Work from home, or not? Driving conversation through research
June 18, 2009 by Derek Lau
Filed under Case studies, Featured Content, Technology
Working from home (or not) is a hot topic for the Australian workforce. With this in mind, Howorth worked on a public relations research project that aimed to drive conversation around the issue of working from home – and find out just which side of the fence Aussies sit on.
For Citrix Online – a technology company focused on enabling remote working via web services – Howorth constructed a public relations program around a research project that compared and contrasted the attitudes of workers and small business owners in Australia, the US and the UK.
Results from research polling company WomanTrend™ Inc. revealed a significant desire to work remotely. In fact, nearly one-fifth of Aussie workers would take a five per cent pay cut to work from home.
Using these findings, Howorth employed a tiered public relations strategy to position Citrix Online as a thought leader on remote working. Howorth engaged with key technology, consumer and small business media outlets to successfully:
- Seed the term ‘Web Commuting’ as an answer to ‘Telecommuting’
- Launch a comprehensive research report titled ‘Worldwide Workplace: The Web Commuting Imperative’ – which included trends relevant for the Australian media
- Used third party expert commentary from experts Joseph Sweeney, Advisor, IBRS and Bevis England, Director of Telework New Zealand
Through media outreach, Howorth successfully raised awareness around remote working trends and achieved more than 20 pieces of online, print, radio and media coverage including:
- News.com.au
- The Australian Financial Review
- Smart Company
- NOVA 96.9
- 2GB Sydney
The media outreach also drove social media coverage via blogs on local small business websites and Twitter chatter. Resulting interviews included discussion around the benefits of remote working technology including Citrix Online’s GoToMeeting, GoToMyPC, and GoToAssist.
