Quality of Home Experience for Homeworkers, 2002

This study examined the ways in which home is conceptualised, experienced and evaluated by homeworkers, a hard-to-reach group. It explored the impact of homeworking on the experience of home and family life and sought to identify ways in which working from home may challenge the traditional stereotypical view of home. A pilot study suggested that the homeworking experience may be differentiated by economic, spatial and gender factors revealing potential tensions and inequalities among the broad range of people who work from home. <br> <br> The research sought to:<br> <li>explore the existence of supports, inequalities and tensions in the homeworking experience; and</li><br> <li>establish the particular qualities of home that are enhanced with working from home, as well as those that are limited by this activity.</li><br> <br> The study used mixed methods, including face-to-face qualitative interviews with individuals and focus groups, and a semi-structured questionnaire, from which a quantitative data file was complied. The qualitative sample consisted of 60 men and women who worked from home (45 individual interviewees, and fifteen other respondents comprising three focus groups), in varied types of work including professional, semi-skilled and unskilled. Four population areas in Northern England and Wales were targeted for this study. The quantitative data set included 62 questionnaires from a separate sample of national homeworkers. <br> <br> Key findings suggest that homeworking is differentiated by gender role, type of work and expectations. Furthermore there are both positive and negative aspects to the homeworking experience for all homeworkers. For example, flexibility is desired and enjoyed but this brings longer working hours. Finally, home is enhanced for some and invaded for others, but most make a conscious effort to make working from home viable.