Every year, thousands of men and women give up working in factories, shops and offices, and instead work in their homes. For many, the change brings marked benefits: flexible hours, independence, freedom from surveillance. But there are disadvantages too: the pressure to work longer hours, the stress of balancing work and family commitments, and the 'invasion' by work into home space and habits.
The quality of home life for homeworkers is the theme of an absorbing study carried out by Dr. Jeanne Moore and Tracey Crosbie of the University of Teesside, for the Economic and Social Research Council. Her work is likely to have widespread resonance among those who already work from home, and offers valuable insights to anyone considering the radical shift from workplace to homeworking.
Dr. Moore contacted over 100 homeworkers, mostly in the North of England and Wales, to build up a formidable body of detailed data and opinion. The range of homeworkers were broadly categorised according to the type of work they did, the skill and resources involved and the amount of control they had over the work.
Among the main findings:
For further information:
Contact: Dr. Jeanne Moore, Psychology section, School of Social Sciences, University of Teesside, Middlesborough, TS1 3BA. Email: j.m.moore@tees.ac.uk . Tel: 0-16-4234-2342, or contact Iain Stewart, Lesley Lilley or Anna Hinds at the ESRC Press Office, tel 01793-41-3032/41-3119/41-3122.
Notes for Editors:
1 The research report 'Quality of home experience for homeworkers' by Dr. Jeanne Moore was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Dr Moore is based at the University of Teesside.
2 The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It provides independent, high- quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC invests more than £76 million every year in social science and at any time is supporting some 2,000 researchers in academic institutions and research policy institutes. It also funds postgraduate training within the social sciences to nurture the researchers of tomorrow. More at http://www.esrc.ac.uk .
3. REGARD is the ESRC's database of research. It provides a key source of information on ESRC social science research awards and all associated publications and products. The website can be found at http://www.regard.ac.uk .