Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

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Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations: An Overview

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Obstacles
The pilot faces objections from central administration as well as from middle management within
the department's own ranks. The reduction of departments will require fewer management
functions, and managers facing the prospect of reduced staff numbers also fear a loss of relevance
regarding their own positions.
Lesson learned and outlook
In a climate of competitive pressure the outline of the trial, according to its promoters,
instrumentalises telework for a smart solution of structural change providing a stable frame of
relative high security for employees. To a certain extent this is due to the personification of social
partnership (telework manager and unionist) by one and the same protagonist. A main lesson for
the promoters of telework in debates with their opponents has been the proof that employment
arrangements of civil servants in Austria are flexible enough to allow a workstyle with flexibility
of time and place, whereby a solution preferring work at remote offices to homebased work also
serves them to circumvent potential legal complications (insurance, accessibility of teleworkers'
homes). The pilot is currently setting up the first practical steps.
Case No. 3: Denmark - The ‘Arbejdsskadestyrelsen’ 
(National Board of Industrial Injuries)
Policy environment
Denmark is among the most advanced member-states of the European Union regarding the
deployment of infotech infrastructure. According to a Gallup poll carried out in 1996, 47% of
Danish homes had a PC, nearly 5% had a modem. Based on figures of an IDC survey carried out
in 1995, it is estimated that these days work places are equipped with over one PC per salaried
employee. In 1995, Denmark had about 19 mobile telephones per 100 inhabitants.
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The Danish government's political action programme on ICT ‘Fra vision til handling’ of March
1995 does not include telework explicitly. However, the Danish strategy proposes and supports
the implementation of electronic service networks in public administrations at all levels, and
favours partnerships between the public and the private sector. In May 1997, the Danish Board of
Technology initiated a national Consensus Conference on Teleworking which highlighted the
question, whether and to what extent telework demanded regulations of the labour market and
how the extent and content of IT development can be determined. In a final document the
conference panel recommended the preparation of a telework-handbook for private and public
enterprises by the Ministry of Research and Information Technology.
As a consequence of ‘Fra vision til handling’, 275 municipalities and 14 counties participated
during 1996 in a telephone survey about their role in the Information Society and Automatic Data
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