Deployment of Telework in European Public Administrations

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The case
Background and motivation
Shannon Development is a government agency responsible for industrial, tourism and rural
development in the counties bordering the Shannon Estuary with the recent inclusion of North
Tipperary and South Offaly. The whole administration employs 364 people. The unit for
Corporate Services and Communications employs 50 people. The organisation's main task is it to
develop advanced computer services and telematic strategies. Stimulated by a European
Telematics Project (ENCATA) and encouraged by the internal information management, work
patterns changed rather informally and in a self-organising process.
Implementation
Six months after the first plans for teleworking Shannon Regional Development began their
telework pilot. Tasks fulfilled by nine teleworkers are report writing from home, remote access to
the computer mainframe, programming, and training and technical support via nomadic work and
from remote office sites. One person conducts homebased telework, five are nomadic workers,
three work in remote office sites. The average time of absence from central office is two days per
week.
The Communications Executive describes his organisation as ‘very enthusiastic and proactive in
relation to telematics as a competitive advantage in attracting inward investment and developing
enterprise, but nevertheless it is only marginally interested in telework as a model for its own
staff.’ The marginal interest finds its reflection in some of the issues investigated. The
organisation has not appointed a manager specifically in charge of telework; specific training and
monitoring have not been implemented.
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Security of data is regarded as a matter for each
individual teleworker.
Regulations
There are no specific agreements dealing with telework.