The UK Telework Association was founded in 1992 at the dawn of the Internet Age. It was clear to the founders that technology was going to give people the freedom to work from remote locations and still keep in touch with their colleagues. But they could see that this was a challenge to many organisations and there were plenty of barriers in the way of progress. The technology was not reliable and could be prohibitively expensive. There were practical problems with having people working in their homes, from health & safety and insurance, through to business rates and capital gains tax. Managers were nervous about having people working remotely and not being able to see what they were doing.

The Telework Association was set up to explain this new way of working to politicians, employers, prospective flexible workers and anyone else who might need to know. In the early days, when the technology was relatively expensive and telephone lines into homes were very slow, a series of ‘Telecottages’ sprang up around the country. These provided workspace with powerful PCs and ISDN lines that were not practical in individual houses. The Association had its first office in one of these and was closely associated with the move to bring work back into rural areas.

Since then, technology has evolved rapidly and flexible working has become more commonplace in a whole variety of jobs. With smartphones and broadband universally available it’s simple and cost-effective for people to work remotely. However there are still significant barriers to overcome before teleworking becomes accepted as ‘business as usual’. The Telework Association therefore continues into the 21^st Century providing advice to members and promoting remote and flexible working as good for business, individuals, society and the environment.

The Association is led by volunteer Directors who are spread out across theUK. Two are inScotland, one inCornwalland one inKent; just about as far apart as you can get! The day-to-day running is handled by the Development Director and Research Director who are both based in Oxfordshire. As if that wasn’t spread out enough, the Development Director spends some of the year travelling around Europe in a motorhome continuing to run the Association just as if she was in theUK.

To maintain regular contact the Directors have monthly conference calls and of course keep in touch by email and phone. Once a year they meet face-to-face for more strategic discussions, and find this sufficient to maintain good team relationships. Individual directors use Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter to keep in touch, but this has evolved through individuals taking the initiative rather than any formal process.

When the Association started up, it communicated with members by post and produced a monthly glossy printed magazine. Over the years this has evolved into email communications and a PDF version of the magazine. From the beginning, members could find out about opportunities available for home workers and this information is now included in weekly email newsletters, along with topical news items of interest to teleworkers. There is also a Teleworking Handbook which is still available as a paperback book, but the next edition, which is now being planned, will be available as an e-book too.

As the world of work continues to evolve, so the Telework Association will evolve its services to match the needs of flexible workers, their employers and the UK as a whole.