Eurpean Telework Scene

Oct 2005: UK Office for National Statistics: Teleworker numbers jumped from 921,000 (4% of workers) in 1997 to 1.8 million in 2005 (8% of all workers). The growth was strongest among those who worked in different places (6% of all workers compared with 2% in 1997). See details at http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/2987

UK government employment survey, sponsored by Department for Trade and Industry and Acastudy, reveals working from home has risen from 16% to 28% of workplaces since 1998.

2005 RAC Foundation UK study findings:

over 70% of working mothers in the UK would like to work flexibly or telework at least some of the week
More details here
Women now work half a day longer than five years ago - an average of almost 34 hours a week.
A quarter of working mothers said that the UK�s long hour�s culture had a detrimental affect on their mental health, their relationship with children and their sex lives.
Asked what they would like for Mother�s Day more than six out of ten asked for more time to spend with families.
The average worker in the UK commutes 2,906 miles pa by car.

With the job market back on track, executives are now in a better position to start shopping for perks. Despite the growing trend towards telecommuting, www.ladders.com survey shows that only 18.7% of top executives rank working from home as a �very important� priority

In its huge telework survey of 8,300 Europeans, Monster.com found that 75% of Brits are in favour of teleworking

Flexible Working Survey 2004 (by Netilla Networks). International survey of 165 commuters in New York City's Penn Station and London's Liverpool Street Station found:

77% would jump at the opportunity to work from home if their employers offered it to them
86% felt that having the choice to work either at home or in the office was the ideal setup.

Stress, quality of life and enhancing relationships with their partners are the key factors for most workers

80% claim that it would make their job less stressful
74% convinced that it would enhance their relationship with their partner
51% of commuters admitted that they felt long hours affected their relationship adversely, with one man saying his long hours at work is the reason he's getting a divorce.
70% of workers felt that if they were trusted to work in a flexible environment their productivity would improve
67% of employees said telework would make them more loyal to their employer.

2.2million teleworkers in the UK (up by 65% over last four years) as of Sept 2003 according to government figures

UK Govt unveils guidelines for country's million teleworkers. Firms should take responsibility for the "information security" of remote workers, address health and safety issues, provide personal support to avoid isolation, and adopt policies which meet both employer and employee needs

New UK Flexible Working Regulations come into effect April 6/03. Will require companies to allow parents with young children to change: hours they work; times when they are required to work; or to telework from home. Will force many companies to allow telework, potentially creating a large market for teleworking-related technology such as broadband and voice over IP

In-depth survey of nearly 2000 teleworkers at BT Teleworking improves work/life balance despite longer working hours. The survey, undertaken by UK CEED's SustainIT initiative, forms part of the Centre's major European project on sustainable teleworking. Among the findings: 78% of teleworkers said they were 10-20% more productive; 90% were satisfied with the arrangement, and 22% said they had worked when they would have felt too ill to do so had they not been telecommuting. The company said it had saved �100 million per year in space costs. (click here for pdf report)

Teleworking in Britain: The number of teleworkers has risen sharply in Britain up by 65% in past four years to 2.2m of workforce according to the government's Office for National Statistics. Teleworking was particularly common among highly skilled and senior-ranking men (click here for pdf report)

Apr 2001. Mitel Networks Survey (conducted by Mori)

More and more UK employees to want to work from home
Almost 30% want to telework
Telework would deal with their most annoying job aspects: commuting time (41%); office politics (37%); and constant interruptions (33%)
30% would consider changing jobs, and 25% would take a cut in salary, in order to telework
33% of those who have worked from home find it much more productive than working in the office
33% would like to work from home between 1-3 days per week
26% would like to work from home every day
45% are attracted to working from home because they would spend less money on transport
Graham Bevington, managing director of Mitel Networks: "The discovery that workers are increasingly dissatisfied with the office culture is not surprising. The increase in mobile and messaging technology means that employees have the tools necessary to be able to work from wherever they are. This coupled with the recent travel crises in the UK add to the frustration of having to come into the office day after day. Here at Mitel Networks we have found that our employees who work from home, even on an occasional basis, are much more productive."

