Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

48
Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations: An Overview
64
see European Commission/DG XIII (1997), p.39.
65
Araújo, Emília Rodrigues (1997), p. 390.
66
see Veloso, Ana (1997).

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The Green Paper
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includes a special framework to stimulate the adoption of ICT in the public
administration. As well as outlining future plans, the document is amazingly frank and direct in
characterising the attitude of domestic bureaucracy:
‘Although there is a great potential contribution that the public administration can make in
spreading information and communication technologies in society and the economy, unfortunately
that is not what has been happening. The public administration has almost always represented a
factor of inertia, easily seen in the difficulties faced in successfully publicising individual
initiatives. That is what makes it so important to identify points of resistance and to create
promotional measures to make the public administration a central axis of the Information Society
in Portugal.’
The Green Paper states that the Government should act as the engine of telework implementation,
setting the example. The State, as the biggest national employer, should enter into telework
projects. Promoting telework in companies and in the public administration should be
accompanied by
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an adequate legal framework;
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an adequate organisational framework;
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an adequate technological environment;
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incentives (such as fiscal benefits).
Spain
The country is struggling with high unemployment rates, particularly among young people. In
general, telework in Spain is less prevalent compared to other European countries and has hardly
been introduced through employer-led schemes. Despite labour market reform in 1994 labour
relations are still comparatively inflexible.
In contrast to central governments wish for telework deployment and a high interest by regional
governments and local authorities (as documented by a conference on the issue in
Barcelona, November 1997 during the ‘European Telework Week’), actual implementation within
the authorities' premises has not taken place yet.
Research and promotion tend to target Spain’s large SME sector and the entire development of
qualification measures and computer skills. Agencies in this field are ECTF Spain, the Asociación
Española de Teletrabajo, the Asociación de Usarios de Internet and the Asociación Española de
Documentación y Teletrabajo. One of the unions, the Unión General de Trabajadores, has a pro-
active approach towards telework and is involved in European projects setting up qualification
measures.