Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

Part One
Telework and Public Administations
3
2
see i.e. Huuthanen, Pekka (1996), p. 1; for an overview of several definitions see Daniels, Kevin et al. (1997):
Defining Telework: What is it exactly? in: Jackson/van der Wielen, p. 177-187.
3
Korte, W.B./Wynne, R. (1996).
4
ibid, p. 28
. 

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Table 2:
European Telework Penetration and IT infrastructure (1994)
5
4
Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations: An Overview
Country
Labour
force
6
Teleworkers
7
% teleworking % labour
force with
email
% labour
force with
B-ISDN
Sweden
3,316,000
125,000*
3.77 %
43.68 %
0.56 %
Finland
2,400,000
60,000*
2.50 %
22.00 %
-
UK
25,630,000
563,182
2.20 %
17.16 %
0.96 %
Ireland
824,000
15,000*
1.40 %
16.30 %
0.14 %
Netherlands
6,561,000
80,000*
1.22 %
26.18 %
0.09 %
France
22,021,000
215,143
0.98 %
6.86 %
4.72 %
Spain
12,458,000
101,571
0.82 %
4.13 %
0.21 %
Portugal
4,509,000
25,107
0.56 %
2.61 %
-
Luxembourg
165,000
832
0.50 %
11.39 %
0.19 %
Belgium
3,770,000
18,044
0.48 %
8.12 %
0.23 %
Italy
21,015,000
96,722
0.46 %
6.86 %
0.07 %
Greece
3,680,000
16,830
0.46 %
2.10 %
-
Germany
36,528,000
149,013
0.41 %
12.99 %
5.05 %
Denmark
2,584,000
9,800*
0.37 %
19.17 %
0.22 %
Austria
3,278,000
8,195*
0.25 %
9.00 %
-
TOTAL EU
148,739,000 1,484,439
1.00 %
Source: European Commission, DG XIII, Status Report on Telework (1997). All figures and percentage of
teleworkers except asterisked figures from the TELDET-survey in 1994. For sources of national estimates,
see European Commission, DG XIII (1997).
On the other hand, within the wide scope of definitions a lack of adoption of ‘telework’ as a
concept and slogan in several Member States and regions may have led to lower estimates, as
several work practices classified by telework-enthusiasts among researchers in their own
countries might simply not be considered in other countries. Informally decentralised and
computer-based work, homework, home-based overtime and nomadic work are organised as they
have always been, but are nowadays performed with new technical tools. For instance, the
quantitative difference between Austria and Finland based on different sources in Table 2 of the
percentage of teleworkers among the national work force is likely to reveal not only different
realities of telework deployment, but also inconsistency in the classifications of telework.
For our study we defined telework as:
'a way of working using information and communication technology, in which work is carried out
independent of location - particularly at a location other than the traditional work place.’