Telework introduced in the public administration

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In June 1998, following a vote in the Senate, teleworking may now be introduced in Italy's public administration.

On 3 June 1998, the Italian Senate voted to allow the introduction of teleworking in the public administration. This innovative move is seen as reflecting the effort that the Government is making, partly due to pressure from employers' associations and trade unions, to improve productivity in the public administration.

Those sectors of the public administration interested in introducing telework can now launch experimental initiatives. The Authority for Information Technology (Autorità per l'informatica) - a public body which coordinates the use of information technologies in the administration - must agree on any initiatives taken by the individual sectors of the administration. The Department for the Public Administration at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers will coordinate these experimental initiatives and the spread of teleworking in the various sectors.

The telework experiments will take place according to the following basic regulations:

• the administrations themselves will have to pay for the installation of computers, the various items of equipment needed and suitable telephone lines;

• the employees concerned, whose pay will remain unchanged, will carry out their activity in a place different from the workplace. They will agree in advance with their employer on how to verify the performance of their work, which has to be consistent with their original job; and

• workers, on request, will be able to go back to work at their original workplace.

The detailed regulation of teleworking is left to decentralised collective bargaining between the administration concerned and workers' trade union representatives. During bargaining, the partners must take into account the various kinds of distance working arrangements, of employment relationships between the worker and the administration and of the services required of the worker.