Who and where are the flexible workers? Exploring the current diffusion of telework in Sweden

• Author: Eva Thulin,Bertil Vilhelmson
• Published date: 01 March 2016
• Date: 01 March 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12060

Who and where are the flexible workers? 77© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

New Technology, Work and Employment 31:1

ISSN 1468-005X

Who and where are the flexible workers?

Exploring the current diffusion of telework

in Sweden

Bertil Vilhelmson and Eva Thulin

This study investigates the increased adoption of telework in

Sweden between 2005 and 2012. It uses microlevel data from

national surveys in order to ask where telework is being ad-

opted and by whom. Results indicate that telework has become

routine for over 20 per cent of all gainfully employed. Expan-

sion is explained by a working life in transition: besides en-

abling information and communication technologies, factors

associate with managers’ trust and control; the character of

jobs, work tasks and contracts in knowledge- based industries;

and with individual and household work–life balance issues.

Telework is connected to permanent employment in the ad-

vanced services sector, slowly diffusing into other sectors. It

is increasingly performed in the home and is becoming more

frequent. Individuals with families and children are overrep-

resented and among the fastest growing groups. Broadband

access at home is an enabler. Larger urban regions strengthen

their position in favour of teleworking.

Keywords: telework, home-based work, adoption, constraints,

Sweden, information and communication technologies.

Introduction: telework—a dead issue?

Since the late 1970s, when computers and digital networks were broadly intro-

duced in work and business, telework has recurrently been a ‘hot’ topic in re-

search, policy and practice (Sturesson, 2003; Hynes, 2014). The technical ability

of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to give fresh meaning to

and promote various forms of remote work has continuously increased, as home

computers, laptops, smart phones, tablets and broadband connections have spread

to many groups in society. Jobs, work tasks and services are increasingly being

virtualised, and are expected to become less tied to specific places and steadily

more flexible and mobile (e.g. Felstead et al., 2005; Alexander et al., 2010). At the

same time, the spatial separation between home and work, i.e. commuting dis-

tance, continues to increase (Gil Solá and Vilhelmson, 2012). In this dynamic

context, telework has been expected to be advantageous for several reasons: to

save time and improve the work–life balance of families, reduce physical

transportation and urban congestion, cut pollution and energy use, save office

Bertil Vilhelmson (Bertil.Vilhelmson@geography.gu.se) is Professor in Human Geography at School of

Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. His research includes studies of mobility and

welfare, e.g., how ICTs and transportation influence people´s daily activity patterns and access to the

environment. Eva Thulin (Eva.Thulin@geography.gu.se) is Associate Professor in Human Geography

at School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. Her research interests include

time geography, and the use and implications of ICT use in various contexts of everyday life.

78 New Technology, Work and Employment © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

space, create job opportunities, attract qualified workers and spark economic growth

in remote regions (see e.g. Haddon and Lewis, 1994; Bailey and Kurland, 2002

for reviews). Such hopes are repeated as central themes in the visionary discourse

on the digital society, as telework has been the subject of considerable expecta-

tions, policy efforts and research over the years (Sturesson, 2003; Hynes, 2014).

Yet, reality has confounded expectations. The actual adoption of telework pro-

ceeded slowly (Vilhelmson and Thulin, 2001; Welz and Wolf, 2010; Scott et al.,

2012; Hynes, 2014), and this is largely explained in terms of human, social and

organisational reasons—that is, fundamental constraints associated with the indi-

vidual’s need to meet other people face- to- face (e.g. Bergum, 2007; Rasmussen and

Corbett, 2008). Telework has turned out to be another example of the ‘technological

deterministic fallacy’ (Keirl, 2006), i.e. when a seemingly rational and cost- reducing

technology does not diffuse as expected, sometimes even being rejected outright.

Nevertheless, there are reasons for revitalising knowledge of the development

of telework, and of its enablers and constraints, in contemporary society. Recent

developments in Sweden, for example, imply a growing acceptance of telework.

After decades of slow growth, current estimates, based on nationally representative

data, indicate that the number of regular teleworkers has more than doubled

since 2005 and that teleworkers comprised a quarter of all gainfully employed

as of 2013 (Vilhelmson and Thulin, 2001; Sturesson, 2003). The observed change

brings many important issues to the fore, particularly concerning where and among

whom telework is currently being adopted.

Accordingly, this study concentrates on the ongoing expansion of telework in

Sweden. We here define telework as performing ordinary work during scheduled

working hours at locations other than the regular workplace, for example, but

not necessarily, from home sending work between locations via the Internet. Our

aim is to investigate what characterises the work and workers associated with

this increase in telework, what broad sectors of the economy are involved, and

where, in what types of regions, telework has diffused. The paper is empirical

and descriptive as we rely on repeated cross- sectional survey data, an approach

justified by a general lack of studies capturing contemporary levels of change.

We contribute to current knowledge by focusing on a situation in which, after a

long period of slow early adoption, telework seems to be expanding in a phase

of “early majority” adoption—using Rogers’ (1962) classic conceptualisation of

innovation diffusion stages. In this, Sweden serves as an indicative case because

the ICT penetration of Swedish households is very high and industries inclined

to distributed work (i.e. services) constitute much of the economy. Furthermore,

we contribute by analysing representative microlevel data rarely used in analysing

telework, which is more often examined using case- based and in- depth approaches.

The theoretical question of ‘why’ growth has occurred is advanced in the con-

cluding section bearing in mind the constrained explanatory potential of cross-

sectional analysis.

We start by reviewing current research to establish a theoretical framework,

incorporating factors previously found important in understanding the enablers

and constrainers of telework adoption, factors that now might have to be recon-

sidered. We concentrate on teleworkers’ personal characteristics, such as gender,

age, education and family situation; current work practices as regards location,

timing and ICT use; employment characteristics as regards employment sector

and type of contract; and geographical setting as regards living region.

In the empirical examination, three socio–spatial questions are emphasised. First,

what personal features characterise the growing ranks of teleworkers; for example,

to what extent is teleworking associated with specific ages and family situations,

work–life balance and a particular gender? Second, what kind of work and what

branches of the economy are broadly involved; for example, has telework increased

among flexible workers, well established in the regular labour market, or is it

increasingly associated with unqualified services? Finally, and closely integrated

with the previous issues, is the question of where this increase has actually