At the European Telework Online website

"Telework 1998":
Annual Report from the European Commission

3.16 Telework outside the European Union

3.16.1 Telework in CEE

As relationships between the European Union and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe develop, and especially in the context of existing and future applicant member states, it is important to understand European telework in the overall regional context. Additionally, there are existing strong ties between European the other countries bordering the Mediterranean, reinforced today by the Euro-MED initiatives.

Just as within the European Union, it is difficult to obtain reliable and consistent data about teleworking in these regions; indeed in the past it has been difficult to obtain data about even the underlying ICT and other infrastructures. This is gradually being addressed and the 1998 EITO report provides some relevant estimates for Central and Eastern Europe:

As might be expected the level of Internet use is relatively low. In terms of critical mass of potential teleworkers based on the classical telecommuter model these figures suggest that for most Central and Eastern Europe countries that approach to telework may have little relevance in the immediate time frame. However, alternative models and approaches to telework do have considerable relevance and this needs to be more thoroughly investigated and understood. In particular, many regions within Central and Eastern Europe exhibit the characteristics to support considerable opportunities for telework applications such as support centres, software factories etc: relatively low costs, good educational provision, relevant language skills, relatively high local unemployment.

It is also the case that technology developments present opportunities to rather quickly address the barriers to progress posed by historically low investment in telecommunications infrastructure. The coming ability to use wireless communications for all or most of the kinds of traffic that previously needed costly physical networks will enable communities across Central and Eastern Europe to participate in telework, teletrade and other Information Society applications more readily.

Already there are signs of growing interest in these opportunities. Bulgaria, for example, supports one of the most active national sections and links within the European Telework Online network; Russia also supports active links with the European Union's teleworking community of practitioners.

An important remaining barrier to more active engagement is the matter of costs. Although much can be achieved online, and more will be possible in future, today it is still the case that an appropriate level of information sharing and exchange of experiences and opportunities occurs most readily when people from different countries and cultures are able to meet at workshops, conferences and seminars, as well as online. For potential telework champions and practitioners in Central and Eastern Europe it is much more difficult to meet the costs of attending important meetings in the West, such as the Commission's Information Days, the Telework Assembly and other key events in the European Telework Agenda. Ahead of enlargement, and for those countries that will not be in the next enlargement round, more assistance is needed to enable innovators and practical business individuals in these countries to participate effectively in European actions.

Similar considerations arise in relationships with the Mediterranean region countries, though of course as within the Union each country is different and has different perspectives and needs. In some cases Mediterranean countries have more highly developed economies than some of those with the Union, while others are in economic terms similarly placed to neighbours in Central and Eastern Europe.

One very useful and productive development in 1997-1998 has been the establishment of a telework workshop as part of the Euro-MED series of Information Society meetings (during the Cyprus conference), followed by further interactions during a follow up conference in Istanbul. Similarly, several useful connections were established as a result of attendance from CEE countries at the European IT conference in Brussels, November 1997. The Vienna location of the November 1998 IST conference will facilitate attendance from both CEE and Mediterranean countries. European Telework has been represented at all these events in 1997-1998 and New Ways to Work is a theme for November 1998.

3.16.2 Telework in the USA

For some aspects of teleworking, notably corporate telecommuting (employees working at home), the USA has long been recognised as having a substantial lead. A study reported at Telecommute '97³⁶ estimated that 11.1 million USA employees now work at least part time at home, compared with 9.7 million one year earlier. This is of course considerably more than in the whole of Europe, though Europe has more workers in total than the USA. Although problems of definition and measurement provide the same issues regarding telework estimation in USA as in Europe, it is clear that the Americans are much more rapidly embracing at least the telecommuter approach to teleworking.

Reasons for this are not hard to find. The USA is considerably further down the Information Society track than Europe on almost any metric - use of ICTs generally, use of Internet, prevalence of PCs in the home, PCs per 100 white collar workers. EITO estimates that in 1997, 37 in every hundred USA households owned a PC compared with a Western Europe average of 19. Among the larger EU economies the highest penetration was the UK with 23. Closely linked with this technology factor is the USA manager's more ready acceptance of innovation and change - or at least the ready willingness to "give it a try". Where a European response to a novel suggestion about work organisation might be a desire to consider all the possible issues and problems as well as the opportunities, the USA manager is more likely to say, "Seems like a good idea, let's give it a try". A further factor of course is the USA's recent history of sustained economic growth and high levels of job creation, especially in the newer industries most closely associated with the Information Society. When employees feel secure in their jobs or confident of getting an equivalent or better job if something goes wrong in the present employer, they are less likely to be concerned about being "out of sight" or out of touch when teleworking.

According to some observers, the most significant factor is the very widespread USA penetration and use of electronic networking technologies within enterprises. For several years it has been unusual to encounter an American manager or professional who does not have an email address on their business card, whether in the private or the public sector. The USA Federal Government was putting out strong messages at Presidential level about the need for industry to "get connected", even before Europe's attention was drawn to these opportunities by the Bangemann Report.

The measurement now most commonly used in the USA as an indicator of telework preparedness is "remote access" - the provision by organisations of facilities for employees to access and work on company ICT systems from outside the organisation - at home, on the road, from a customer's premises. Recent estimates for the UK Department of Trade and Industry suggest that in 1997 half of all USA companies already had implemented remote access provisions, compared with only one third in the UK, on quarter in Germany and one in six in France. The four key reasons for telework's rapid acceptance in the USA are quoted as:

1. remote access programs increase work-force productivity; 73% of participating telecommuters in a Massachusetts study reported that they were more effective while working away from the office;
2. offering telecommuting as an option improves employee morale and helps companies retain qualified staff;
3. the government due to environmental concerns and the desire to reduce and helps auto emissions in mandating telework;
4. companies offer telecommuting to cut costs. They have found that telework can indeed save money by reducing the amount of funds paid for office space and other facilities costs³⁷.

Telework in the USA is not confined as a services sector activity. The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is reported to be planning for some 5000 telecommuters in the near term future, based on experience from a large-scale pilot programme involving 200 employees.

Of course, Europe differs from the USA in more ways than technology penetration and speed of acceptance of change. Some factors militate against very large-scale telework in the basic "work at home model", for example across much of Europe, homes are smaller than those of equivalent workers in the USA. On the other hand, car commuting costs are very much higher in both relative and real terms for European commuters than in the USA, which should provide an additional incentive for working closer to home if not in the home itself. Europe needs to closely observe and engage with the USA experience in telework as in other Information Society applications, so as to learn from it but not necessarily copy it.

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