European Telework Development (ETD)

ETD and the Individual Teleworker

ETD places a strong emphasis on the needs of the individual teleworker, whether he or she is an employee, self-employed, a full-time or part-time teleworker. Our aim is to stimulate the creation of environments in which they can thrive, through our support of public policy development, activities with suppliers of products and services and identification of emerging technology solutions.

Needs of Teleworkers

From earlier research, points made on the ETO discussion list and issues debated at public conferences the following main needs have been identified:

Coping with changes in employment patterns, status and conditions of employment
Adapting to new styles of work, requiring significant self management
Cost effective access to resources, both traditional office facilities and on-line services
Aquiring the necessary skills to work effectively over electronic networks
Entering or re-entering the labour market for those denied access to conventional work e.g. disabled, carers, unemployed, single parents etc.
Seeking work as a teleworker - an often expressed need, but which really translates into "seeking work" that the person is able to do and finds reqarding, with "telework" seen as a way to extend the opportunities to find suitable work
Achieving an appropriate balance between home and work life
For self employed workers and those in micro-enterprises, coping with fluctuations in levels of success and income, self-marketing etc

How ETD can Help Individual Teleworkers

Obviously needs vary according to individual circumstances, and it is not the aim of ETD to support individual teleworkers on a personal, case-by-case basis. Our aim is to encourage the development of an environment in which teleworkers can thrive. In particular we want to:

encourage telecooperation between teleworkers, enabling the formation of mutual support networks;
increase awareness and understanding of teletrade methods as a means to obtain work opportunities
and
stimulate and support community initiatives through which teleworkers can make their needs and opinions known.

ETD can assist individual teleworkers in three main ways:

The ETO (European Telework Online) website - http://www.eto.org.uk - provides a "first and last stop shop" for information about telework, teletrade and telecooperation:
: Look here first to find useful information, including details of telework events and telework/telecottage associations, as well as pointers to other useful sources of information. Look here last - when you cannot find what you want, post a question publicly in the eto online discussion list. In the public list your question will be read by several hundred people and most questions get several responses within a day or two. When you post your question make sure to say clearly what you information you need and why you need it.
National Activities:
: ETD is supporting a network of national coordinators, each of whom is engaged in telework development in their own countries, and who are orchestrating activities in each country of the European Union. These activities adapt our European ETD programmes to local needs and provide input from each country into our central thinking and planning. Examples of this are the development of national telework web sites and the adaption of a highly successful Telework handbook, developed by the UK Telecottages Association. National coordinators plan other initiatives to that will benefit teleworkers in their country.
Representing Teleworkers in appropriate Forums:
: ETD maintains an active network of connections with a wide variety of users, suppliers, institutions and policy makers and provides feed back from the telework community on issues affecting the uptake of telework. ETD spokespeople are also very active at seminars and events where the challenges are discussed. We also provide input on proposals for Information Society policies, initiatives and programmes. If you detect issues that impact the ability to telework effectively in your country, please contact your national coordinator, who can incorporate your views into status reports for feedback into policy and other forums. Issues already being flagged are universal (and reliable) Internet access, developing online skills, regulatory issues, and telecommunications-transport substitution.

Examples of ETD Support Activities

Here are some activities that ETD has recently supported:

Country Status Reports and Plans: An early deliverable from the ETD team to the European Commission is a status report giving information on the uptake of telework, the opportunities and the challenges on a country by country basis. This will be used as input for guiding future teleworking initiatives and policies. Such reports depends as much on grass roots input as on national survey data and national policies.
Development of a Provisional European Guideline - Telework: Access to Work Opportunities for Self Employed, Micro-Enterprises and Virtual Enterprises, which is being produced in collaboration with a number of European initiatives as a formal input to future European policies and programmes.
A workshop on the impact of the Information Society on Work and Jobs, following the European Commission's colloquium on the Green Paper, "People First". This has led to both private and public discussion forums being established.
European Telework Week 96 - Various individuals involved with ETD made presentations, chaired sessions or provided other support during European Telework Week. ETD will play a more prominent role in the planning of European Telework Week 97.

For Further Information and Participation

To Keep in Touch: To be fully informed of developments in telework world wide and especially of activities of the ETD initiative, please join the eto discussion or eto announcement lists.
Register an Interest: To register a general interest and to offer support to ETD in some way, please use the general online registration form. Your details will be added to our database and you will be kept informed of developments in your area of interest.
Inputs and Suggestions: If you have knowledge or experience that you believe will be helpful to other teleworkers we invite you to submit information to our general online information point: eto-info@eto.org.uk. We also welcome additional suggestions about the Individual Teleworker aspects of the ETD initiative. Please, note that this is not a general enquiry point - for this you should use your national enquiry point or use one of the other mechanisms.
Get Involved with National or Local Activities Your starting point for information in what is happening in your coutnry are your National Telework Website (if it exists) and your National Enquiry Point.


Return To: ETD: Who can get involved and how will they benefit?

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/indiv/indiv01.htm
This page last updated 29 November 1996.
Page owner: Horace Mitchell
Please send your comments and suggestions about the ETO site and pages to eto-info@eto.org.uk