The implementation of information and communication technologies (ICT) is in line with a general transformation of the work of home help services in Sweden. One strong motivation behind the introduction of new technology was to change the ways of working towards greater efficiency in order to reduce costs and at the same time raise the value of care-giving work. This article discusses the introduction of ICT in home help services as a part of the increasing rationalization of care-giving work and its consequences for the workers. The results of an ethnographic study of the introduction of hand-held computers in a working team in home help services in Sweden shows that the motives for the implementation of ICT run counter to the basic norms that are supposed to govern care-giving work. The technology participates in reproducing the subordinate position of care-giving work as well as that of the front-line workers. The workers act according to personal decision-making ability and show a form of limited resistance to the technology while, at the same time, taking part in their own subordination. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.