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

TLDR

This study investigates the increased adoption of telework in Sweden between 2005 and 2012. The authors analyze microlevel national survey data to determine where and by whom telework is adopted. Telework has become routine for over 20 % of Sweden’s employed, driven by ICT, managerial trust, job characteristics, and work‑life balance, and is increasingly practiced at home, especially among families with children, in permanent roles in advanced services, with broadband access and larger urban regions further facilitating its diffusion.

Abstract

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 adopted and by whom. Results indicate that telework has become routine for over 20 per cent of all gainfully employed. Expansion is explained by a working life in transition: besides enabling 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 advanced 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 overrepresented and among the fastest growing groups. Broadband access at home is an enabler. Larger urban regions strengthen their position in favour of teleworking.