Final published version
Licence: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Social support in the workplace between teleworkers, office-based colleagues, and supervisors
AU - Collins, Alison Mary
AU - Hislop, Donald
AU - Cartwright, Susan
PY - 2016/7/31
Y1 - 2016/7/31
N2 - This paper draws upon the findings of qualitative interviews carried out with teleworkers, their office-based colleagues and supervisory staff of a teleworking initiative introduced by a UK public sector local authority to explore workplace social support relationships. Our study found differences between office-based and permanent teleworking staff in terms of social support. For teleworkers relationships at work are complex, with social support networks being established prior to working at home. By working from home, teleworkers were able to develop greater social support relationships with some colleagues, predominantly other teleworkers, whilst at the same time allowing them to distance themselves from negative work relationships. Overall, a social disconnection developed between teleworkers and office based staff. In contrast social support was more important for office-based workers, who valued co-worker relationships with other office-based staff.
AB - This paper draws upon the findings of qualitative interviews carried out with teleworkers, their office-based colleagues and supervisory staff of a teleworking initiative introduced by a UK public sector local authority to explore workplace social support relationships. Our study found differences between office-based and permanent teleworking staff in terms of social support. For teleworkers relationships at work are complex, with social support networks being established prior to working at home. By working from home, teleworkers were able to develop greater social support relationships with some colleagues, predominantly other teleworkers, whilst at the same time allowing them to distance themselves from negative work relationships. Overall, a social disconnection developed between teleworkers and office based staff. In contrast social support was more important for office-based workers, who valued co-worker relationships with other office-based staff.
KW - telework
KW - social support relationships
KW - flexible working
KW - peer support
KW - homeworking
KW - supervisors
KW - managers
KW - team leaders
KW - office workers
KW - white-collar work
U2 - 10.1111/ntwe.12065
DO - 10.1111/ntwe.12065
M3 - Journal article
VL - 31
SP - 161
EP - 175
JO - New Technology, Work and Employment
JF - New Technology, Work and Employment
SN - 0268-1072
IS - 2
ER -