European Telework Week:

Events in Ireland

November 11-12, Dublin

Opportunities for Irish Teleworking Conference

>From the European Commissions DGXIII, Carl Strack will be giving an overview of the Telematics Application Programme projects which will operate in Ireland over the next three years.

Other speakers will cover: Tackling the North American Market; A project to provide an Online Telework Agency (Telemart); and several other topic areas including Trade Union views on the shifting patterns of employment caused by teleworking opportunities.

Full conference details from:
Cork Teleworking Centre, Reagrove, Minane Bridge, Co,Cork, Ireland.
Tel:+353 21 887 300. Fax: +353 21 887 402 E-mail: 100272.1472@compuserve.com

Galway - One Day Event

FORADA conference in Galway (about disseminating results of the EC's 3rd Framework projects).

Contact John Glynn or Triona at Udaras na Gaeltachta on Tel:+353 91 592011for more details.

Institute of Information Scientists - Irish Branch (Dublin)

Imogen Bertin of Cork Telerworking Centre will be giving a talk on Teleworking. at the Department of Library and Information Science, University College, Dublin at 1930

Contact: Fidelma Reid at Beaumont Hospital on Tel: +353 1 837 9964 for full details.

Telework and the Work Environment

Developing policies to create and maintain employment through telework and telebusiness

Venue:
Buswells Hotel,
Molesworth Street
Dublin 2

Production systems, consumption patterns and methods of organising work are undergoing radical changes with the coming of the Information Society. This is already affecting all aspects of working life in a way comparable with the industrial revolution. Work and business is being transformed by advances in new technology, new flexibility in working methods, and in terms of labour contracts and payment.

These new ways of working pose both an opportunity and a threat - a coherent policy response is needed to maximise the opportunities.

The EMPLOY Project

The aim of seminar is to consider:

• the potential for teleworking to contribute to employment creation
• the main barriers to developing employment through teleworking
• the kinds of policy measures which could boost employment creation through teleworking

Seminar Programme

For Further information contact:
Dr. Richard Wynne/Ms Nadia Clarkin
Work Research Centre Ltd
22 Northumberland Road
Dublin 4
Phone 6683988
Fax 6683142

The latest, informal employment figure of 10,000 "wide definition" teleworkers, that is, including occasional telecommuters, road warriors etcetera is currently the best estimate of the size of Irelands teleworking labour force. During the European Telework Week, the results of a new survey will be published, which should provide more accurate and up to date information on telework employment. (see above)

In 1993 the market for contracted-out IT based services was L72m (92mecu) according to European Information Technology Observatory 1994. Of this a small percentage could be back-office/overflow work performed by teleworkers.

The total contracted-out market is expected to grow at 17% per annum in the medium term.

In June 1993 Stokes Kennedy Crowley (accountants) surveyed Irelands top 1200 companies and found 10% were contracting out data processing or planning to contract it out over the next three months. This figure was up 9% on the previous year.

The Irish labour force in 1994 was 1,397,000 of which 1,176,000 were in work

The 1993 Labour Force Survey indicates a total of 605,300 clerical, financial and professional workers, of whom about 10,000 could be teleworking.

More Interesting Facts

"Ireland 2000 - Reflection of Ireland in the year 2000"

• Over half of the Irish population believe that more people will be doing some or all of their work at home on a computer by the year 2000
• Those who viewed homeworking as being a positive thing were under the age of 35.
• Three out of four people think more and more small businesses will be set up, with trends towards part time work and greater participation by women in the workforce.

Did You Know?

The report of the "Telecommunications Industry Task Force" sponsored by Irish development agency Forbairt and published in July 1995 states that in total, telecommunications related hardware and software, telemarketing, teleworking and teleservices currently employ around 8,000. The Task force believes that with appropriate government action, this employment figure can be doubled to 17,000 by the year 2000, and its export value would grow from around L200m in 1995 to around L500m in the year 2000.

The direct figure attributed to teleworking in 1995 was 1,300 in that report. I believe this figure purely related to PAYE employment in call centres.

The report recommended that to develop a thriving teleworking sector in Ireland the following issues should be tackled which are relevant to the mission of Telework Europa:

• the provision of technical support in the form of an 'expert' source of advice and referral
• enterprise support tailored to the needs of teleworking businesses
• lack of marketing skills and resources on the part of individual teleworking businesses
• cost of access to international email services, particularly outside the Dublin area
• financial support for Telecottages Ireland
• provision of a teleworking advisor

Imogen Bertin
Cork Teleworking Centre, Reagrove, Minane Bridge, Co. Cork, Ireland
Tel: +353 21 887300 F +353 21 887402
Email: imogen@ctc.ie

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