eWork and Regional Development: Background
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The scope and range of eWork relocation
EMERGENCE has conducted large scale quantitative surveys of the incidence of the different types of eWork across Europe amongst establishments with at least 50 employees, plus some country studies of establishments with less than 50 employees in selected business functions. The general results summarised here are of establishments with more than 50 employees in the 15 EU countries plus Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Using the EMERGENCE definitions (see diagram): nearly half of all establishments in Europe (49%) are already practising some form of eWork (Huws, O’Regan, 2001).
- Internal employees: Nearly 12% use forms of eWorking involving direct employees.
- Individualised: It is interesting to note that the stereotypical employee teleworker, based solely at home, is in fact one of the least popular forms of eWork, at only 1.5% of establishments. Much more common is the use of ICT to support multi-locational teleworking by employees, a form of working much less likely to be associated with social isolation, which about 10% of establishments use.
- On shared premises: Nearly 7% of all establishments have a back office in another region in which their own employees are based, although less than 1% make use of telecottages, telecentres or other remote office premises owned by third parties as workplaces for their remote employees.
- Individualised: It is interesting to note that the stereotypical employee teleworker, based solely at home, is in fact one of the least popular forms of eWork, at only 1.5% of establishments. Much more common is the use of ICT to support multi-locational teleworking by employees, a form of working much less likely to be associated with social isolation, which about 10% of establishments use.
- Outsourced: The in-house forms of eWorking are heavily outweighed by the use of eOutsourcing as a mechanism for carrying work out remotely (43% of all establishments).
- Individualised: Over 14% of establishments use ‘eLancers’ to deliver some form of information service.
- On shared premises: This is the most prevalent form of eWork. Much of it is carried out within the region where the employer is based (34%) but substantial numbers (18%) outsource to other regions within the same country, whilst over 5% outsource outside their national borders. Outsourced call centres linked by telecommunications are used by over 11% of all establishments.
- Individualised: Over 14% of establishments use ‘eLancers’ to deliver some form of information service.
Turning to the functions involved in eWork, the following pattern is found:
eWork by business function
(Source: Huws, O’Regan, 2001)
As can be seen, the most common function is software development and support, perhaps because the personnel involved are likely both to possess the requisite skills and to have access to the technology to enable them to work in this way. Other functions are, however, also important. (See also eWork relocation by reason and business function.)
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