Telework to have many benefits: Conroy

14 Jan 2012, 4:15 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Telework will benefit big business, workers, families and the environment, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says.

The national broadband network (NBN) is the "game changer" that will benefit firms and their employees by increase teleworking, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy says.

Senator Conroy says more firms and employees are destined to gain economic, social and environmental benefits from telework, lifting productivity and cost-savings and increasing workplace flexibility.

The enabling technology would translate into improvements in lifestyle, with less traffic because people would be working from home, leaving them more time to spend with family and friends, he says.

"For our next generation of employers and workers, IT (information technology) connectivity will need to be seamless to allow work from any location, be it at home, in the office or at their local cafe," he said in a statement on Saturday.

Senator Conroy was announcing the first National Telework week, to be held from November 12 to 16.

The federal government will partner a number of key groups in sponsoring the event, including the Australian Industry Group, the Australian Network for Disability, Telstra, Infrastructure Australia, the Green Building Council of Australia, and IT giants IBM, Intel, Microsoft and Cisco Systems.

Cisco Systems' Asia Pacific vice-president Les Williamson said teleworking was already providing benefits for staff at the telco provider.

"The future workplace is in the home and the ongoing rollout of high speed broadband will allow more employers and their employees to experience telework, regardless of their size or their business," Mr Williamson said.

Senator Conroy said the NBN would make for easier staff interaction between home and the workplace.

"They will be able to quickly transfer large files and use real-time collaborative business tools," he said.

Australia lagged behind the leading nations in teleworking rates and needed to double that rate by 2020, he said.

At least 12 per cent of Australian employees would have a teleworking arrangement with their employer if that target was achieved, he said.

Meanwhile, the government-owned builder of the national broadband network, NBN Co, is to begin testing the company's fixed-wireless set-up within the next month in the northern NSW city of Armidale.

"We are doing it in Armidale because we have an existing fibre network there and we need to have the fibre network connected to the wireless transmission sites to run the test," a NBN Co spokeswomen told AAP.

The test involves installation, activation and inter-working operations with the retail service providers, she said.

Following the test, services are scheduled to be launched in five trial sites.

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