IELTS Writing Task 2: strong opinion & both sides

Sometimes it's possible to have a strong opinion but still write about both sides of the argument. Take this question for example:

‘Teleworking’, or the use of telecommunications to allow people to work from home, should be adopted by all employers in order to improve the quality of life of their staff.
 To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Here's my introduction:

The current trend towards teleworking is a positive one in many respects. However, I strongly disagree with the idea that it should be introduced in all work contexts.

Can you see how this introduction allows me to write about both the positives and negatives of teleworking, even though I expressed a strong opinion? Which word in the question allowed me to do this?

Comments

[bonnie]

"however"?

[Rateshdeep]

However

[Thaokit]

the answer is " all work contexts"

[Nancy]

all?

[phat]

That must be "to what extent"

[pejie]

disagree?

[Narayan , Australia]

It might be 'however'

[himanshu]

However

[Ted]

"strongly disagree"

[Hibba]

strongly disagree

[BDT]

However and all contexts.
Dear Simon, I guess that the essay structure could be
- a body to say you agree because benefit of teleworking to some types of work.
- (optional) another body paragraph introduce why this method is positive in some cases.
- a body to say that teleworking cannot be helpful and workable to some works which require direct interaction.

I think this structure is good answer to the question and your introduction.
Perharps, this can be right in cracking some other questions which involve a strong oppinion by including "only" "all..." "Always".

[Alex Tran]

Because of the word "all"

[kiran]

Hi Mr Simon,

It seems to me that the phrase that allows us to discuss in both sides is this:
"Should be adopted by all employers in order to improve the quality of life of their staff"

Two Body Parragrapg will be as below:

1) Why we disagree for the adoption from all employers?

2) For which industry this new invention will be accepted and what are the benefits?

[Notanish]

“Teleworking is a positive one..”?

[mahider]

it is the word 'however', because the question says which 'word?'....

[Eda]

strongly disagree

[naina]

" to what extent"

( TO WHAT EXTENT agree or disagree)

[naina]

Well, if we want to be more specific, that WORD could be " EXTENT" .

[Heather]

However

[Heather]

To what extent

[Rudy]

I think you use "however" to explain totally different opinion.

[Jasur]

Should

[Aria]

If you referred us to the question, I think "should be" is the word that prompts you to be so disagree, because it limits your choice.

[Raman]

All

[A]

I thought hard, n it seems you meant to say "all" or may be " should" . But most likely " all" can be the word of your choice. Waiting to find out!

[Tasneem]

work contexts

[Simon]

FROM SIMON:

The word that I was thinking of is "all".

I disagree with the idea of teleworking in ALL work contexts. This means that I can write one paragraph about the benefits of teleworking in some work situations, then another paragraph about the contexts in which I think teleworking would be a bad idea.

[Typhanie]

This phrase: should be adopted by all employers
your opinion:
strongly disagree with the idea...all work contexts.

all employers means all working areas.You paraphrase it with 'all work contexts' and express 'strongly disagree' opinion of it.

[Aleyah Marie]

I think the word "All"

[allen]

Can anyone grade my essay?

Teleworking or telecommute has been increasingly adopted by many enterprises and companies, as the Internet and computers allowed people to do their work at home. However, from my point of view, it should not be encouraged.

Admittedly, teleworking has its advantages. One of them is that working at home can save money and time for both employees and employers. Without having to travel between home and office every day, much time can saved, which means more time can used on employees' work commitments. In addition, office expenditure can also be reduced when employees do their jobs at home. Furthermore, in comparison with office, home is a relatively quiet and comfortable place to work at. Sitting in an armchair at home with a cup of coffee on the desk, people might be less distracted and be able to concentrate on their works.

