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ETD News - March 1998 Page 2 Of 4 European Telework Week 1997 - Country Round Up Austria 12 events took place during ETW '97 in Austria. Most focused on raising awareness regarding the opportunities provided by information and communications technologies. Activities included: An event organised by the ADAPT project ,@mi-after mining" in Styria Open days at the telework centre in Landeck (Tyrol) and three telecentres located in Vienna Examples of telework, teletrade and telecooperation at an event supported by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs Information for teleworkers and potential teleworkers, including the advantages and risks of this way of working (The Federal Ministry for Labour, Health and Social Affairs). At this event a DIPLOMAT consensus group meeting with Austrian telework experts was held. Some of the organisers report that their ETW '97 event was the starting point of new initiatives. For example, the local authority of Rauris in the Province of Salzburg presented new ideas and projects for the initiative "Net-Kultur-Dorf Rauris" (Net-Culture-Village) with a follow-up event on 24th Nov 1997. Likewise the event in Styria has stimulated an expansion of regional activities and the start of new telematic projects. There was good media coverage, with several reports in national and local newspapers. The week after ETW '97 a telework report was presented in the radio. Denmark Several events took place during ETW '97 in Denmark. "Distance working in Storstroem County", Vordingborg, was made up of a series of events over a five day period. Although only 1 hour away from Copenhagen, Storstroem County is off the beaten track. The Telework Week initiatives were aimed both at the local population and decision makers, but also at employers and employees in Copenhagen by promoting the County as a good place to live. Follow-up events in and around the county included: Praestoe, Moen, Fakse and Vordingborg were visited by the education bus equipped with ICT equipment and facilities; the bus was accompanied by open house events in each locality. Leaflets were handed to Copenhagen bound commuters at Naestved railway station and practical demonstrations of telework by experienced teleworkers took place at the main shopping centre. Naestved is Denmark's leading "spearhead" for the Information Society and has invested alongside TeleDanmark and Telia in developing leading edge infrastructures and services. http://www.naestvednet.dk Conference on Distance Work, Copenhagen, for the third year running and this year organised by IIR Denmark. The conference presented a view of Danish and Swedish experiences with telework. The Swedish input complemented the Danish experiences in a very fruitful way, particularly by adding the enterprise development dimension to the general picture - a dimension which has to some extent in Denmark been crowded out by discussions of employed teleworkers conditions. Joint Conference on Telework; the Danish Employers' Federation and the Danish Trades Union Congress, Copenhagen. This high level conference was called in order to discuss the different forms of telework and its opportunities and threats, as well as to review the many initiatives taken by the Danish social partners (employers' and trades unions' organisations) concerning telework over the last 12 to 18 months. The so-called "Danish Model" was well supported, and is seen as a pragmatic, cooperative approach to social partner relations, which places the emphasis on initial experimentation and then agreement at individual workplaces, followed up by national agreements and regulation. Other Events "The future workplace" - a seminar at Aabenraa, the main city in the Danish County of South Jutland. It was aimed at decision makers in the city and region concerned about the loss of traditional activities like agriculture. Great potential is seen in the creation of new information-intensive SMEs based on ICT and telework, in order to bring life back to peripheral and rural areas. A course on Distance Work in Copenhagen covered how telework operates, which technical facilities are necessary, how the role of managers is developing, social aspects, etc. Overall the events of ETW '97 throughout Denmark were judged a success. They were supported by good local media coverage for the regional events. Moreover, most of the formal conference participants were decision-makers. Although there has been a dramatic change in attitude to telework over the two years, important gaps in awareness and practice remain. One is that the enterprise and organisational dimension is typically ignored, whilst discussion focuses almost exclusively on the conditions of employed teleworkers working at home. Danish Telephone Card Denmark was the first country to issue a telephone card celebrating European Telework Week. The main Danish telco, Tele Danmark, issued 50,000 cards at the beginning of November 1997. These are available in kiosks and shops all over the country, including Tele Danmark's Tele Butiks. Finland Lars Tollet, ETD National Coordinator ETW '97 in Finland was inaugurated by the seminar 'The Limitless Local Economy', held in Jarvenpaa from 3-4 November. This seminar triggered practical discussion on how to develop local economies in the Information Society. Other events included: 'Putting Telework to Work' in Lapland, Rovaniemi. An open house on the use of telematics to introduce telework opportunities for SMEs and individual entrepreneurs in Lapland. Videoconferencing connected pilot projects from different parts of Lapland and to Ammatti-instituutti, Helsinki. 'Telework and Subcontracting', Rauma (Satakunta). Presentation of technological solutions and a regional telework development project. The seminar has led to practical cooperation between the participating enterprises. 'Telework Open Market', University of Tampere in Seinajoki. Organised by the trainers participating in the Program Telework and Entrepreneurship, this seminar increased awareness of telework and its benefits among local authorities and employers and to find new opportunities in employment. Open House all week at Ammatti-instituutti (Helsinki), the largest vocational adult education centre in Finland. Also presented was the Virtual Workplace project (under ADAPT), including the Telework Support Centre and telework training programmes. Attendees learnt about the telework "driving licence", which tests the person's ability to telework. Passing the test enables the person to be included in a teleworkers file (WWW), from which possible employers can seek suitable employees. 