Economy & Work :: eWork (archived)

This page was archived when this portal was restructured in early 2007. You will find the relevant links originally contained in this theme:

elsewhere in the newly revised Economy & Work theme, particularly in the eBusiness theme;
the Education & Training Theme, particularly in the Digital Literacy theme;
the Society & Culture > Inclusion theme.

More and better jobs in a knowledge-based economy

The idea of eWork is closely linked to the development of the knowledge society in Europe. The Lisbon Strategy highlighted the importance of creating "more and better jobs and greater social cohesion". Not just "more jobs", but also "better jobs" a good working environment, a better reconciliation of work and personal life, health and safety at work, employee involvement, and diversity in working life. The knowledge society opens new perspectives for the quality of work: creating the conditions for change in existing jobs, generating new working methods and new ways of organising work, and allowing greater flexibility in the workplace. Modernisation of work organisation in a knowledge-based economy is one of the 11 areas identified by the eEurope 2005 Action Plan. The main accent is now on new collaboration structures, value creation, mobility at work and knowledge management for professional (cyber)communities, as they complement the market dimension of eBusiness with the reengineering required of working methods and organisations.

The term telework had been popularised in Europe from the late 1980s and early 1990s; in 1999, with the introduction of the eEurope initiative, the broadening in scope of ICT enabled work styles was reflected by the introduction of the term eWork. eWork can be generally defined as any normal business activity carried out from a remote location by using modern computing and communication technology. SIBIS ("Statistical Indicators Benchmarking the Information Society") research distinguishes between home-based eWork, mobile eWork and eWork by self-employed who work from SOHOs, i.e. small offices in their home. According to the 2003 Collaboration@Work Report, taking all types of eWork together, 13% of the working population in the EU can be classified as eworkers:

More than 7% of the EU workforce are practising home-based eWork.
4% are mobile eworkers (spending a considerable share of their working time away from their home and their main place of work, e.g. on business trips, travelling or on customer's premises, and making use of online connections)
3.4% are self-employed eworkers in SOHOs; this group equals 21% of all self-employed.

In the EU, the share of eworkers is considerably higher among the self-employed than among workers with a contract of employment. The degree of interest is considerable: 40% of the EU workforce express interest in permanent eWork, 52% in alternating eWork and even 55% in centre-based eWork. Results of another SIBIS survey show clearly that telework is perceived to have a beneficial effect on work performance, labour market participation, and geographical mobility.

Impact of ICT on quality jobs

Long-run sustained use of ICT in companies is likely to lead to higher profits and increased market share, but only if it is combined with organisational change and upgrading of skills of employeesNew forms and combinations of social and human capital are emerging in the knowledge and "networked" society
(Building the Knowledge Society: Social and Human Capital Interactions)

New wireless and display technologies change office equipment and design, and the nature of work itself changes in a knowledge economy where creativity and innovation became more important than simple productivity in routine tasks. Greater participation in work requires that work is not only more accessible, but that it is more attractive.

EU companies are important providers of ICT skills. Workers acquire know-how by using ICT applications as working tools. An indicator capturing this is the share of businesses which give their staff access to ICTs at the workplace: SIBIS data highlights that between 40% (Greece) and 91% (Finland) of EU employment is in companies which grant their staff free access to the Internet.

A Eurobarometer survey carried out in 2002 confirmed the overall positive impact of ICT on the quality of jobs. Nine out of ten respondents say that ICT can help people use higher skills, increase their responsibility, work more productively, better manage information flow, and better combine their work and private life.

The 2003 Collaboration@Work Report highlighted that most eWork takes place in flexible settings, with the home acting as only one of a bigger number of options for work locations. Consequently, the number of mobile eworkers is likely to outnumber home-based eworkers soon. eWork seems to be part of a general move towards greater variability and flexibility of the way work is organized, and is being implemented in ways that are believed to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of the work process. A central issue are sustainable new work environments and paradigms, incorporating traditional eWork, but also empowering people to participate in economic wealth creation in all professional roles, whether within organizations, cybercommunities or as individuals. Not only computer supported collaborative work and eWork, but the actual collaboration process: enhanced networking (especially grid infrastructures) and emergent business, work and centreless communities.

