Participant 0.5

You do have to be quite protective of the work time, I mean I would have to say

that I might be here but it doesnt mean that you (partner) can leave the kids

with me. Because I am workingyou know.

There is an expectation that the partner cares for the children whilst the man is

working, this is opposed to the child-care flexibility women stated for the major

reason of home-based work (Phizacklea & Wolkowitz; 1995, Huws; 1994, Allen &

Wolkowitz; 1987). Therefore, the reasons for men working from a home-base are

loosely couched in the language of flexibilityand more time with the family. This study

suggests it is not born out by actual behaviours or contact time with the family. The

data on partners and children in this study concur with Jvitters, Akselson, Evjemo,

Julstrud, Yttri, and Bergvik (2003) who suggest they do suffer from a sense of

detachment, increased workload and stress as male home-based workers disengagethemselves from family life, evoking a depersonalisation of the work and domestic

sphere schemas.

By not creating sufficient boundaries between home and work within the house there

is a potential for overwork and spill-over toward the domestic sphere. However, it is

not intended to present a negative perspective of the family-work interface, though

there is potential for miss-communication and resentment from partners and children


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of the mans perceived sense of increased flexibility. This research is not in a position

to comment upon the partners and childrens viewpoint and this is an area for further

study. However, feminist psychologists and sociologists Phizacklea & Wolkowitz

(1995) and Allen & Wolkowitz (1987) do draw similar conclusions, that women in a

similar position to the men in this study and in comparable occupations still have

responsibility for the child-care.


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Further Research

The psychological impact of home-based work is varied and this and other studies

touch on known issues of home-based working. However, it is important to conduct

further research into the following issues;

Future studies should investigate the dimension of male personality for home-

based working compared to traditional office/organisational based workers. A

longitudinal study into personality and other psychometric variables will shed

some light upon what constitutes successful personality profile home-based

working to help the choice of working environments.

Further studies should also involve a study of coaching or perhaps home-

supervision for home-workers. A group of workers will have coaching

provided outside of the organisational setting i.e. not managers. A control

group of workers without coaching should be compared in similar occupations

with the group being coached to measure levels of motivation, job-satisfaction

and well-being. Qualitative and quantitative data including diary studies will

provide a range of evidence for organisations and self-employed networks to

provide the support for this growing group of the working population.

Also for further investigation are the methods of teaching ICT skills remotely

via web-based learning. How easy is it for a home-based worker to assimilate

information willingly when working from a home-base without the social

comparisons when learning in organisational groups? Research would compose

of quantitative measures to compare and contrast the learning potential of

differing teaching methods to highlight the most efficient and cost effective

ways of ICT training for a home-based workforce to negate stress.


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Conclusions & Recommendations

Engaging in home-based working should not be undertaken lightly due in-part to the

cultural and social needs that a place of work provides for the individual. Indeed

research so far is fragmented due to the division between occupations and of the

various definitions and constituents of home-based working. Clearly, this is an area

where occupational psychology should begin to become more much visible and take

an active lead to provide frameworks for individuals and organisations. This research

focuses upon the male population of the home-based workforce and only covers

certain psychological aspects for professional, technical and managerial, as a

consequence will need to be enlarged to encompass various occupations and research

methods.

This research suggests the issue of social isolation is a serious matter for the men

(mainly self-employed) who work predominantly from home. This is likely to be

similar for all home-based male & female workers unless they are able to assume

particular strategies that either creates social networks within their immediate

community or networking group opportunities or regular meetings with organisational

colleagues. Any meetings and or the opportunity for regular breaks outside of the

home to local services for example help to remove the worker from the work/home

environment and to socially interact, thus providing a framework for the working day

and breaking the cycle of social isolation.

Although stress could well be associated with social isolation it cannot be confirmed

by this study. The environmental stressors of poor technology training and a lack of

organisational support plus the deluge of email, suggests that technology may induce aform of stress. Work seems to be ever present for these home-based men and there

seems to be a tendency to overwork due to the close proximity of work as

highlighted in the study. Appropriate time-management and an acknowledgement by

organisations of the potential for overwork and additional working hours may prove

helpful. However, the self-employed may find this more challenging for economic

reasons.


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The difficulty separating the temporal and spatial boundaries is intangible and can have

a disruptive influence upon the worker; whilst the family and work compromise can be

fraught with a re-negotiation of space and full of contradictions with established family

roles. However, the positives thread of this study suggests a sense of increased

flexibility and independence and a belief that they would not necessarily want to

return to an organisational based work-life again. Moreover, this study highlights that

successful workers utilise either separate rooms or out-buildings in or around the

house for working demonstrating this to be the best solution for the cognitive

separation of the home and work spheres. There is an acknowledgement that this is

not always possible due to financial status and the available space within the house.

Removing the work from the home context enables the worker the capacity to

commute to work; moving from one script or cognitive schema toward another. This

again seems to provide a more satisfying conversion from home and work for both

the men and family members. The interview data suggests that children, partners and

other members of the family find it a difficult transition to navigate, though this

perspective is viewed through the experience of the men and perhaps may be more

acute than was divulged by the interviewees. It would be fascinating to interview

partners and gain a different view of the male workers transition toward home-based

working and the incursion into the family space and roles.

However, the question for occupational psychology is to ensure that solutions to the

areas in question are available and easily accessible to the growing workforce of

home-based employers and employees, self-employed individuals and networking

groups. The results of this research offer a number of implications and a framework

for home-based male (& female) workers and organisations to consider, and theseinclude the following;

Every effort should be made to ensure that any home-based working is

methodically planned and implemented from an applied occupational

psychological dimension as an extension of either self-employment or

organisational policy.


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Health & safety and ergonomics must be included during office/workspace

planning.

Full consultation and involvement of family members with likely implications

and motivations for home-based working.

Establishment of adequate boundaries between both the home and work space

i.e. if possible a separate room for a work area/office with separate telephone

connection etc.

Appropriate training and coaching to manage time and maintain social

networks to eradicate the negative emotions associated with social isolation.

Training with appropriate ICTs prior to commencing home-based work.

An awareness of the potential for presenteeism, over-working and the

psychological consequences.

For the benefits of home-based working to be fully utilised both for individuals and

organisations, it is essential for the psychological dimensions and implications are

considered very carefully. It is not just the technicalities of any move toward home-

based work that ensures success, but the necessary application of appropriate

psychological frameworks and continued research to aid the transition toward home-

based working.


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