Teleworking in Perspective

In recent years the information and communication technologies have flooded Western households (personal computers, cell phones, the Internet, etc.), sometimes helping to blur the boundaries between professional and private life. Against this background, has teleworking (working at a distance, working while travelling or dividing time between home and office) increased in the industrialized countries?
Anne de Beer sets out the regulations governing teleworking in France, in Europe and in the United States, and presents the results of various surveys carried out in these areas that give an idea of how widespread the practice has become. Whereas in the United States 24.6% of those with jobs do some teleworking, this is true of only 13% of those working in the 15 (pre-enlargement) members of the European Union, with wide regional differences (the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries are far ahead of southern Europe). On the basis of these surveys the author shows what the benefits of teleworking are for employers and employees, and which factors are likely to promote or restrict its spread.
Quite apart from its potential economic and organizational advantages for firms, teleworking also relates to some social choices such as quality of life and job satisfaction for workers, as well as to more macroeconomic factors such as employees’ productivity and environmental protection (energy savings and reduced traffic pollution).