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Tele-working can stress you out

December 05, 2000


Tele-workers feel psychologically worse than their office-based colleagues. As tele-working is an important and growing trend, action needs to be taken to combat the problems and help tele-workers to be more effective.

These are the findings of Dr Sandi Mann of the University of Central Lancashire and Lynn Holdsworth of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, presented today, Wednesday 20 December to The British Psychological Society’s London Conference at the Institute of Education.

The researchers questioned journalists from a national newspaper, half of whom were office-based and half home-based (relying on email, the internet, fax and phone). Twelve were interviewed in depth, and a further 62 completed a questionnaire.

The tele-workers were more likely to experience negative emotions (such as loneliness, irritability, resentment, guilt and frustration) and mental health symptoms of stress (such as difficulty in concentrating, sleeping problems, worrying, and feeling pressured, that things were too much and they couldn’t cope).

‘The main problem is isolation,’ Dr Mann says. When computers crash, for example, there is no help and support immediately available. When people working at home are sick, office-based colleagues can’t actually see their red noses ­ and they feel they have to work on. What tele-workers need, Dr Mann argues, are ‘better systems of technological back-up, more emotional support, innovative ways to reduce isolation and clearer policies to limit tele-workers’ tendencies to over-work’.





British Psychological Society (BPS)