However, it seems to me that teleworking has more problems than its benefits. Firstly, working at home means employees are under less supervision and management. They will probably engage their time to personal activities like, for example, chatting with their friends and playing games. Therefore, the productivity of their works cannot be guaranteed. Secondly, office time sometimes cannot be simply replaced by working at home. Face to face talk and office meeting are important for a team or company, because employees can learn and be inspired by others in these office activities. Obviously, an online conference cannot be as effective as an office meeting.

To conclude, although working at home sounds like a fantastic idea, I think it should not be encouraged because of its potential threats to companies' productivity and management.

[evet]

Thank you Allen , i've picked some good ideas. Cheers

[allen]

I found some grammatical errors in my essay. But I believe the ideas are good and the essay is well constructed.
Can it get 7?

[Atif]

Dear Simon,

Is it alright if we write one body paragraph about the BENEFITS of Teleworking with some examples of the types of work ( like some businesses), and then second main paragraph about the DISADVANTAGES of Teleworking with few examples of work contexts ( visiting a doctor, at schools ) in which it might not be as effective.

Am I right or Not ?? Just replying Yes or No will clear the confusion!

Thank you.

[Atif]

Hi allen,

1-Your essay is pretty good especially I liked the way you developed your ideas.
2-Yes, we can spot some minor grammatical errors but I suppose those might be the typing mistakes.
3-In 3rd para you write " therefore, the productivity of their works..." , once my teacher told me that " work" is an uncountable noun and almost its always written as 'work'. ( i couldn't find my teacher's notes, otherwise I would have shared it with you).
4- your essay just discusses about the advantages and disadvantages of Teleworking, BUT , for this question I think we ought to give some examples of the work contexts too.
4- You mention that it has more PROBLEMS than benefits, but I m afraid you highlighted more BENEFITSi in 2nd para than PROBLEMS in 3rd para.

Nonetheless, your essay looks well organized, discussing good ideas with enough good vocabulary... To me it seems that it should easily get BAND 7 or more!
(Well, u know i have written an essay on this topic too n now trying to write another essay on the same topic by including some examples of the work contexts.)

[Allen]

Hi Atif,
Thanks for your comments!
You r right, I just noticed there is a "all employers" in the question, so I need to talk about work context.
Maybe I will try to rewrite it...

Many thanks!!

[Atif]

No problem at all Allen!

[Aria]

Hi Allen

I believe it would be better if your writing be commented by Simon, which could be a good guide for us too. However, in my view your writing, which I have to admit is very well organized and coherent, is more for the kind of question as " discuss both view and give your opinion" not one of " in what extent you agree or disagree".
It also can be seen from Simon's example of introduction, and I think it would better if you have been writing two paragraphs about why you are disagree.
I am not sure if Simon will be back on this page or not but as I told at the begining it will be a good way for us to see if we caught what we need to catch from his courses.

[minibluebag]

@allen

Great essay and thank you Allen for sharing.
I hope you get Band 7.

Just wanted to share a few things that I noticed.

"Could use a little improvement areas"
+singular,plural words (work,job)
+word choice :
problems V drawbacks ,
to do their job at home V work from home
office time V office environment
face to face talk V having a conversation in person/or face to face
+the use of OBVIOUSLY ( what if it is not THAT obvious to the reader? If I am not wrong , Simon doesn't really suggest using obviously.I am sure you can find a better alternative - i.e. 'Many people believe that', "Often it is said that"

Cheers

[VNTran]

This is my essay based on allen and simon's ideas. Anyone having free time pls help me out with this essay. I think my essay are full of mistakes. Thanks for sharing knowledge.
The current trend towards teleworking is a positive one in many respects. However, i strongly disagree with that teleworking should be introduce in all work contexts.
Generally, Teleworking has its advantages. One of them is that working from home saves time and money for both employee and employer. Employee don't have to commute from home to office every day, so much time can be saved and more time can be used to finish work commitments. In addition, office running costs and overheads including rates, electricity and heating can be reduced because companies don't need to provide office space for employees. Furthermore, in comparison with office, home is really a quiet and comfortable place to work at. Therefore, when working at home, teleworkers might be less distracted and be able to focus on their work.
However, it seems to me that teleworking has more drawbacks than its benefit. Firstly, Teleworkers are under less supervision and management. Employees will probably engage their time to personal activity such as surfing social network and playing games. Therefore, teleworker's working performance cannot be guaranteed. Secondly, office environment cannot be simply replaced by working at home. Conversation in person and office meeting are very important because employees can be learned and inspired by others in office activities. Many people believe that video conference cannot be as effective as meeting office.
In conclusion, Although teleworking sounds like a fantastic idea, I think that it shouldn't be encouraged because of its potential threats to companie's productivity and management.

