Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations: An Overview

---

In Part One, we already raised the critical aspects of our explorative and short-term approach
which mainly lies in the heterogeneity of a small pan-European sample. In most of the Member
States the organisations investigated are singular and exceptional cases. In other countries the
cases are specific ones among a variety of others. Thus, comparisons have to be interpreted with
caution as differences and similarities between organisations, and not as comparisons between
Member States. General considerations should be read in connection with the descriptive case
stories in Part Two. In the following conclusions, references to the extended sample of 22
organisations it are marked with an asterisk (*).
3.1. Aspects of deployment and penetration
In Part One, we drew attention to the problems in analysing telework penetration. Our overview
was neither directed nor capable of quantitatively surveying telework in European public
administrations.
To a certain extent, general findings about telework also apply to public administrations in
particular. Our field experience indicates that a European north-south disparity regarding telework
deployment is reflected also by deployment in public administrations.
We have already stated that telework penetration is dependent upon multiple factors: ICT policy,
telecom tariffs and provision of technical infrastructure. Our findings on bureaucracies indicate
that besides macro-economic trends towards deregulation, the social and organisational
environment based on the political history of different work cultures with different styles of
monitoring and control, are immensely relevant. Any interpretations of the Netherlands as an