Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

The case
Background and motivation
In 1995 two units of the administration of the town of Espoo, the technical centre and the
department for town planning, started a telework-pilot. It emerged as a self-organising process in
co-operation between senior management and staff members. Reduction of commuting time has
been one of the advantages seen for the employees. Further, one of them with a backbone disease
is enabled to work full-time. The policy objectives of the pilot include encouraging an integrated
employment policy, increased flexibility of labour, and traffic reduction. The cost effects of
teleworking are monitored to provide potential follow-up projects with findings.
Implementation
All tasks carried out at the central office are shifted for two days per week to home offices. Two
teleworkers are in charge of traffic planning and related word processing. The third person
involved is the project manager of the pilot, working for the technical centre. Work was
restructured by team- and result-oriented management. The unit manager and the teleworker
jointly define the objectives for the following two weeks. Results are recorded likewise every
fortnight.
Obstacles
As the only problem noted was that the technical equipment and the transmission of data do not
function as well as expected.
Regulations
On the basis of individual contracts it is agreed that the employer covers insurance for the home
offices. The contracts govern the period of the project, tasks, work time, availability of the
teleworkers, the frequency of work reports, ownership and responsibility of hardware and
software, as well as the costs of infrastructure. The teleworkers are reimbursed at a standard
monthly rate for the costs of telephone, electricity, cleaning, and paper.