European

Extracts circulated on the Internet via on-line version TCA-OnLine and now available in partnership with BT on BT’s workingfromhome website.

We have requested three copies of the magazine to be sent through and will get an A1 poster made up.....

The April/May edition of Teleworker magazine carried some excellent articles whose sheer variety and breadth mean that the entire magazine should qualify for the best article. This issue contained the following significant articles :

 Article listing :

Headlines

• TCA and UK Telework Platform lobbies parliament in the House of Commons (week long)
• Students rebel against lessons via videoconference
• Mobile teleworkers advised not to phone and drive
• Call Centres are flourishing in the UK

 Transport

• Telework and Traffic mangement
• Report shows that roads reduce economic activity
• The Teletourers - new high tech caravans for the tripping teleworker

 Telecottages and Telecentres

• The most remote telecottage in the UK
• The Telecottage in the Railway Carriage
• Stoke on Trent high tech centre

 Technology

• Electronic News services - Newsdesk
• Ian Simmins and the ETD web site
• ETD Web site

 Training

• University for Industry
• Training for call centres
• Disabled people trained at home

 Organisation

• Local council recruits teleworking programmers
• Surrey County Council teleworking
• Regus ‘Touchdown centres’

 Telecottage Map

Technology Feature : What Every Teleworker Wants

My favourite things - spoof technology gizmos

Brian Davis Chief Exec of the Nationwide Group (Article originally appeared in the Daily Telegraph newspaper)

Three significant articles from this issue were :

Staff at Surrey County Council will be giving flexible working some serious thought over the next few months as the authority prepares for a radical shake-up of working practices.

Some 3,400 staff in 83 buildings across the county will be affected by the proposed flexible working programme - known as Surrey Workstyle - which is expected to reduce the authority’s office stock by up to 50 per cent over the next two/three years and create efficiency savings of up to £3 million per year through better use of buildings and technology and freeing up cash for front-line services.

The proposals, which have been agreed in principle by the policy and finance committee are currently being considered by staff who have until June to comment and offer suggestions.

"The consultation process is a means of communication enabling staff to find out what Surrey Workstyle will mean to them and to offer them the chance to say how they want it to work," said communications officer Naomi Grove. "It will be going ahead - that’s non-negotiable - but they will be able to shape it."

She said several pilot projects were already up and running within the authority and feedback from staff involved had been both positive and constructive. The projects had also given people the chance to address specific departmental issues which were flexible working had thrown into the spotlight, she said.

Michael Gammon, chairman of the policy and finance committee, said the process of change was evolutionary but radical, stressing there was no blueprint that could be applied to every county council office because of different community needs and the wide variety of professions represented across the authority.

"Surrey Workstyle will require each of the council’s departments to develop, in a manner appropriate to the services it offers, the type of far-reaching change in working patterns achieved in financial services and other sectors in recent years," he said.

"It requires firm leadership and skilled management, the co-operation of staff to offer improved services for our customers and a more effective workforce with working conditions tailored to their needs." Surrey Workstyle is also geared towards helping the council to achieve its aim of cutting car use among staff, as part of its company transport plan. Fewer and shorter journeys between home and work can reduce traffic congestion, lessen work-related stress and boost staff productivity. The policy and finance committee will meet again in July to consider the results of the consultation process and discuss the next step.

The model of Surrey Workstyle currently being considered by staff includes:

• a single corporate headquarters (although no decision about whether to retain County Hall or replace it with new headquarters somewhere in Surrey will be finalised for some months)
• four major area offices for staff who have to be in a broad geographical area or could be based anywhere in the country
• about 25 local office bases designed to meet the needs of customers for direct access to council staff and to allow staff to work closer to home for at least part of the week.

Currently 80% of access to council services is via the telephone but the smaller offices will enable those who do want face-to-face contact with officers to link up to a variety of departments eg. education, social services, housing all under one roof rather than having to travel between several different addresses which is presently the case.

Leading disability charity Leonard Cheshire has launched an ambitious new scheme to train disabled people in computer technology and link them to work - but despite the fact that the scheme will in, its first stages train people in their homes using the Internet, a cautious line is being taken on teleworking.