Ireland

March 2006 survey by NS MRBI reveals

Teleworking on the rise among Irish SMEs
1/3 of SME owner managers and execs work from home at least 1 day per month, but still find it hard to get broadband.
Reasons for telecommuting include
37% say to increase productivity and avoid the day-to-day interruptions experienced in the office
27% say because it's convenient
14% say that it provides a better balance between their careers and their home life
11% do so to avoid traffic, an increase of 4% since last year.

Teleworkers in Ireland: Irish Central Statistics Office says there are now almost 40,000 teleworkers in Ireland. Some 39,000 people spend their whole working week at home, communicating with the office by electronic means. Another 20,000 use a home-based computer with a telecommunications link for at least part of the week

Europe

Information communication technologies (ICT) EU-backed study on remote working proves it has some definite benefits for the workers but also for the organisations that allow it.

Sustainable Teleworking (Sustel) 2003: Teleworking is economically and socially good says Sustel major European study. Telework means increased efficiency, with productivity up by anything from 60-80%, and improved quality of work, with increases of 57-77%. See details here

The Dutch WATT Survey Report outlines the results of a large study about telework and its impact on business, organisational capabilities, employee behaviour, commuting travel patterns etc. An MS Word version of this report is available online (enter: username "guest"; and password "guest", then go to "research outputs"). Contact H.N. Lim, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Technology, Policy & Management, Jaffalaan 5, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands

Teleworking booms in Europe: 2002 Bonn Empirica study pegs the number of European teleworkers at 20 million - double of 3 years ago. 10% telework more than one day a week. Germany is the highest per capita, followed by Great Britain and Ireland. Increase is not due to typical teleworking, but also to independent staff in small businesses.

2002 European Framework Agreement on Telework: Telework improves conditions for teleworkers - employers and trades unions sign agreement to give 4.5 million teleworkers more security while maintaining business flexibility (click here for pdf report)

Oct 2001: IDC Forecasts Teleworking Rocketing as European Companies Embrace Remote Working: In it's report titled: "Western European Teleworking: Mobile Workers and Telecommuters, 2000-2005", IDC defines teleworkers as a community made of workers who are either mobile workers, or telecommuters. Telecommuters, said the report, are those who spend at least one day a week working from home, and mobile workers are those who spend at least 20 percent of their working hours outside of both their home and office. Both populations are swelling across Europe, IDC said, with mobile workers numbering 6.1 million set to reach 20.1 million in 2005, and telecommuters set to grow from 3.8 million in 2000 to 8.7 million in 2005. Today, most Western European countries have accepted this new method of working because it enhances business competitiveness, productivity and working conditions.

2000 European Guidelines for Telework. Eurpean Employment Commissioner welcomes EU-wide agreement on guidelines for telework in the commerce sector which employs 23 million workers or 16% of the total workforce. Agreement sets out concrete guidelines for regulating telework through collective agreements and other arrangements at national and company level. It stipulates that teleworkers should be employed on a similar basis to any other employee, enjoying comparable employment rights, remuneration structures and career opportunities.

2000 Report: Telework in Europe - Status Quo and Potential By 2005, over 16.2 million (or 10.8%) of the European workforce will be involved in one way or another with teleworking

l'Institut allemand de l'�conomie, ranks the total number of teleworkers to overall working population as follows:

Rank	Country	Teleworkers	%
1	UK	4 million	15%
2	Finland	300,000	13.6%
3	Norway	50,000	11.4%
4	Sweden	400,000	10.3%
5	US	11 million	8.5%
6	Canada	1 million	7.1%
7	Ireland	40,000	2.9%
8	Germany	800,000	2.4%
9	Pays-Bas	140,000	1.9%
10	France	300,000	1.3%

Scandinavia

Oct 2001 Swedish Gallup Surveys 1,200 Scandinavian firms: The report says that the vast majority of Nordic firms plan to let their employees access company data remotely because using mobile technology boosts efficiency

45% offer their employees the chance to access company data remotely
44% plan to expand this possibility within six months
75% say telework was an advantage to them, with 47% claiming increased productivity