Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

37
Part Two: Selected Cases

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Various informal exchanges allowed for the negotiation of critical aspects of the regulation, such
as requesting the exclusion of methods of evaluation of productive performance, which was
stipulated in the original proposal.
Implementation
The following departments were involved in the pilot project: The Mayor’s Cabinet, the
Department for Cultural Heritage, the Department for Juridical Policies Department, the
Department for Information Systems, the Immigration Office, the Department for Organisation
and Training, the Department for Public Work and Urban Maintenance, and the Pollution Office.
Originally training courses were planned for teleworkers, but actually postponed due to the
limited time span for the pilot project. Main work areas conducted as telework have been
administrative and management tasks, bibliographical and technical research on data banks, data
processing and software development activity, planning, accountancy and personnel management.
51% of the teleworkers carried out mobile teleworking, 49% worked at home, and 26% worked
in telecentres. More than 600 working journeys were monitored and the average teleworking day
in a week was one and a half.
Obstacles
Communication between teleworkers and their bosses was somewhat affected, and
communication between teleworkers and their colleagues has substantially decreased. However
teleworkers did not suffer from isolation. In some cases telework represented a solution to the lack
of IT equipment in different departments.
The union representatives expressed strong reservations. It is foreseeable that negotiations will be
more complex should there be any new initiative. Critical themes which are being discussed at the
moment (worker isolation, production control, piecework, the slackening of guarantees,
restructuring productive processes, globalisation of labour markets) brought up significant
differences of attitude and approach.