Abstract
Toward the end of the twentieth century, more specifically in the 1990s, many organizations initiated changes in the way they used space and time. New methods of working emerged that gave some organizations the possibility of integrating the physical work environment into their business processes, increasing the occupation density of any given space while simultaneously creating more effective working spaces that promoted interactivity and communication (Comisión Europea, 2002).
Key Terms in this Chapter
E-work: Term extensively used in Europe, an amplification the original 1980s and 90s concepts of telework or telecommuting: working at a distance using information and communications technology.
Outsourcing: Describes an arrangement in which one company provides services for another company that could also be or historically have been provided in house. Work done for a company by people other than the company’s full-time employees.
Telecenter (U.S. spelling) or Telecentre (UK spelling): Work location usually in a different place than the organization’s main office that provides convenient occasional access for telecommuting to work equipment that they don’t have at home or on the road. It provides workplace for people who may well have full time jobs but want to work away from their employer’s “functional office” but who don’t want to work in their homes.
Living Lab: A public private partnership addressing the needs and requirements from the industry in close collaboration with the public sector. It facilitates co-creation and innovation in real-life contexts in a systemic way, combining the technological and societal drivers.
Offshoring or Offshore Outsourcing: Describes the practice of hiring employees, usually through an outsourcing service, in another country. Companies seeking to reduce their labour costs use offshoring to employ workers at costs substantially less than at home.
Hoteling or Office Hoteling: Practice of providing office space to employees on an as-needed rather than on the traditional, constantly reserved basis. This reduces the amount of physical space that an enterprise needs, lowering overhead cost while (ideally) ensuring that every worker can access office resources when necessary.
Telecottage: Teleworker’s physical workplace. The telecottage can be in the individual’s home or, as is becoming increasingly the case, on a communal site within a short walking distance of the teleworker’s home. Tend to emphasize “social support” for their users.
AMI@Work: Family communities links people in all 25 EU member states and beyond for a European Research and Innovation Area (ERA) at work.
Multilocational Employee: Person who uses a computer and telecommunications link to conduct their work and involves an alternation of work between the home and the employer’s office, or mobile working from a home base.