How to measure eWork in social surveys

One of the objectives of the STILE project 1 was to define indicators to detect teleworkers: for this aim a set of indicators was defined which could be inserted in the statistical inquiries on labour forces in Europe. Initially, we analysed two possible strategies to detect teleworkers through a broad statistical survey: a) by providing respondents with an exact definition of telework and asking them if they could categorise themselves in this work form; b) by identifying teleworkers through an 'ex post' combination of different indicators on the main features of the phenomenon. The first strategy, which has until now been used the most in inquiries on samples of the population, is easier to use but some problems do emerge in its application. The first one is surely the difficulty choosing one of the definitions of telework available as any choice is bound to restrict or broaden the field of inquiry. Furthermore, any definition eventually risks becoming obsolete, compromising the continuity of future surveys. By proposing a definition the respondents may be influenced by the social desirability/undesirability of their reply rather than give a true description of their situation. Whereas with the cross tabulation (of indicators) approach it is not necessary to ask the respondents whether they consider themselves to be teleworkers as this can be discerned by combining several indicators on the main aspects of telework. The essential aspects to detect teleworkers are those mentioned in the vast majority of definitions: the place where the worker carries out his job, the amount of time spent working at a distance from the main office and the importance of the use of information and telematic technologies. On the basis of these considerations the cross tabulation approach was selected and a set of indicators was proposed to capture both the core traits, indispensable to quantify the teleworkers and additional traits, useful to qualify the various forms of eWork.