eWORK 2000 - European Telework Week

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New Ways to Work 2000European Telework5.3 DenmarkSummaryDenmark is among the vanguard group of Nordic nations which leads Europe, and often the world, in terms oftake up of ICTs and new forms of work including telework. As such, it is also reaping the considerableeconomic growth and prosperity benefits which this brings. This is based upon strong governmental leadershipcoupled with active social partner cooperation in terms of labour market policies and the development and useof new technology. For example, the new Digital Denmark national programme and the rapid spread oftelework framework agreements at the workplace.Recent estimates put the number of teleworkers at about 13.1% of the workforce. Most of these are employeesworking at home occasionally or practising mobile telework, but the incidence of freelance telework isincreasing rapidly.Denmark had a very successful year in 1999 on the European stage through its hosting of the 1999 Teleworkand New Ways of Working Assembly in Aarhus and by winning three out of six European Telework Awards.Denmark is set for further rapid growth and change as ICTs are starting to become everyday tools, not just atwork but also in the everyday life of citizens. The next generation, particularly, is tuned into Internet use as aJuly 2000 survey has shown that all Danes between the ages of 15 and 19 are already regular Internet users.General economic and employment backgroundDenmark is among Europe's highest investors in, and users of, ICTs, PCs and the Internet, but until quiterecently telework was not a topic of discussion, let alone action. 1997 saw a complete transformation, with asurge of both interest (in the media, at conferences, by government) and activity, so that eWork, e-Commerceand Information Society developments generally are now firmly and permanently on the agenda of both publicand private sectors and high in public and media consciousness. While there have been many influences atwork to bring this about, the most important are the very high prosperity (the highest per capita income inEurope after Luxembourg), low unemployment and high skills and competence levels.An important feature is also Denmark’s development of a dynamic but robust labour market model basedupon three main factors:• active tripartite co-operation between employers, employees and the government• strong organisations on both sides of industry (employers and employees)• collective agreements between both sides constituting the most important source of law in labour marketmatters.Trades unions have since 1997-98 been enthusiastic supporters of telework, provided it is introduced on avoluntary basis and subject to framework agreements which ensure that employees do not suffer worseconditions of employment or workplace facilities than non-teleworking colleagues. Indeed, Denmark is leadingthe world in the development and implementation of such agreements so that, by the end of 1999, over 1.5million employees (more than half the workforce) enjoyed collective agreements for telework, for example the1999 framework agreement covering telework for 600,000 public sector workers. LO, the DanishConfederation of Trades Unions (http://www.lo.dk), is a leading player in such developments and hasdeveloped a programme entitled the developing workplace to accommodate all relevant aspects.- 54 -
New Ways to Work 2000European TeleworkIn January 2000 the Danish Ministry of Labour (http://www.am.dk) brought into force a new directive onworking conditions for persons working from home which replicate as much as possible the standardsprescribed for normal offices. Despite some criticism from employers for making home teleworking moreformal than it should be to achieve maximum flexibility (see ADP Dealer Services in examples below), thedirective has generally had wide acceptance and raised even further the awareness and acceptance of eWorkpossibilities in Denmark.Recent technology developmentsDenmark is at least 2 years ahead of EU liberalisation directives and thus has one of the most dynamic andcompetitive ICT markets in Europe. Progress has been particularly rapid in Internet access and mobiletelephony, with WAP technologies and services already starting to establish themselves. As in the rest ofEurope, the mobile market particularly is growing extremely fast. In May 2000 new figures showed that halfthe Danish population of 5 million now owns a mobile phone, and that between 1997 and 1999 mobile voicetraffic doubled to 2,000 million minutes each month. The transmission of SMS messages is also exploding andhave risen 700% between 1999 and 2000 to 14 million messages each month just with the largest provider,Tele Danmark Mobil (Reported by the newspaper Politiken, 27 May 2000).The Danish ICTs provider market now has a large number of players, both large and small, which is keepingprices low and service quality high. In an interesting example of convergence, a special feature is theproliferation of organisations in non-ICTs sectors starting to offer mobile and fixed telecom services to theirown members or customers. For example, agricultural organisations offering ICT services to farmers andteachers’ associations offering ICT services to employees in the education professions.Over the last two years, considerable technical advances have been made in Denmark with the Bluetooth chip,which enables cordless communication to be set up over short distances between ICT equipment. Bluetooth,named after an 10 th Century Viking chief, is the result of collaboration between a number of international,including Danish, companies and is being developed by RTX Telecom in northern Jutland. The technology,once widely marketed, will give mobile teleworkers much easier access to technical facilities wherever theyhappen to be.Telework statisticsThe ECaTT statistics (published in September 1999) show that Denmark had about 280,000 teleworkers inearly 1999, or about 10.5% of the labour force which is the fourth largest proportion in the EU. Analysis ofthe Danish data shows that, as with other especially northern European countries, the level of interest inteleworking is very high. Moreover, the difference between the levels of employers’ and employees’ interest isthe smallest in Europe, and there is much evidence that Denmark is relatively advanced in the process ofreorganising work through the introduction of ICT technology. As in the rest of Europe, however, telework isstill a male dominated activity practised mainly by well qualified professionals mainly in urban areas.More recent informal estimates made in 2000 put the number of employees teleworking at 300,000 (reportedby the newspaper Jyllands Posten, 1 May 2000). This, together with freelancers using telework, wouldindicate that at least 350,000, or about 13.1% of the labour force, are teleworking in one form or another.Key factors affecting eWorkThe major Information Society development in Denmark during 1999-2000 was the publication of the DigitalDenmark national strategy in October 1999 (http://www.detdigitaledanmark.dk/english). This sets thechallenge for Denmark to remain among the world leaders in the network society by stressing the traditionalDanish values of an active representative democracy with equal opportunities, whilst pursuing excellence and- 55 -
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eWORK 2000 - European Telework Week

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