One in five Australian full-time workers now access their work network remotely—but they work longer hours and are more likely to do unpaid work at home, internet usage data from Roy Morgan Research shows. That translates to almost 1.5 million full-time workers (20%) used the internet to access their work network remotely during an average four-week period in the year to June 2015.
“Full-time workers are increasingly willing and able (and perhaps expected) to access their work networks remotely, whether simply to check and reply to emails while out-of-office or to perform regular duties instead of (or as well as) coming in to work.” Michele Levine, CEO – Roy Morgan Research commented.
Levine went on to explain that more devices means more opportunities to get to work: 18% of full-time workers use a computer to remotely access the work network, 7% use a mobile phone, and almost a quarter of million (3%) use a tablet in an average four weeks. Only a dedicated 1% or so have recently used all three devices to log-in remotely to work.

% of full-time workers who access work network remotely in average four weeks

“Online work networks can be mutually beneficial to employers and employees, but the full impacts on workplace relations and productivity are yet to be realised. 24-hour wireless internet access means many employees can potentially log-in from anywhere on any device at any time, whether in a café on the weekend, when sick at home on a weekday, or even on holidays. It’s easy to see how this could be good and bad for both businesses and workers.” Levine commented.
Levine went on to point out that 20% of full-time workers who access their work network remotely put in longer hours and are more likely to do unpaid work from home. Among all Australia’s 7.4 million full-time workers, 11% do some unpaid work from home, and just over 1 in 3 (2.5 million people) work 41 or more hours a week (including 27% working 41 to 59 hours and another 7% working 60 or more.
Levine also that the research revealed that those who access the work network remotely are almost twice as likely to do unpaid work from home (22%), while nearly half work 41 or more hours a week: 37% do 41 to 59 hours and 11% do 60 or more. Remote networkers are also around 30% more likely than other full-time workers to be dissatisfied with their current job or to search for jobs online in an average four weeks.

% of all full-time workers and remote networkers who