Abstract
Telework and ICT-based mobile work (TICTM) arrangements have emerged in response to technological changes driven by digitalisation, increasing flexibility within the labour market, and globalisation. As telework becomes more widespread, these flexible models of work are rapidly expanding to new categories of employees, changing the factors traditionally found to be important for telework eligibility. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of new profiles of teleworkers, examining main factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of different TICTM arrangements. We apply multinomial logistic regression models to a sample of more than 20,000 workers from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey. Our findings confirm the heterogeneity in the profiles of teleworkers, particularly distinguishing by TICTM arrangement. Occasional teleworkers are usually male managers or professionals, but a relevant percentage of highly mobile teleworkers are technicians and associate professionals, while clerical support workers amount to a large group of home-based teleworkers. The majority of occasional and highly mobile teleworkers are still men, but this can no longer be said of home-based teleworkers. The correlations between telework and permanent contracts, full-time jobs, and living in urban areas are weak, showing that TICTM is spreading into more precarious, temporary, and lower-paid jobs, especially among home-based teleworkers and highly mobile teleworkers.
Highlights
Telework and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)-based mobile work (TICTM) arrangements have emerged in response to societal developments, including technological changes driven by globalisation, digitalisation, automation [1], increasing flexibility and precarity within the labour market [2], and increased surveillance [3]
The results show an increasing heterogeneity in the profiles of teleworkers as per workplace and ICT-use intensity, and prove that the TICTM arrangement is a crucial differentiating factor that needs to be taken into consideration when researching and designing public policies on telework
As for spatial factors, our research supports Hypothesis 5 (H5), since the results show that the probability of teleworking declines in rural areas—telework is 11% less likely to be an option in rural areas, according to Models I and II—when compared with urban areas with a higher population density
Summary
Telework and ICT-based mobile work (TICTM) arrangements have emerged in response to societal developments, including technological changes driven by globalisation, digitalisation, automation [1], increasing flexibility and precarity within the labour market [2], and increased surveillance [3]. As nowadays a growing number of tasks can be performed and surveilled anywhere and anytime with the help of the new generation of mobile Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), gradually fewer jobs remain entirely dependent on a single location [4,5,6]. We draw on recent studies that show how the rapid diffusion of ICT and digitalisation are contributing to the spread of telework to new groups of workers, and many workers with routine and clerical tasks can work remotely [7,8]. This study aims to explore the extent to which the expansion of telework and ICTM practices are modifying the dominant or traditional profiles of teleworkers and are rapidly expanding to new categories of workers with different working conditions
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
