European Telework Development (ETD)

Why is a European Telework Development Initiative needed?

Telework is one of three key applications of technology that underpin development of an "Information Society", the others are teletrade and telecooperation. Telework has been identified as:

One of "four priority applications" to strengthen the European economy (European Commission White Paper: Growth, Competitiveness, Employment: Challenges and Ways Forward into the 21st Century, 1994)
One of "ten applications to launch the information society" (Europe and the global information society, Recommendations to the European Council, May 1994 - the so-called "Bangemann Report")

But telework is also a focus of concern and doubt:

"Changes in the industrial structure are leading to job destruction, as well as new job creation . . . we [also] feel bound to raise the question to what extent new technologies represent a threat to employment . . . The emerging [Information Society] is a global one. The challenge it is likely to put to all our institutions is a formidable one." (Building the European Information Society for Us All: First Reflections of the High Level Group of Experts, Interim Report, January 1996)

and

". . . the new technologies are for the moment seen by most people as net destroyers of jobs . . . it is little wonder that in many countries such changes are widening traditional zones of job-insecurity to include the middle classes." (Networks for People and their Communities: Making the Most of the Information Society in the European Union, First annual report to the European Commission from the Information Society Forum, June 1996)

Telework is now high on the political agenda for Europe and its Member States, and for our trading partners world wide. Will telework enable better and wider work opportunities or will it enable the "flight of work" from higher cost to lower cost economies? Does telework present a new opportunity for individuals to exercise more control over the timing, place and pattern of their work, or is it a way for cost-cutting managements to shift work from full time, fully employed staff to part time, contracted staff with weaker security and lower pay levels?

The European Telework Development initiative (ETD) has been created to help with the process of understanding how telework opportunities can be optimised and risks and pitfalls avoided.

To ensure that telework is understood "in context", ETD also addresses equivalent issues and opportunities in teletrade and telecooperation.

European Telework Online | EuropeTeletrade Online

ETD is supported by the European Commission (DGXIII) as part of the Advanced Communications Technologies and Services (ACTS) programme. ETD's central web pages are hosted at the European Telework Online website.

Page address http://www.eto.org.uk/etd/etd-why.htm
This page last updated 3 November 1996.
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