LO members ready to take up home-based telework

A recent survey shows that 90,000 members of the LO trade union confederation are currently performing home-based telework.

A study commissioned by the Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Landsorganisationen i Danmark, LO) and publicised in late 1997 shows that home-based telework has increased by more than expected. Almost 15% of all employees and approximately 7%, or 90,000, of LO's members make use of home-based telework.

As might be expected, home-based telework is most common among employees who have had a higher education. Whereas nearly half of higher-paid white-collar workers make use of home-based telework, only 26% of all skilled workers do so. However these figures may change faster than expected. About one-third of employees who do not make use of home-based work stated that such work was possible for them, while 205,000 LO members think that a part of their job could be conducted at home.

One advantages of home-based telework is the freedom to choose how working time is organised. Most employees prefer to work one to two days at home, and 40% are interested in 10-19 hours per week. One of the disadvantages of home-based telework is the lack of contact with colleagues and the workplace: 61% are worried about this and fear that the lack of social contact and isolation could become a problem.

The 1997 collective bargaining round saw the first steps toward regulating home-based telework in a number collective agreements. For example, within the government employment sector, the Ministry of Finance (Finansministeriet) and Danish Central Federation of State Employees (Centralorganisationernes Fællesudvalg, CFU) agreed to analyse and put forward a proposal for negotiations over a framework agreement on the issue, to be finalised by 1 January 1998 at the latest.

In 10 years' time, up to 250,000 employees in Denmark may be involved in home-based telework, according to the Ministry of Research and Information Technology (Forskningsministeriet) (DK9703106N). Of all sectors, the public sector offers the greatest potential - accounting for approximately 30% of the overall expected increase, equal to 75,000 persons involved in home-based telework.

The European Commission, in its study on Telework developments and trends, estimated that the numbers involved in home-based telework in the EU will increase from 1.25 million (1994 figures) to about 10.4 million by 2000.