'Know How on the Net', Tampere. Seminar on recruiting through the web. 'Telematic services in trade with Russia'. A series of half-day seminars organised by the Telewise Center and others. It included videoconference links with Moscow. The Finnish organisers were generally pleased with ETW '97 and have learnt some important lessons for next year. Germany Rainer Pollmann, ETD National Coordinator Events during ETW '97 included: A teleworking conference for insurance companies organised by Management Circle. A Cafe Mondial stand organised by Youand-Communication Network GmbH with presentations. This was at the Software Forum Saar, an event organised by the Chamber of Commerce, Saarland to make SMEs aware of the opportunities IT offers. http://www.cafe-mondial.com An Open House at the Cafe Mondial. This attracted representatives of administrations and local SMEs. Events in Southern Germany, reported by Dr. Jan H. Peschka, I. P. C. AG president (http://www.ipc-ag.com): Teleworking in Europe, DIPLOMAT Project INFO: Presentations on Virtual KMU Management, Solkit, CoCoTel projects and Euro. The latter included a discussion by experts about telecooperation by videoconference. One month after ETW '97 (4th December) the biggest German teleworking event in 1997 took place. Attracting 650 visitors - most of them SMEs, there were 4 parallel sessions and a plenary session. Here the federal initiative 'Telearbeit fur den Mittelstand' ('Telework for SMEs') was introduced, including an award ceremony for the best concept presented to introduce telework into an SME. The goal of the initiative, where TA Telearbeit is conducting the accompanying survey and academic study, is to help up to 5000 SMEs with a total budget of about 10MECU to become teleworking enterprises as soon as possible. http://www.iid.de/telearbeit/mittelstand/ Ireland There were two main events: One day conference "Teleworking: sweatshop or social progress?" held at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin. This was opened by the Minister for Communications and attracted 85 attendees. Two 2-hour hands-on Internet courses were run at PFK Computers, Cork. The highlight of ETW '97 in Ireland was excellent general media coverage. On national radio on 4th November, the Pat Kenny Today show did a 15 minute feature on teleworking. This radio show is Ireland's largest listenership morning radio programme - between 311,000 and 392,000 on average, i.e. approximately 10% of the Irish population. The target audience for the telework coverage was the general public, especially women who want to return to work, who might be listening to the radio mid-morning. Participants were Imogen Bertin, ETD, and Nicola Sheridan, a teleworker for VHI, Ireland's largest health insurer. The following day there was also a follow-up feature on Aileen Hannan, an Irish teleworker in Guam wishing to return home to Ireland. She found her job via the Internet and is teleworking from there for a company in Killarney, but is deterred from moving back to Ireland because of the high local call charges relative to Guam. Also, on 5th November, the Irish Times, Ireland's largest selling Irish produced quality newspaper, ran a one page commercial feature on telework. Following the events and media coverage, over 250 telephone enquiries were received by the telework enquiry line. Israel On February 3rd a major teleworking conference is planned to take place in Tel Aviv. The event sees the formal launch of the Israel Teleworking Association (ITA). As part of the event, a link will be made to the UK to talk to WREN telecottage and members of the TCA on which the ITA has been partly based. Italy Part of the goal of ETW '97 in Italy was to change the public perception of the telework stereotype as being work "at home, mainly done by woman, using a computer". This was achieved by giving special emphasis to telecentres as an alternative to home telework and raising visibility of the Internet and videoconferencing, as useful tools for low cost teleworking. During ETW '97 over 32 different seminars, conferences and training courses on telework were hold in 15 different Italian cities. The 6th November was telecentres 'open day' throughout Italy. The new "Proxima" centre in Sesto S. Giovanni was inaugurated by the Agency for local development of North Milan. Some of the events: Press Conference, "Frentani" Congress Centre, Rome Opening ceremony and official presentation of Week activities, Rome, with the participation of Government representatives, industry top managers, press (3 Nov). Conference "Telework and local development", with Rome, Brussels, Naopli videolink. A conference on telecentres, using videoconferencing between Rome and Reggio Conference "Telework and education", Genova Hicom TeleWorking Presentation and demonstration by Siemens Telematica; an example of a "Virtual Company solution" with the Branch Offices directly connected to a head office. Lesson By Telework Rome - Naples Telework Telephone Card A pre-paid telephone card commemorative of ETW '97 was produced in over 1 million copies by Telecom Italia, in the frame of the "European telephone card" project. Telework Glossary A multilingual glossary of useful terms on telework, telecommerce, telecooperation was created on the Internet. The terms were supplied by the Association L&T and they were translated by Logos, the largest Italian translation firm. http://www.mclink.it/telelavoro Telework Help Desk Services On Line offered during the week a free telephone help desk to SME managers and entrepreneurs for explaining the opportunities of telework. The service was used by over 50 firms. Media Coverage An ETW Press Office, ETW web site and mailing list for journalists were created. The result was excellent media coverage amounting to over 70 different articles, radio and TV interviews in national and local media, including: · Il sole 24 ore, "L'onda lunga dei telecentri" (on the emergence of telecentres in Italy) · Dossier Il Venerdi, a long article with many photos and the interviews with 10 italian teleworkers. · Il Popolo - Economia Finanza Lavoro: "Commercio, firmato accordo sul telelavoro", on the first national contract on telework