Effects of Online Services
Learning Objectives To understand the effects of the use of online services on society.
Some jobs have been created… such as… Programmers/Technical Staff
Some jobs have been created… such as… Analysts
Some jobs have been created… such as… Help Desk / Call Centres – some in developing countries.
Working Patterns More people can work from home due to having internet connection (teleworking)
Convenience Online services provides more convenience and gives people more Leisure Time
Environment Online Services has benefit the environment, (pollution) for example it has given people the option to work from home, reducing the need to travel into work
Less Jobs for Shop Workers With the increase of online services, there has been a decrease in the number of physical stores and the sales staff that worked in the stores.
Health People are becoming lazy due to having to much leisure time which is affecting their health
Social Interaction There is less face to face contact – reducing social interaction
Cybercrime Online crime has increased….viruses, hacking, spyware etc
Leisure Time People think that ICT has led to reduction in work, and more leisure time Evidence suggests that people can take their work home with them (i.e. laptops / USB / external hard drives). People are called out of hours and reply to s.
Working Practices: Job Sharing When two people are employed instead of one, on a part time basis. Employers get a mix of skills and experience.
Working Practices: Part-Time Working As ICT has cut jobs some employers would rather employee more people, but part time (more flexible) E.g. call centers may need people to work late at night (but not all night) so some people will do 8am – 8pm and then another shift does 8pm till midnight.
Working Practices: Flexible Working Hours It is become quite fashionable for some workers to pick their own hours. (Especially IT workers). As long as their work is done, they do a minimum number of hours a week Sometimes they have to be in by 10am at the latest for example.
Working Practices: Working From Home Sometimes called teleworking. No need to commute. No need to rent office space. Harder to maintain contact with team. Some people get distracted at home, when they wouldn’t in an office.
Working Practices: Compressed Hours Similar to flexible working hours, Workers can do their hours but over less time. Eg. If they stay late and do longer days Monday – Thursday, they may get to leave early Friday.
Working Practices: Moving Branch to Branch As large companies have WANs it means that employees can move to a different branch. They can still access their files over the network. Very flexible for the company.
Research Task Write down the advantages and disadvantages of various working patterns: Job sharing Part-time working Flexible working hours Working from home Compressed hours Hot desking – moving from branch to branch
Changes in working patterns
Characteristics of a teleworker
Drawbacks of working from home
Benefits of working from home
What is Job sharing?
Benefits of Job Sharing
Drawbacks of job sharing
Working patterns to avoiding redundancies
Opportunities of websites
Working from home