We are under the impression that teleworking is a relatively new phenomenon, but is it really the case?
The beginnings of telework would have seen the light of day in 1950, thanks to Norbet Wiener who was then supervising from Europe the construction of a building in the United States. Mathematician and architect, he uses tools of data transmission with the help of the transceiver reference system to monitor the work’s progress. However, it was not until 1970 that teleworking became more extensive with the invention of fax and telephone, which democratized long-distance communications.
With these new technologies comes the birth of the term ‘Telework’ which appears for the first time in 1972 in an article in the Washington Post.
Later on, the introduction of personal computers and modems made telecommuting more popular. Companies have used remote workers for some tasks, mainly in the area of data entry and computer programming.
It wasn’t until the 1990s to 2000s that telecommuting really took off thanks to the rapid advance of the Internet, mobile communications and online collaboration tools. Finally, it was in 2002 that a first European agreement was signed to strengthen the rights and safety of workers who were already using this way of working.
Although the phenomenon may seem very recent, the historical facts of telework go back more than half a century!