The ‘Workability’ scheme, worth UKP 20 million, is Leonard Cheshire’s jubilee year flagship project and hopes to provide 10,000 young disabled people across the UK with free computer technology and training to enable them to compete for jobs. But teleworking is seen by some disabled groups as a way of keeping disabled people out of the mainstream workforce and hence is a sensitive issue for the project.

Workability project co-ordinator for Leonard Cheshire, Janet Epplestone said :

"We would leave the teleworking angle up to the individual. Workability is about opportunities and choice, and whilst we would support those who choose to work from home, for whatever reason, we would not want actively to encourage people to do this - this would rightly be seen as further marginalising disabled people."

Sally Litchfield of the Shaw Trust, one of the project partners whose task it is to match people to work, takes a similar view:

"Shaw Trust is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities become employed, but teleworking from home is a new concept and it must be left to the individual to decide whether it is the appropriate employment route. We must ensure that the issues around home working are considered and ensure that people do not become marginalised."

TCA member Mark Francis-Jones who was left wheelchair-bound after a road accident sees teleworking as an solution to some of the physical restrictions he now has to contend with. "I can for example operate entirely from my bed if situations dictate. Teleworking is particularly suitable as it gives flexibility - it is also very accommodating of my limitations and very cost effective for business." Sylvia Woolcott of Abilities who helped set up a number of disabled people to work from home analysing truck tachograph disks says : "We see the issue as one of personal choice. Some people do get lonely working from home when they don’t have much contact with employers or colleagues. However if the opportunity suits the individual Abilities will do their best to support them."

Participants in the project, supported by a network of ‘buddies’, will be given refurbished computer equipment and software in order to access training on IT applications based on a nationally accredited qualification is which will be be either offered on-site or by on-line support from colleges.

Statistics on disability and employment show that out of the 3.8 million people of working age who are disabled, 2.6 million are unemployed and 173,000 are aged 34 or under.

Leonard Cheshire has applied for ‘New Deal’ money to fund the project, and is looking for UKP 4 million over a three year period and in addition needs donations of equipment, volunteers to be computer buddies and work opportunities for participants.

The first phase of Workability gets underway during Spring 1997 when the initial 250 people from all over the country will take part in the project. Applications will be invited from September for the scond phase.

Partners in the project include : Microsoft who will provide 10,000 copies of Windows, Work and Explorer software; Re Cycle IT who will help provide refurbished computers.

AbilityNet (assessment and adaption)

Shaw Trust, Opportunities and CanDo will provide employment support Amersham and Wycombe College with Bilston Community College (training)

British Computer Society - Disability Group through its magazine ‘Ability’

Hot Links

To join the scheme or find out more contact Leonard Cheshire tel 0171 828

1822

Information on the Periphera project which shows how teleworkng and teleworking technologies can reduce marginalisation of specific groups (rural, ethnic, disabled, etc)is available at www.periphera.org.

"Moral Dilemmas and Issues of Providing Telework for Disabled People" A paper by Ben Fairweather Research Fellow at the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Monfort University. See http://www.ccsr.cms.dmu.ac.uk/pubs/papers/distwpa1.html for an abstract.

COME THE REVOLUTION

STAND FIRST EXTRACTS :

"Cars have never been such good value for money but sitting in a comfortable coffin in an endless traffic jam is now many peoples’ daily experience. And environmental pollution is threatening our very existence."

"For education we could see virtual classrooms being created almost anywhere by bringing individuals or small groups together electronically, saving building and maintenance costs, textbooks need no longer be in short supply since they can all be available online"

"With teleworking becoming truly effective and meetings handled through inter-business video conferencing, benefits accrue through reduced needs for mass transport with fewer journeys, accidents and , delays - and a consequent reduction in road building costs and emergency services."

We are in the middle of a world revolution. This has nothing to do with armed conflict - at least, not yet but it is as dramatic an event as the industrial revolution experienced by our forebears in the 19^th century. The transition from paperbased communications to worldwide electronic interconnection, coupled with the availability of massive computing power at ever-lower costs, represents the dawn of a new age; we are privileged or unfortunate, depending on your point of view, to be living squarely in the middle of this transformation.