[Sonia]

Hi i would like to add one more concern that can be considered in this writing is if employees will be working from home their personal life can be affected too, as their employes will be dependent on them for more outcome and will ask them to put some more time,in that case employees will be frustrated and can give up.

[Sonia]

Hi i would like to add one more concern that can be considered in this writing is if employees will be working from home their personal life can be affected too, as their employers will be dependent on them for more outcome and will ask them to put some more time,in that case employees will be frustrated and wont be able to maintain good balance between personal and professional life.

[NTChung]

Hi Simon

I am wondering whether or not your introduction that you disagree with the idea of proper using teleworking in all work contexts links direct to the question that it could or could not adopt to improve quality of staff life.

In this case, my opinion is that the question requires students just to present idea about adopting teleworking could or could not make staff life better. Therefore, we do not need to consider all aspects.

Highly appreciate your clarification
Much thanks for your commitments to ielts learners

[missa]

Just wondering if Simon will reply our questions here?

[wendy]

all

[sabz]

Hi Notanish
the current trend is a positive one,not the teleworking.

[K.naresh]

hi guys here is my attempt on the given topic..please let me know ,if made any mistakes..

Teleworking is the new aspect of work culture, allowing employees to meet their tasks from their door step itself.However,i strongly believe that adopting of this emerging work culture to all workstations will have a more drawbacks instead.

While, the major beneficent by following this trend is one can save a lot of precious time, rather than wasting at traffic signals.So,with out any worries regarding time restrictions they can comfortably work at their homes in a bonhomie.Likewise,there is also a personal advantage on spending a worth time with their family members,which indeed makes them more active in their task completion.

Moreover,this method resides a many negative impacts that have to be discussed.Firstly, there might be a lack in supervision of working procedure.Continuing, there will be chance of neglecting profession due to showing keen interest on private life.Likewise,there will be a great impact of missing social element, which is more needed.mainly,it was Team Play which gets suffer by this kind of activities,which in turn shows bad signs to the organization growth.

I conclude,this culture is to be rarely supportable for a very short period of time only regarding the employees personal issues.But,i believe,for a long run this wasn't no more suitable for the individual as well as company's enhancement.

[Rajneesh Kapur.]

Expressing personal views in introduction and stating the same in conclusion sound illogical and repetitive. They should be reserved for the last paragraph.

[Sharon]

Hello Simon,

I still have questions about "strong opinion & both sides" because one of the articles you wrote told that we should partly disagree for a balanced article, but in this article you said we can completely disagree.

**Some people claim that not enough of the waste from homes is recycled. They say that the only way to increase recycling is for governments to make it a legal requirement.
 To what extent do you think laws are needed to make people recycle more of their waste?

It is true that we do not recycle enough of our household waste. Although I accept that new legislation to force people to recycle could help this situation, I do not agree that a recycling law is the only measure that governments should take.

So how can I distinguish them apart? Thank you so much.

Sharon

[Nisha]

Hi Simon, I have a question.

Many employees work at home using modern technology today. Some people think only the worker benefits from it and not the employer. To what extend do you agree or disagree?

How does a native English speaker understand this question?
If I were to give an opinion that the employer too would benefit just as the employee, Would the body of the essay need to give the benefits to the employee? Or just the various benefits to the employer?