1996 - European Telework Week

Telework 96
The Teleurba project also recognised that there could be some disadvantages for
individual workers in teleworking but concluded that these risks could generally be
handled satisfactorily, and reported that telework was generally perceived positively by
individuals. Teleurba added that telework needed to be implemented by companies as a
social as well as an economic issue, and it also urged decision-making bodies in Europe
to put telework on the political agenda for discussion.
Teleurba's main findings, however, concerned the potential benefits to society as a whole
from increased teleworking, especially in relation to its role in helping reduce traffic
congestion in urban areas.
2.7.4. The importance of experimentation
A comment attributed to Opiocolor, another company studied by the Worknet project, is
perhaps of particular note. The firm, a medium-sized French business, developed a yearlong
telework pilot making use of a teleworking agent in Italy. It reported that, in strict
financial terms, the pilot had not proved commercially successful. Nevertheless, the
company stressed that it was intending to continue to experiment with remote
teleworking. From the lessons of the pilot, it was planning a major development in its
marketing approach to customers, with the introduction of teleworking sales staff or
'televendors'.
Experimentation is important if the opportunities of technological change are to be
properly grasped in Europe. Another project, Experts Unlimited, focused on the
emerging commercial possibilities opening up through the development of premium rate
telephone lines, especially the expensive Higher Premium Rate services.
Experts Unlimited aimed to demonstrate the business opportunities of providing realtime
one-to-one professional advice by telephone through pilot experiments in three
countries (Spain, Scotland and Ireland). As it pointed out, professional advice is
conventionally offered in face-to-face meetings, which can be expensive in terms of both
time and money. Using the telephone as a medium for delivery of this advice provides a
way of overcoming geographical limitations and, potentially, of making businesses more
efficient. With the advent of high premium rate telephone services and automatic
payment via phone bills or credit cards, it becomes possible for the first time for
teleworking professional advisers to receive adequate remuneration for their services
from clients.
Experimentation also means looking again at issues of management and supervision.
Traditionally, companies have relied on direct physical supervision of their employees -
making sure that they are, at least, present and apparently engaged in work. Distance
teleworking inevitably changes the supervisory relationship, relying instead on
management by results.
The telework experiences reported in this report suggest that both management and
individual workers can adapt to the new relationships necessary. If there is a resistance
to teleworking in companies, it is perhaps most likely to come from the ranks of middle
managers, who see their own established positions and ways of working under implicit
attack.
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