At the same time, the United Kingdom is grappling with the less desirable consequences of industrialisation. The government is setting out to address, via its New Deal, the problem of long-term unemployment, particularly among the young. Miracle treatments for all manner of ailments are now available - if only we had the resources to deliver them. Cars have never been such good value for money but sitting in a comfortable coffin in an endless traffic jam is now many peoples’ daily experience. And environmental pollution is threatening our very existence. It is the juxtaposition of these two phenomena, the advent of the information age and the everyday dilemmas of our society, which leads me to suggest that the United Kingdom has an opportunity to set a national goal that will do three things. It will help solve some of our current concerns; it will provide the springboard for our competitiveness into the future; and it will focus a nation on achieving a world ranking position which might just be seen by many as a little more exciting than keeping inflation below 2-5 per cent (not that this isn’t important!). Quite simply, we should aim to become the On-Line Capital of the World. This would mean we become the pre-eminent suppliers of value-added technology and on-line information systems and services. How can this be achieved? We are already fortunate that the United Kingdom has a thriving computer software industry and that a great deal of Europe’s computer based hardware is manufactured in our own silicon valleys and glens. Our education system is well developed and plans are already being made to further expand the installation of internet stations in schools.

However there is one further requirement. We need to invest in the equivalent of the road and rail networks, which were essential to the success of the industrial revolution. We need to fully cable the UK not with dirt tracks but with super highways that will enable the true potential of full, multi-channel video, voice and data communications to be exploited. Private companies are already making investments in this area but in exactly the same way that it’s of little value if only a few people have telephones, so we need to cable up the whole of the country. This investment can only be speeded up if the government provides greater incentives or takes a direct role and, with so many other demands on the public purse, this needs a good business case to make it happen. And herein lies the irony, since it is the huge public infrastructure that has the most to gain. Take a few examples. For education we could see virtual classrooms being created almost anywhere by bringing individuals or small groups together electronically, saving building and maintenance costs, textbooks need no longer be in short supply since they can all be available online, at a time when many schools will not receive an official inspection for the foreseeable future, standards can be monitored and measured remotely.

On-line job centres and employment advisers, available electronically, could see the "virtual" elimination of expensive buildings, as well as reduced costs of attendance. For the Inland Revenue, on-line, real. time completion of self-assessment forms, with a Need Help facility giving a video conference with a friendly assessor, could all reduce the need for manual checking and calculation - and provide speedier flows into the exchequer. In health we could provide home diagnosis using a remote database covering every imaginable illness; home video conferencing with your GP rather than a disruptive, and potentially unhealthy visit is possible; and even remote surgery might be directed by a few national experts. In the same "vein", hospital patients could be discharged earlier, at less risk, with in home monitoring of their vital signs and video conference visiting by nurses.

Client consultations in the social services can be on a more frequent basis; permanent monitoring of at-risk individuals is feasible; on-line support and reassurance for care in the community patients can be available at, quite literally, the touch of a button. More generally with teleworking becoming truly effective and meetings handled through inter-business video conferencing, benefits accrue through reduced needs for mass transport with fewer journeys, accidents and , delays - and a consequent reduction in road building costs and emergency services. And reduced travelling would also reduce pollution - directly helping to achieve our national goal to reduce emissions into the next century.

The good news is that cable companies are already installing networks that are capable of reaching over 10m people. However, broadband connection to the majority of homes, schools and businesses is likely to be a very long way off when it is only funded by companies seeking a commercial return. On the other hand there is a potentially massive return to the state. Transport, education, health and social security spending already amounts to £200 billion per annum in total. Even a 1 per cent saving would release £10 billion in just five years. And we can add to this the fact that the very need to undertake the cabling creates an industry with high export potential as well as jobs for everyone from communication experts to labourers.

But who is going to develop this business case .and promote such a national goal? At the moment, major information technology initiatives are scattered throughout almost every government department. Unlike most large private companies, there is no information technology director on the board.

The United Kingdom needs a champion; it needs a dedicated Cabinet minister if it is to capitalise effectively on the information revolution and stand any chance of becoming the OnLine Capital of the World.