eWORK 2000 - European Telework Week

New Ways to Work 2000European TeleworkETD impactETD impact in Spain has been particularly strong in the way of awareness and dissemination of informationvia the media (press, radio, television), the academic and other communities.To a lesser but still important degree, contacts have been established with the public administration at nationaland regional level.The creation of a national telework association and the maintenance of a Spanish web site with muchinformation from 1996 through 1999 has been an important source of references, as attest over 30.000 visitsand a very large number of enquiries, followed by articles, interviews and participation in many publicsgatherings and conferences.Most important has been the collaboration between national telework pages and the central ETO telework sitewhich has become a world class reference for telework. Many enquiries made at the ETO site have beentransferred to the local national facilities for personal attention.Another durable success of the ETD project has been the gradual creation of a network of Teleworkassociations which have joined an international ring, laying the ground for future cross-border collaborations.The participation of representatives of the TCA, AFTT and the Italian Association into Spanish conferencesis another proof of this cross border co-operation as a result of the ETD network.The amount of information exchanged between the various countries was extremely useful to support thedissemination of the best practices and also to pinpoint the differences and delays in certain areas, to measurethe position of each individual country and to indicate necessary corrections.The telcard project initiated in Spain in 1997, and well supported by the ETD Network, particularly in Italy,France, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden and Portugal in 1998, has resulted in a promotion of the EuropeanTelework Week on over four and a half million telephone cards in those six countries. The amount of freepublicity contributed by the telephone companies which joined the campaign, as a result of the efforts of theETD team, is equivalent to around four hundred and fifty thousand Euro at market value for commercialpublicity on the same support.Telework has been an ideal topic for focusing attention. Even though straightforward telework has notdeveloped as much as expected in terms of flexible work and new jobs, it is in the dissemination of all theaspects of the Information Society that the full results of ETD should be measured.This topic has remained constantly in the news and has helped attract attention towards other phenomenonsuch as e-mail and INTERNET. The expectation of job creation through telework has opened the way formany courses on telematics and other applications of electronic data processing, which in turn have resultedinto a better preparation of the Spanish public for living and working in the Information Society. Thus manyproducts and services have been sold and there is no doubt that many jobs have been created indirectly due tothe promotion of telework.Finally the amount of expertise gained by the ETD team and the group-work effect put in practice should offerfurther opportunities as the ongoing change gains momentum.- 97 -