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129 Int'l Lab. Rev. 529 (1990)
Telework: A New Way of Working and Living

handle is hein.journals/intlr129 and id is 543 raw text is: International Labour Review, Vol. 129, 1990, No. 5 Telework: A new way of working and living Vittorio DI MARTINO * and Linda WIRTH * T elework is only ten years old. In this short time its capacity for redrawing the geographical and organisational boundaries of the traditional, centralised enterprise has been amply demonstrated. Telework combines the use of information and communication technologies with the concept of the flexible workplace. The positive consequences of the decentralisation and increased worker autonomy and mobility brought about by telework can be seen in higher levels of productivity, improved working-time arrangements and new employment opportunities for various categories of workers, potentially without geographical limits. However, telework can also generate isolation and marginalisation, increase stress for the workers concerned and favour their exploitation. While it can radically improve ways of working and living, it can also reinforce existing labour market inequalities and even worsen the employment conditions and job security of workers in certain occupational and social groups. In presenting a wide-ranging view of the status of telework in the world today, this article attempts to alert policy-makers, managers and workers to the enormous potential of telework. At the same time, it warns against the dangers of not being adequately prepared legally, technically and organisationally for this new form of work and for its consequences. The article describes what telework is and how it is being implemented around the world. The reasons for using telework and the possibilities it presents of employment for the disabled and for workers in rural and isolated areas are then discussed, before questions concerning the legal status and working conditions of teleworkers are analysed. A brief outline is given of the positions adopted by certain workers' and employers' organisations regarding telework, as well as of various initiatives undertaken by governments to promote it. Finally, the article discusses how to ensure that telework becomes an instrument for improving the living and employment conditions of workers as well as for assisting enterprises and organisations to improve their productivity and efficiency. The possible role of the ILO in this regard is briefly considered. * International Labour Office. In the recent ILO publication Conditions of Work Digest: Telework (Geneva, 1990, Vol. 9, No. 1), the authors provide more extensive coverage of the subject, particularly as concerns the case studies referred to in this article. Copyright 0 International Labour Organisation 1990 529

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