"Telework 1998":
Annual Report from the European Commission
3.2 Austria
For Austria 1997 was a year of significant progress towards the
Information Society, with a considerable growth in activity surrounding and following the
Government's Information Society Report (April 1997). This set a series of
fundamental objectives and terms of reference for Federal Government strategy. The
involvement of more than 350 experts in an Information Society Working Group means that
the underlying principles are having a widespread effect beyond the Federal Government and
can be expected to have a sustained impact in accelerating responses to the Information
Society by businesses and citizens, employers and employees and public institutions.
The environment for telework has also advanced considerably in 1997,
with a first collective agreement (in the oil industry), a model contract devised by the
White Collar union, and a number of individual agreements within companies. There is
however always gap between public policy and private implementation, and the innate
conservatism of Austria's industrial and labour market environments is leading to a rather
slow acceptance of teleworking. This may change with lower costs and increasing use of
telecommunications following from liberalisation and driven by Austria's continuing role
as a bridge between the European Union and Eastern Europe, where there is much readier
acceptance of new methods of work and trade.
3.2.2 Telework background and take-up of ICTs
General background:
- Austria is one of Europe's wealthiest and most stable economies, closely tracking
Germany, its largest trading partner, with whom it shares a common language. This
relatively large "local language" market also extends to neighbouring Eastern
European countries, where German is widely understood. The availability of a large
"internal market", together with the relative conservatism of Austria's domestic
business markets, perhaps accounts for Austria's relatively low take up of PCs, IT
generally and Internet, compared with (for example) Sweden - a country of similar size in
terms of population and GDP:
| |
Population |
GDP per capita
($ US) |
IT per capita
(ECU) |
PCs/100 white
collars |
Internet
users/1000 population |
Austria |
7.9 millions |
26,917 |
438 |
50 |
46 |
Sweden |
8.7 millions |
23,864 |
745 |
75 |
152 |
- Austria has for many years benefited from its geographic position as a bridge between
East and West and stands to consolidate this role with the enlargement of the European
Union. Many multinational companies choose Austria as a firm base for their Eastern
European operations. There may however be competitive pressure on this role when some
Eastern countries have joined the European Union and may therefore be considered by
enterprises to offer a secure base at a lower cost.
- Austria's labour market has strong formalised mechanisms, with national/regional
chambers of labour and trade to which employees and employers respectively are required
belong, and which have legally enshrined rights of representation. Paralleling this are
Union and Employer federations.
Driving factors:
- The national Report on the Information Society, published in April 1997, is
providing a powerful blueprint for policy and actions. The report is very broad in scope,
addressing the use of technology by Government and industry, telecommunications policy,
research and education, and relevant legal and regulatory provisions.
- Telecommunications liberalisation has been implemented with positive objectives to
ensure reliable, high-quality and low-cost services through stimulation of competition and
restraint of dominant suppliers.
- The social partners (representative of employers and employees), who play a particularly
important role in Austria, have started to provide model contracts and guidelines for
telework.
- The education ministry is providing free-of-charge Internet access for schools, so that
future new entrants to the workforce will be familiar with electronic networking methods.
Constraints:
- Austria's general take-up of Information and Communications Technologies is relatively
low for a wealthy and developed economy; this means that Government initiatives and market
forces have a substantial backlog to catch up.
- Relatively low unemployment, an economy bolstered by Austria's role in East-West trade,
and the conservative effects of Austria's strong labour market institutions are all
factors supporting the status quo and providing little motivation for higher investment in
ICTs or introduction of new working practices.
- Initial Union recommendations regarding telework have tended to be prescriptive rather
than enabling and have focused on avoidance of possible negative effects rather than on
promoting positive benefits.
- Telecommunications pricing is high relative to
Telework activities and results
A number of important activities occurred in 1997-98:
- Austria's first collective agreement for telework was signed, covering the oil industry
- A model contract for telework was created by the white collar Union
- The Union also published a set of recommendations for telework
- The Austrian Labour Market Service (AMS) is supporting a range of training provisions
with a focus on IT skills, including projects relating to the use of telework for improved
inclusion of women re-entering the labour market and people with disabilities
- In a survey by Spectra, 69% of employed respondents expressed a positive attitude to the
idea of teleworking; among younger respondents (aged below 30) the proportion was 77%
- The Federal Ministries of Labour and Economic Affairs supported activities in ETW´97
- Provincial and City administrations are supporting telework activities, including the
Provincial
- Governments of Salzburg and Upper Austria and the Municipality of Vienna.
3.2.3 Conclusions
Austria presents unusual characteristics regarding telework. In most
countries, demand for and interest in telework has preceded the supply of appropriate
infrastructure and social arrangements; Austria appears to reverse this. There has been
public support for telecentres; there are model contracts and trade union recommendations
for teleworking; the Government is promoting the Information Society. Yet telework take-up
to date has remained small. However, there was a much stronger response to European
Telework Week in 1997, and recent opinion surveys show a positive attitude.
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