INTERVIEW:
Question 1
How would you define telework?
Answer
I would say that telework is part of the revolution on the labour markets. The labour
market is exploding, or imploding, as thousands of jobs are shed, partly due to new
technologies which allow for the globalisation of the economy. New technologies also allow
us to work at a distance. I would define telework now as a new way of working, by people
who work mainly or for an important part of their lives from a place which is not a
traditional workplace but a place at a distance from the normal factory. It may be at home
but can also be mobile - people working from a plane, from clients, in hotels. We are
witnessing a fragmentation, a decentralisation of the labour market and part of that is
the fact that you can work from a distance and have your results through
telecommunications somewhere else in the world.
Question 2
Among the concepts related to telework, one of the most stimulating is that of the virtual
office. What is your idea of a virtual office?
Answer
The new technologies will allow people to work in a network society, in which people will
be linked by telecommunications. People will engage in teamwork, on projects and those
teams are very flexible The virtual society is one whereby experts situated in different
parts of the world or in different parts of the country can form work teams concerning
complete projects - like making a film, theatre - and at that moment use the talents which
are around and unite them through telecommunications. So that virtual enterprise is the
possible enterprise which is latent there at every moment but will be realised around
certain projects.
Question 3
In Belgium is this a virtual enterprise, or a real enterprise?
Answer
In a number of countries telework is advanced - Great Britain, Germany, also France - but
we are not talking about millions, we are talking about thousands of workers. In a number
of countries it's marginal, just starting. Belgium is one of the countries where this is
just starting, but I think we have to have an open outlook because the traditional
categories of the world of work are disappearing. Categories like employees and
self-employed, autonomous workers are practically disappearing. Now people will work in
more flexible situations. I think this is what we have to address, looking for new
categories, so that people are protected, socially integrated, while working at different
places than before.
Question 4
What is the legal situation of telework in your country?
Answer
No EU country has specific rules for teleworkers, we have to fall back on old categories,
so teleworkers are either employees, self-employed or in certain countries home workers. I
think we will have to see that social protection is not eroded and that model contacts are
developed, that people know what the conditions are, what the work is, how their privacy
will be respected, how heath and safety will be safeguarded, how data protection will be
organised, how the responsibility for the use of the materials will take place and so on.
A lot of creative thinking is necessary to integrate the new ways of working into the
legal fabric of today.
Question 5
Are there any educational programs to create new teleworkers?
Answer
The coming telework society can only flourish if the infrastructure is there. At the same
time, we need education for people to work autonomously, to be creative, to seek projects.
The old times when someone gave you an order are out. Now you have to have people who work
in teams, who see problems, who have a creative attitude. At the same time, a teleworker
has to be his own manager, his own accountant, his own secretary, so he has to learn a lot
of skills to be an entrepreneur on his own, if he wants to be a successful teleworker in
the next century.
Question 6
Do you think that telework may imply the risk of losing the personal dimension of work,
that is, physical if not social and cultural isolation?
Answer
Absolutely. I think this is one of the problems which goes along with telework. It is a
problem of physical isolation, of personal isolation, and at the same time of lack of
promotion, a lack of social interaction, so a number of jobs cannot be done by telework.
And for those which can be done by telework, we need to see that there is social
integration by, for example, organising meetings, so that people can interact during the
week and although you work at home you can have contact. Without human contact, life is
not possible.
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