eWORK 2000 - European Telework Week

New Ways to Work 2000European TeleworkThe impact of the Information SocietyAccording to a survey done by INSEE at the end of 1999 :• 23% of the households had a PC (compared to 19% one year earlier). IDC comes with a figure of 25%and GFK with 26%• 28% of the households had a mobile phone (this figure jumped to 37% in March 2000 according to ARTwhich is the regulatory body)• 7% of households have an internet connection from home• according to Computer Industry Almanac, 15.35 millions PCs were in use in France at the end of 1998including home and companies• a survey done by Médiamétrie indicates the following internet figures for the first quarter of year 2000 :7.2 million internet surfers of 15+ years which represents 15% of the French population, out of which44.5% surf from home, 40.1% from the office and 41.2% surf in public locations (schools, libraries,cybercafés, etc.). Of course there is some overlap from same people surfing in different locations. Thefrequency is also interesting : 30.8% connect more or less every day, 39.1% more than once in the monthand 30.2% once a month or less. Surfing women are increasing to 40% compared to 36% last quarter of1999). 28.6% are aged 35-49 and 27.2% are 18-24.• Other interesting figure published by INSEE is the number of new companies whose business is based oninnovative technologies. It was 4036 for last semester of 1999 compared to 3665 a year before, whichshows a progression of 10%. Out of those, 75% are purely ICT or telecom based businesses.• A survey made by NetValue in December 1999 shows that internet visits are dedicated to : shopping malls(17.1%); ICT products (27%); Books/CDs/Movies (30.4%); Leisure (13.3%); Banking (14.7%); Auctions(15.4%); Tourism (17.5%); Sport (1.3%) Other (10.9%). Again NetValue counted 5,53 million internetusers in May 2000 which represents 15.4% of French households. It appears that 67% are using e-mailand that the average connecting duration in May 2000 was 9.5 hours.• IDC noticed that electronic banking services are getting more and more used by French customers :840,000 at the end of 1999, which is about 18% of all account holders.Telework as the agent of change at Electricité de France - Gaz deFranceFor EDF and GDF, the teleworker is an employee whose working location is defined by the investigation ofjoint advantages for the corporation, its clients and its employees. This type of working location can existthanks to the use of telematics networks. Telework is the specific organisation of a team or a working groupsolely or partly made up of teleworkers. It is known as work in shared locations.Work in shared locations may participate to the development of permanent and global changes processes,which are remarkably appropriate with the present mutations of society. It represents an opportunity for thecorporations to improve their performances, while allowing for new social enterprises.The experiments carried out for the last years by EDF and GDF, but also by other companies in France andabroad, underline the complexity of the changes linked to this new working organization and the necessity oftaking voluntary learning steps.EDF and GDF experiments may be grouped in three major families:• Work in networks, together and at distance.The aim of these networks is to improve the working conditions and the functioning of the existingstructures.International Distribution has the responsibility for the updating and helping of EDF and GDF sitesabroad. In 1997, it organised and managed the activities of more than 170 people in 27 countries, some ofthem at distance with the help of an assistance software.- 64 -