Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

Lesson learned and outlook
The main achievements reported from this telework-scheme were a reduction of employee travel,
improved internal communications and increased productivity. An extension of the telework
scheme was expected. If all the plans are fulfilled, central government in the Netherlands would
have employed about 2,200 teleworkers by the end of 1998.
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Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations: An Overview

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Case No. 11: Sweden - The ‘Gatu och fastinghetskontoret’ 
of the City of Stockholm
Policy environment
Already by the late 19th century, the communications revolution had noticeable effects on
Swedish society. Around the turn of the century Sweden belonged to one of the leading countries
regarding the use of the telephone. Nowadays, Sweden is a leading Member State in infotech
infrastructure. It is the fifth largest exporter of telecom equipment in the world after the USA,
Japan, Germany and UK. Ownership of PCs, modems and mobile phones is high, while the rates
for virtually all telecommunication services are among the cheapest worldwide.
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It does not matter which of the many different statistics on telework penetration we consider, as
all of them show Sweden as having the highest proportion of teleworkers within the national
workforce in Europe. The DG XIII status report on European Telework estimates a proportion of
3.77% of teleworkers in the national workforce in 1994
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, recent calculations identify even 18%
or 700,000 people of the Swedish labour force as teleworkers. However, it should be noted that
here the definition of ‘telework’ is a very generous one. It refers to work carried out at least 2
hours a week from home or other temporary workplaces, with or without the use of ICT.
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In 1994 the government appointed a national IT Commission whose goals are ‘to follow, initiate
and support the development of a society in which IT is a natural and integrated tool for all,
providing opportunities to improve the quality of our lives, strengthen democracy and thus
improve Sweden's competitive position.’
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Within such a comprehensive programme, the
Commission advises the government and focuses on a wide variety of issues: development of a
sound infrastructure, job creation, electronic commerce, training and education, the integration of
disabled people, and the specific challenges of work in remote areas.
At present Sweden's economy is undergoing serious structural changes. The employment rate is
at the average level of the European Union, which in comparison with the Swedish experience
during the last decades is high. Furthermore, an economic backlash in comparison with the
Scandinavian neighbours has become a matter of shared concern.
Telework is regarded as an element in efforts for modernisation and re-organisation, whereby the
Swedish political culture favours models which find a consensus among different social actors.
The unions SIF and TCO have chosen a pro-active approach to telework. The TCO, representing
most of the teleworking employees in Sweden, underlines the importance of a written contract
between employer and employee. Guidelines developed by TCO refer to the voluntary character
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