Understanding what the virtual workplace means in South Africa today

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* 1. Gender

Male

Female

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* 2. Industry (please let us know what industry you work in by selecting an option below)

Administration

Advertising and Media

Agriculture and Forestry

Aviation

Banking and Financial Services

Building and Construction

Clothing and Textiles

Community and Social Services

Consulting

Distribution and Warehousing

Education and Training

Engineering

Entertainment

Export and Import

Fashion

Government and Public Sector

Health, Medical and Pharmaceutical

Hospitality

Information Technology

Insurance

Legal

Logistics

Manufacturing

Mining

Motor

NGO and Non-Profit Associations

Petroleum

Procurement / Purchasing

Property and Real Estate

Recruitment

Retail and Wholesale

Science and Technology

Telecommunications

Transport

Travel and Tourism

Other (please specify)

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* 3. Within your organisation, are some staff working remotely albeit at home or in a different geographical location?

Yes

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* 4. If there are some staff working remotely within your organisation, how successful is this?

Very successful

Quite successful but improvements could be made

Not at all successful

I don't know

Please state why you answered as you did

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* 5. Do you agree people can work from anywhere, they do not need to be in the office to be effective?

Yes

Some staff

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* 6. Do you agree the following jobs can be done virtually, staff fulfilling them do not need to be in the office to be effective?
Accountant
Actuary
Administrative assistant
Advertising Executive
Agent
Analyst
Applications Programmer
Architect
Artist
Attorney
Auditor
Banker
Bookkeeper
Broker
CAD/Cam Engineer
Central Files Clerk
Chief Executive Officer
Civil Engineer
Clerk
Clerk/Typist
Clinical Psychologist
Computer programmer
Consultant
Contract monitor
Customer service rep
Data Entry Clerk
Data Search Specialist
Database administrator
Design Engineer
Desktop publisher
Economist
Editor
Engineer
Financial Analyst
Graphic Designer
Industrial Engineer
Insurance Broker
Journalist
Laboratory Director
Lawyer
Market Analyst
Marketing Manager
Natural Scientist
Office Manager
Paralegal
Programmer
Project/Programme Manager
Public relations professional
Purchaser
Realtor
Reporter
Researcher
Sales rep
Software Engineer
Speechwriter
Statistician
Stock Analyst
Stock Broker
Surveyor
Systems analyst
Technical Writer
Telemarketer
Telephone operater
Training designer
Translator
Travel agent
Typist
Webmaster
Website designer
Word processor
Writer

Yes

Please state why you answered as you did

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* 7. Virtual work is not suitable for all employees. One can’t ignore personality traits and work styles as this puts the success of the virtual workforce at risk. Select all characteristics you feel are important in the virtual workplace:

Trustworthy

Self discipline

Self driven

High sense of responsibility

Ability to plan

Personal ownership

Results oriented

Committed to performance

Accountable

Professional

Self motivated

Focused

Organised

Time management

Communication

Flexible

Other (please specify)

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* 8. Select the potential benefits to the virtual workplace, you feel you do experience, or could experience, if it is implemented successfully in your organisation.

Reduced real estate expenses

Increased productivity

Higher profits

Improved customer service

Access to global markets

Environmental benefits

Increased efficiency

Faster response to market events

Lower infrastructure costs through methods such as virtualisation and cloud computing

Stronger customer relationships

Increased transparency

Attraction of a more diverse work force

Lower personnel costs by off-shoring

Minimise employee turnover

Improved risk awareness and management

Recruitment of younger employees

Better brand awareness among customers

Attract and retain valuable talent

Encourage creativity and innovation

Opportunity to make more money (more free time)

Money saved on lunches, clothes, fuel, car maintenance

Less absenteeism

Fewer labor costs

Less air pollution, less use of fossil fuels, fewer traffic problems and car accidents

Other (please specify)

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* 9. Select the potential challenges to the virtual workplace that you fear and that inhibit your organisation from pursuing the virtual workplace.

Setup and maintenance costs

Feeling isolated

Erosion of corporate culture

Loss of cost efficiencies

Lack of trust

Performance management

Team leader and team member competence

Governance and control

Cultural resistance to changing traditional work methods

Lack of an effective strategy to support a virtual work environment

Data leakage

Risks to governance and control

Barriers to communication among dispersed teams

Other (please specify)

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* 10. What is your organisation’s strategy with regard to creating a virtual work environment?

Beginning to implement a broad initiative

Beginning a limited trial

Analysing the need and opportunity

Halted or abandoned efforts

No strategy/no plans to create one

I already work remotely, it's just not formalised

Working remotely is fully embraced and formally implemented

Don’t know/not applicable

Other (please specify)