Defining eWork
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Broadly speaking, anyway, eWork refers -especially in Europe- to the concepts of Telework or Telecommuting (working at a distance using information and communications technology).
The broadest definition of eWork encompasses any work which is carried out away from an establishment and managed from that establishment using information technology and a telecommunications link for receipt or delivery of the work. According to this definition, nearly half of all establishments in Europe (49 per cent) are already practising some form of eWork (Emergence, 2002). The largest proportion of this eWork involves outsourcing, although nearly 12 per cent of all establishments use forms of eWorking involving direct employees.
eWork can be defined as any activity that involves the processing of information and its delivery via a telecommunications link that is carried out away from the main premises of an organisation. This might be carried out in-house (ie by an employee of the organisation) or outsourced (ie by a subcontractor). It may also be carried out either away from traditional office-type premises by an individual working in isolation (eg at home or from multiple locations) or in office-type premises by a group of workers working together in a shared space. This diagram illustrates the range of possibilities, grouped according to these variables.
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in-house |
outsourced |
| individualized |
fully home-based working by employees
multi-locational or nomadic working by employees |
freelance work |
| on shared premises |
remote back offices
work by employees based in telecottages or other non-domestic premises owned by third parties |
business services supplied by independent contractors |
(Source: Emergence, 2002)
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