for the sector of commerce. Review Of ETW97 The organising Committee estimate that at least 10,000 people were directly involved in ETW '97. One of the most important results was the "mass-discovery" of telework. As hoped, the message of telework was shifted away from the just "working at home" image; many articles and reports were focused on telecentres and the two participating centres (Nexus in Rome and IFOA in Castelnuovo ne Monti) became the scenery for many TV shots. A second important result was the creation of a network of enthusiast supporters of telework in many parts of Italy and in different organisations. Many are now committing themselves for the preparation of ETW '98. The Netherlands ETW '97 in Holland was marked by a single large event, organised by Focus and Quercus, that combined a large seminar,and the fourth Dutch telework award. The two day event attracted 250 participants. The prize winners were Twijnstra and Gudde for their model to define a new workplace, and Interpolis, an insurance company, for their courage in implementing a new flexible office for 1500 users, including middle and top management. There was good media coverage including slots on television and radio. Already plans are under way for ETW '98. The venue will be the Mediaplaza in Utrecht, a high tech demonstration area. Each day of the week will focus on a different aspect: of telework - overall management, employment for 'other' groups (handicapped, women, elderly etc.), facilities management, individual aspects, and human resources. Spain As part of their contribution to the European Summit on Employment in Luxembourg, the Information Society Forum Group under the chairmanship of Mr. Majo issued the 'Barcelona Declaration'. It key points are: The relationships between technology, productivity, growth and employment are complex. Any simplistic approach to the problem is dangerous. The promotion of the Information Society could be and has to be a key pillar of European employment policy. The challenge is to develop the necessary conditions to fully exploit the job potentialities of Information Society. The modalities of growth in coming years should be different as different economic conditions are present. Growth alone will not solve Europe's unemployment problems. Information Society is at the root of sustainable growth. Market forces alone will not solve Europe's delay in entering the Information Society nor eliminate unemployment. Public authorities have a key role to play in this domain. Budgetary resources exist at all levels for new active employment measures related to preparing people and organisations for the Information Society. The Luxembourg Summit should establish lines of action for European as well as national policies in this domain. The Information Society Forum is ready, at the request of the Luxembourg Summit, to provide further insight. Barcelona November 3, 1997. The full text is at: http://www.martech-intl.com/etw97/html/barcelona.html Sweden Lilian Holloway, ETD National Coordinator Over twenty different events took place during ETW '97. Highlights included: The Competence Fair The Internet World fair, Virtual organisations the winners of tomorrow? A lunch seminar in World Trade Centre, Stockholm: "Telework: practical consequences in a flexible world." However, it must not be forgotten that ETW '97 was somewhat overshadowed this year by the high profile pan-European Event Telework´97 held in Stockholm during September (see report in last December's ETD News). Additionally, many important activities were done internally within organisations. It is my personal opinion that the internal activities were of high quality, and will probably have a much deeper effect on promoting telework, since they are rooted in the organisation's own interest. United Kingdom Telework World in London was the main event of ETW '97, attended by over 200 delegates. Topics included the impact of teleworking on people and the way they are managed; a broad view of industrial relations across Europe; specific issues relating to tax, insurance, health & safety and employment. Speakers also covered the latest developments in remote access technology and videoconferencing, pointing to the rapid growth in these areas. The relationship between traffic patterns and teleworking was also highlighted with a study showing that a 25% reduction in rush hour travel is feasible. The conference also practised what it preached by videoconferencing its opening sessions to over 80 'virtual' delegates at five telecentres, and webcasting to 30 more virtual delegates. The telecottages linked in included members of RAVAN - Rural Areas Video Access Network project. Thus delegates from Britain's more remote areas were able to participate in presentations highly relevant to them, such as 'Publishing in the Western Isles' and 'The Virtual Life Office'. Speakers were also supplied via video phone to the Irish event from London. The event drew widespread commercial interest and included sponsorship from major PTTs and in addition linked to an advertising campaign from BT. The Telework Manifesto During ETW '97, The UK Telework Platform, a co-ordinating body for organisations that promote and develop telework, launched to Members of Parliament a manifesto 'Telework: The Opportunity'. The document urges the Government to encourage teleworking through employment legislation, tax incentives and by exemplifying teleworking. It urges the government to: Enable individuals to choose their preferred lifestyle secure in the knowledge they are protected from exploitation Exhort businesses to identify the benefits of telework for them and adopt best practice Encourage people to telework rather than travel whenever possible Exmplify this through the civil service, saving both money and pollution UK Telecentres as Resource Centres UK telecottages and telecentres can now become nationally approved information resource centres as part of a scheme backed by the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE). The initiative, Technologies for Training (TfT), was originally launched in August 1996 to create a national network of centres providing advice and facilities relating to the use of technology in training. Now working together with the TCA, the partners in the scheme have recognised the benefit of telecottages becoming signposted resource centres. Read The Next Page Return To Contents List