Proceedings of 8th European Assembly on telework (Telework2001)

169Home Telework As A Key Action To IncreaseWork Satisfaction Among Call Centre OperatorsPatrizio Di Nicola, Dinicola.it research, Italy1. PrefaceTelecom Italia’s ”Service 12” is one <strong>of</strong> the largest call centres in Italy with its almost 4,000employees. Its aim is to give directory assistance to customers, typically by supplying one customerwith the telephone number <strong>of</strong> another, provided that the name and address are known. The serviceis composed <strong>of</strong> 104 centres that are clustered in 33 branches and located all over Italy.Service 12 <strong>of</strong>ficially decided to test telework in July 1998, when Telecom Italia and the tradeunions signed a framework agreement on the applicability <strong>of</strong> home telework at the service. Thisagreement entered its operational phase about nine months later, when 200 voluntary employeesbegan to work at home between March and June <strong>of</strong> 1999. Parallel to the implementation <strong>of</strong>telework, research was approved to monitor the people involved (teleworkers, their managers andfamilies) during the first 15 months <strong>of</strong> home telework.In the beginning <strong>of</strong> the experimentation, and during the present research, the possibilities <strong>of</strong>communication between the operators and their <strong>of</strong>fices were reduced. The existence <strong>of</strong> a singleISDN connection prevented the operators, when online during the working hours, from receiving ormaking phone calls or sending faxes to the <strong>of</strong>fice without going <strong>of</strong>fline. The telephone equipmentallowed them to communicate perhaps only with the manager (not with colleagues or otherTelecom Italia <strong>of</strong>fices), and, in the absence <strong>of</strong> an intranet connection, the fax machine was the onlytool through which the teleworkers received news and orders <strong>of</strong> service.From the point <strong>of</strong> view <strong>of</strong> the researchers, such ”communication poverty” due to the technologicalconditions <strong>of</strong> the experiment had the advantage <strong>of</strong> exacerbating the sense <strong>of</strong> isolation from theother teleworkers <strong>of</strong> the firm, an aspect that is considered the principal disadvantage <strong>of</strong> hometelework. Thus, the problem <strong>of</strong> isolation would be amplified, which would make it possible to fullyassess the benefits raised from telework even in the presence <strong>of</strong> adverse technological factors.The research spanned from June 1999 to September 2000. The positive results <strong>of</strong> the firstexperiment motivated Telecom Italia and the trade unions to agree to expand telework to another110 units in November 2000. The new agreement, taking into account the results <strong>of</strong> the research,upgraded the communication opportunities <strong>of</strong> the teleworkers by supplying them with newworkplaces equipped with a link to the company intranet and email systems.