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Teleworking or home workers are not being given the same access as other employees to development opportunities, according to a new survey from The Work Foundation.
In its newly published report The Psychological Contract, the Foundation looks at how UK organisations manage the relationship between employee and employer. It finds that remote workers are far less likely to receive the same opportunities for training and development as other employees.
Respondents were presented with a list of development opportunities and asked whether remote workers in their organisations have the same access to these as other employees. Almost three quarters (73%) say they provide remote workers with the same access to training and development, but only around half (55%) always offer the same coaching opportunities. Some 51% provide the same mentoring opportunities. Only 38% provide the same chances for secondments and 36% give them the same opportunities to experience cross-team working.
The report - including case studies and management studies from Swale Borough Council and the Forestry Commission - says: ?Organisations that do not ensure that remote workers have the same chances for development or promotion as their colleagues risk alienating them and losing their loyalty. Our finding that at least half the organisations with home and teleworkers do not always provide them with the same opportunities for mentoring, secondments and cross team working suggests these organisations may be distancing those employees whose psychological contracts need high maintenance.?
And while experts increasingly agree that a good psychological contract is an integral part of business success, only 13% of the organisations surveyed by The Work Foundation have an explicit strategy for sustaining it.
Almost a third (31%) of organisations said they had no strategy, 9% are working on one, 8% did not know what their organisation?s approach was. Thirty-nine percent had an informal approach to maintaining a good psychological contract with their staff.
The survey of personnel and HR specialists also found that few organisations explicitly recognised the importance of the psychological contract to business success. Only 11% made the maintenance of a healthy psychological contract with employees a part of their organisation?s core business objective.
36% said it was part of their organisation?s core business objectives, but in an informal way, and 13% are actively considering formal activities. Almost a third ? 30% - answered a straight ?no? to the question.
The organisations surveyed tend to judge employee morale by measuring changes in absence levels (81%), retention rates (81%) and staff attitude surveys (49%).
Jane Sullivan from The Work Foundation?s surveys and diagnostics team says: ?Changes in absence levels, retention or recruitment might indicate to an organisation that there was a change in the psychological contract, but wouldn?t tell you what or why, unless they were followed up with more research.
?Staff attitude surveys are useful for informing organisations about the nature of the psychological contract - and can provide a real insight into the expectations people have of their jobs and employers, as well as what they are prepared to give in return. Staff attitude surveys are also important in helping distinguish between the differing contracts and expectations that different groups of employees may have.?
The Work Foundation continues the tradition set by The Industrial Society to improve the quality of working life in the UK, with a unique fusion of research, consultancy and advocacy. The Work Foundation is wholly independent and holds not-for-profit and Royal Charter status.
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