1996 - European Telework Week

Telework 96
The UK and France are the countries with the highest telework penetration in
organisations, with around 7% of the organisations practising telework. Factors which
are likely to have contributed to this situation are their particular cultures and mentalities,
i.e. a much higher openness to technological developments than in other countries (cf.
the success of Minitel in France and the high level of PC usage in the UK), the
widespread popularity of self-employment (especially in the UK) and an advanced
awareness of the options telework offers. This latter has obviously also been stimulated
to some extent by public awareness initiatives (e.g. DATAR in France, cf.
Robinson/Kordey 1994 8 ).
Source: TELDET Project 1994 9
Figure 1 Telework Practice in Organisations
Decision Maker Survey (DMS) in Europe 1994
2.3.2. Telework practice in Europe 1994
Telework is being practised throughout the economy. The banking and insurance sector
was the first to use it to a considerable extent. This may be due to their employees' very
high familiarity with IT&T and the often highly decentralised organisation of such
companies, where branch offices and mobile sales forces working from home are already
connected to headquarters by telecommunications.
In addition, large corporations appear to be the first to make use of teleworking.
Telework practice is highest in organisations with more than 1,000 (in some countries up
to 500) employees, where it reaches figures significantly above the average.
Urban areas are already telework growth centres and are likely to remain so. The
situation is unlikely to alter unless specific initiatives to encourage change are
undertaken.
8 Robinson, S., Kordey, N.: Teleworking: Internationale Trends. Telekom-Anwender Kongress '94:
Corporate Networks und neue Techniken: Nationaler und internationaler Wettbewerb und Anwender.
Bonn 1994
9 empirica: Telearbeit: Befragung von Entscheidungsträgern (DMS). Internationaler Vergleich.
TELDET Bericht Nr. 4. Oktober 1994
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