eWORK 2000 - European Telework Week

New Ways to Work 2000European Telework• Nearly a quarter of companies (23%) allow between one and ten percent of their employees to telework at leastonce a month but this figure has not increased between 1998 and 1999. For small companies the figure rises to30% in Dublin. (www.isc.ie 1999, Business 2010 2000 www.amarach.com/future/aib2010.htm)• Over three quarters of businesses see no potential for telework growth. The vast majority think their businessunsuitable, while over ten percent believe staff who are teleworking will waste time – they don’t trust theiremployees to work unobserved. (www.isc.ie 1999)So the picture is a contradictory one – strong drivers for telework, plenty of opportunity, information andgovernment support but a major problem with employer attitudes and a lack of reliable figures on which tobase actions and decisions. Is there any hope for telework to expand beyond a fringe form of work activity if itdoesn’t take root in Dublin?A Trade Union View on eWorkChris Hudson, organising officer of the Communications Workers Union has negotiated a company wideagreement on teleworking with eircom and set up a branch of the union for freelance teleworkers. He is also amember of the government’s e-work action forum and recently received an MBE for his work with theNorthern Ireland peace process.“The attitude of trade unionists to eWork in Ireland varies. Some traditional companies and some unions areold fashioned – they prefer a Taylorist situation, a bit like the Church, where everyone is in one place forreasons of control. The priest likes everyone to be at mass, and some managers and some trade unionists liketo see everyone on the shop floor. Some unions have turned away applications from individual members,saying they only want to see branches of at least 20 people together coming into their union.It doesn’t have to be like that. In the CWU we have always had a huge geographical spread, representingpostal workers from Mizen Head to Donegal, so we were used to having lots of individuals to look after.Setting up our virtual branch for eWorkers wasn’t such a big leap – and there are other unions that havelooked after individuals for many years such as MSF with sales staff, the NUJ with journalists, Equity withactors and backstage technicians, and the farming unions. Unions have to be sensitive to workers needs – andmany employees want flexibility and techniques like eWorkIt’s actually easier for us to deal with eWorkers than conventional members. The other day I had an enquiryabout transfer of undertakings regulations. I was able to get the relevant information from the Department ofEnterprise, Trade and Employment website and email it to the member – no secretarial, admin or postage costsand all done in minutes. My own secretary recently left after fifteen years with the union, and she’s agreed toreturn on a contract basis, working from home, because we don’t want to lose her experience. We’ll requestwork and set deadlines for anything she agrees to take on, but beyond that it will be up to her to decide how toget the work done in a way that suits her.” www.cwu.ie- 80 -