This is confirmed by the 2004 Collaboration@Work report, which suggests to focus the research on the productivity and work issue related to the Lisbon objectives on collaboration@work application platforms, systems and technologies which support productivity by creative and innovative person-centric working environments. The report proposes a knowledge worker centric approach, which is applicable in a generic way both in public and private sector - within, across and outside organisations.

The economic challenge of eWork and its social impact

13% of the working population in the EU can be classified as eWorkers

The 9th eWork in Europe Assembly and recent surveys (e.g. the EMERGENCE project) outlined several challenges for eWork:

eWork and competitiveness. The intensity of worldwide competition is forcing companies to adapt their organisation to the market requirements. Potential benefits of eWork are not restricted to real estate savings.
eWork and corporate social responsibility. Ethical behaviour becomes a selection criteria for investors and eWork can play a significant role in developing the social and environmental commitment of corporate executives.
eWork, law and unions. Some still consider that eWork expansion is held up both by legal constraints and by the attitudes of trade unions. However, this is not the case, as many case studies and agreements can demonstrate.
eWork and job mobility. Recent analysis reveal that ICT influence shifts in the location of employment. eWork growth is geographically uneven and likely to become increasingly polarised in specific regions. eWork often offers less long term job security than other forms of employment. Statistical comparison between different countries and regions highlight the importance of developing policies linking eWork with social inclusion on the regional level.

As recently highlighted by the synthesis Report of the European e-Skills Forum (e-Skills for Europe: Toward 2010 and beyond, Sept 2004), efforts need to be taken to ensure a seamless framework linking basic eSkills training, more advanced vocational training and professional educational development undertaken at university level. To enable more people, including women and currently unemployed people, to have the opportunity to advance their careers in ICT, a transparent skills and qualifications framework which ensures transparency and encourages upward mobility in skills acquisition would be particularly valuable.

EU Policies and activities

The EU main tools in promoting eWork are targeted to different areas:

Maximising employment opportunities in a knowledge based society. The European Employment Strategy is designed to make the most of the job opportunities arising from ICT and the knowledge-based economy. Setting out priorities for Member States' employment policies, the EU sets targets for building an inclusive e-economy that will provide a range of online services to enhance job prospects and e-learning for all European citizens. Key ambitions include using ICT to ease the transition from school to work, to make it easier to start up and run businesses; to exploit new opportunities for job creation; to modernise work organisation; to support adaptability in businesses; to reconcile work and family life; to promote a labour market open to all.
Enhancing Education and Training > Skills for the IS. Within the eEurope 2005 framework, the EU is training its workforce to make full use of ICT. Policies in the field of e-Learning, for example, seek to mobilise the educational and cultural communities, as well as the economic and social players in Europe, in order to speed up changes in the education and training systems for Europe's move to the knowledge-based society.
Fostering an open dialogue between all relevant stakeholders and catalysing actions with a view to helping to narrow the e-skills gap and to address eskills mismatches. To this end, in March 2003 the European Commission established the European e-Skills Forum. Four working groups have been established on supply and demand, managing social change, international aspects and public private partnerships. A workshop on e-skills industry certifications was organised in March 2004. The European e-Skills Forum released in 2004 four issue papers on supply and demand, management of social change, international aspects and public-private partnerships, and a Synthesis Report e-Skills for Europe: Toward 2010 and beyond, which was discussed and fully endorsed at the European e-Skills 2004 Conference. An e-Skills Online Forum has been set up by CEDEFOP to allow all interested parties to comment and to contribute actively to the work of the European e-Skills Forum. Future actions in this field will be based on the six recommendations of the Forum.
Research and coordination activities in the framework of IST 2003-2004 Work Programme <@Work. They aim to contribute to R&D and policy developments in new working environments designs and in organization of work in the networked knowledge-based economy: Network business and governments, Products and services engineering 2010, Applications and services for the mobile user and worker. The importance of investment and use of ICT for further growth and jobs in Europe is highlighted in a communication on Connecting Europe at high speed adopted by the European Commission in February 2004. It underlines the importance of the electronic communication sector for the health of the European economy as a whole: further growth will be driven by the provision of new services over high-speed fixed and wireless networks making use of broadband and 3G mobile communications.