Following on from the Institute of Employment Studies work on the number of teleworkers in Europe, an agreement has been forged to formalise and protect their working conditions. ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation), UNICE / UEAPME (European Employers Groups) and CEEP (European Center of Enterprises) have put forward someprinciples to balance security and flexibility.

The agreement:
– stresses that Europe must encourage the development of telework in such a way that flexibility and security go together and that the quality of jobs is enhanced, if it wants to make the most of the information society,

– acknowledges that telework is a way of organising work which can correspond to companies’ and workers’ needs,

– covers different forms of telework but is limited to regular telework in the context of an employment contract or relationship,

– is based on the recognition that teleworkers benefit from the same protection as employees working at the employers premises,

– highlights key areas requiring adaptation or specific attention when working away from the employer’s premises, such as data protection, privacy, health and safety, work organisation, training, etc.

The agreement defines telework and sets up a general framework at European level for teleworkers’ working conditions. It recognises that teleworkers are afforded the general protection granted to workers based on the employer’s premises and highlights 7 key areas where the specificities of telework need to be taken into account.

The parties have noted that: “Approximately 4.5 million employees are currently teleworking in the European Union. Some estimates foresee that the number of teleworkers could reach more than 17 million employees by 2010.The agreement we signed today clearly contributes to the Lisbon goal of turning Europe into the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world and achieving the necessary balance between flexibility and security.”

The European Commission has welcomed the agreement. Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, said: “This is a landmark deal. Not only will this initiative benefit both workers and businesses, but it is the first European agreement to be implemented by the social partners themselves. This shows the coming of age of European social dialogue.”

The European Union’s 10 million teleworkers are made up of:
– home-based employed teleworkers, most of whom work alternately at home and on the employer’s premises;
– self-employed teleworkers who normally work from home;
– mobile workers who spend at least ten hours per week away from home or their main place of work, for example on business trips, travelling or on customers’ premises, during which time they use online computer connections;
– casual workers who could fall under the first group (home-based), but spend less than ten hours per week teleworking from home.

The full text can be found on the UNICE site.