BMW not only claims to build the best cars of the world, but we do also intend to practise the best working organisation. BMW has therefore launched in December 1995 the project TWIST (teleworking in flexible structures), which was partly sponsored by the federal state of Bavaria. The target of TWIST was achieved in 1997 by realising 300 teleworkers, especially out of the development and research department and by improving the working organisation by using flexible working hours.

What makes telework so important for the information society. First of all it is mainly not a technical but a human resource topic. BMW is practising commuting telework, the teleworker normally works one or two days a week at home or in a satellite office, for the rest of the week he/she is in the company. The regular teleworker has an ISDN connection and a call transfer from their company telephon to the telework telephon. A special group is the so called „mobile computing" group, which consists of employees from the sales department and the motorsport group. They are linked into the BMW-net with a GSM mobil telephon and a laptop and are available through whole europe. Let me therefore stress on one issue, a teleworker is not a remote worker, but a virtual present employee, equiped with all means of communication and gifted with a much higher availability than most of the other inhouse-employees. This availability is not a permanent, but a larger one. If aregular inhouse employee is not available after 5 p.m. he/she is gone. If a teleworker is not available at 5 p.m. you normally get a response later.

From the very beginning we have decided to realise highly qualified employees, especially from the research and development department. We suppose that these employees gain the most benefits from teleworking, as in their work telework can be seen as a measure of work organisation. For instant the research group of our project found out that the average concentration time for a teleworker is three times longer than the one of an inhouse employee.

Telework at BMW can only be implemented if there is a mutual agreement between the management and the employee. Nobody can be forced to work as a teleworker and every teleworker remains a regular employee. Teleworking is not a way to outsorce employees, but to optimise their performance.

We have now realised 310 teleworkers, due to our strategy mainly from the research and development department. The examples makes clear that almost every function is capable for telework. As we practise commuting telework a function does not have to be 100 % telework compatible, but 20-30 %. We practise telework not only in München, but also in our other plants in Bavaria. Did you expect that even in the production line telework is possible. Here a foreman is responsible for two shifts, each goes for eight hours. He can not cover this time when he is in the plant, but as a teleworker with total IT-connection he has a much larger availability. He can demand and controll the store-house, he can work on logistical issues and can do conceptual work.

We have worked out four pillars in which telework can be used as an innovative working form.

• time zone overlapping cooperation practising flexible working hours, teleworkers have the opportunity to cooperate with i.e. the BMW manufacture in the US two or three times more than usually
• shift overlapping working mode there are foremans from the production line who practise telework. This highly skilled workers can do some of there work at home, i.e. control of human utilisation, material controlling
• flexible model for hours of work and employment in germany parents have the possibility to stay three years in educational holiday and they have to be reintegrated in the company afterwards. With telework the company and the employee have the possibility, that during the educational holiday the parents can work part-time and in telework for one or two days at home an one day at BMW. This means, that the employee remains in the company, and does not have be be trained after educational holiday.
• working model for conceptual activities telework means, that our ingenieurs can work at home whenever they want and not automaticially like in the company between 8 a.m and 5 p.m.. They are not disturb by external factors, but can totally concentrate on the conceptual aspects of their work. Telework at BMW does not mean increasing working hours but a more flexible way of working.

Telework is often critizised for its uneconomic relation between costs and benefits. Telework is not cheap, so why should anybody practise it? Telework is a strategic form of working. In the near future nobody will discuss about telework, because almost everybody will telework. So it is important to make now experiences to find out the best benefits for your company. The keywords in this context are: flexible working hours, a better working organisation and a higher productivity.

Telework will have an impact on society and on the information society. Virtual working goes any time and any place. A teleworker lives, works and consumes at one place. This is a chance for rural ares because they are not anymore a place just to sleep, but a place to life and it is a chance for the cities because they might reduce their rush-hours. With telework we change the way of communication. Asynchrone communication will becomme more and more important via e-mail, synchrone communication, like telephon, will reduce. With telework the digital, paperless office is not anymore a dream. Telework will lead to highly skilled employees in the field of IT-applications.

Let me draw a conclusion: Telework will have effects on society, both on the personal and the technological behaviour.

Thank you very much for your attention.