new publications

Two much-delayed publications should finally see the light of day in early 1999.

The first, provisionally entitled Teleworking in Local Government: assessing the costs and benefits was commissioned by the Local Government Management Board in 1997. It recognises that teleworking is an issue which impacts on local government in a variety of different ways and assesses the costs and benefits to a local authority in its capacity as an employer, as a deliverer of front-line services to local communities, as a planning authority, as a provider of education and training and as an agent of local economic development. To be informed of publication details when they are available, sign up here.

The second is the report of a major study of teleworking carried out with the Institute for Employment Studies for ACAS (the UK Government's Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service). Informed by in-depth personal interviews and focus group discussions as well as a comprehensive survey of teleworking among skilled professional workers, it goes beyond narrow cost-benefit analysis to explore ways in which teleworking can be developed into a sustainable long-term form of employment without sacrificing individual choice, professional development, team-spirit or commitment to corporate values. It also addresses questions of productivity, maintenance of consistent quality standards and training and induction methods. To be informed of publication details when they become available, sign up here.

As well as short articles in Women'space (Volume 4 No 1) andPeople Management, the turn of the year also saw the publication of a more substantial piece in Socialist Register, 1999, Entitled 'Material World: the Myth of the Weightless Economy', this article offers a critique of the notion that the economy is becoming more knowledge-intensive with added value coming increasingly from dematerialised activities. It argues that, on the contrary, the major trend is commodification, with an ever-increasing production of material goods which have to physically (and energy-intensively) transported around the globe. It also discusses the measurement of 'knowledge work' and the 'productivity paradox'. In doing so, it draws heavily on the under-recognised work of Henry Neuburger who died suddenly in December, 1998. We are immeasurably the poorer for his loss. This issue of Socialist Register, edited by Leo Panitch and Colin Leys was also one of the last publications to be put through the press by Martin Eve who died in November. Under his direction, Merlin Press (many of whose titles were published in the United States by Monthly Review Press) did much to sustain a British tradition of thoughtful, non-sectarian progressive publishing during the dark Thatcher years.

For details of some other recent publications, clickhere. For a full list of past publications, click here.

Current work

Invitations continue to arrive to speak at conferences, workshops and seminars and to participate in radio and tv programmes. In the last couple of months there has been a trend away from such subjects as 'flexible working', 'new ways to work' and 'teleworking', towards more general themes such as 'the future of work' and the 'knowledge society'. It is both challenging and instructive to experience the shifts in perspective and style from one audience to the next. In the last six months the contrasts have included the Ministry of Human Resources of Malaysia and that of Canada; the telecommunications committee of Bombay First and the UK Society of Information Technology Managers; the Institute of Personnel Directors and the Transport and General Workers Union; various academic audiences encountered in a lecture tour of Sweden and the Essex Council of Churches.

Ongoing commissioned research includes:

• continuing involvement, with the Institute for Employment Studies, with the EU-funded project Information Society, Work and Social Exclusion (SOWING) as the UK partners.
• a research project, jointly with Alan Denbigh of the Telecottage Association on virtual call centres and their potential for offering good-quality meaningful employment for disabled people. This project, which is also based at the Institute for Employment Studies, is funded by the Gulbenkian Foundation.
• work for the International Labour Office (ILO) on teleworking in developing countries

• the development of methodologies for measuring globalisation in service industries
• identifying the factors which influence locational choice in the new global division of labour
• tracking changes in working conditions and work processes, including the new forms of worker organisation which seem to be emerging
• exploring the psychological implications of telemediated working
• analysing the changes in work culture which are currently taking place
• investigating the broader social implications of labour market change and the sorts of social policy which might make it possible to create forms of work which offer flexibility without precariousness, security without rigidity, and economic development without social polarisation