Eurofound Talks
Eurofound Talks
Podcast-episode
Episode 12
8 February 2023

Job quality

The COVID-19 pandemic had profound implications on the labour market and job quality in Europe, with some workers, particularly those providing frontline services, continuing to work from the workplace under heavy restrictions, while others worked from home also in radically different environments from which they were accustomed. Eurofound has been closely monitoring working conditions in Europe for over 30 years via the European Working Conditions Survey; in 2021, the Agency conducted the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS), providing a detailed picture of the working lives of Europeans at an exceptional time. In this episode of Eurofound Talks, Eurofound Head of Unit for Working Life Barbara Gerstenberger discusses what the EWCTS reveals about job quality, the implications of poor-quality jobs on well-being and broader society, and what policymakers can do to improve the working lives of people in Europe.

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Mary McCaughey

Head of Unit
Information and Communication

Mary McCaughey er informations- og kommunikationschef i Eurofound. Hun er uddannet fra Trinity College i Dublin og College of Europe i Brügge og begyndte at arbejde i Bruxelles med Europolitics og Wall Street Journal Europe. Hun arbejdede for Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) i Sydafrika under landets overgang til demokrati, og i 1998 tiltrådte hun stillingen som talsmand for Den Europæiske Unions delegation i Pretoria, hvor hun ledede dens presse- og informationsafdeling under forhandlingerne om frihandelsaftalen mellem EU og Sydafrika. Efter afslutningen af Kosovo-krigen arbejdede hun som kommunikationskonsulent for Det Europæiske Genopbygningsagentur i Serbien. Hun tiltrådte stillingen som chefredaktør i Eurofound i 2003.

Barbara Gerstenberger

​Head of Unit
Working life research

Barbara Gerstenberger er leder af Eurofounds arbejdslivsenhed. I denne rolle koordinerer hun de forskerhold, der undersøger jobkvalitet i Europa på grundlag af den europæiske undersøgelse af arbejdsvilkårene, og har det overordnede ansvar for Det Europæiske Observationscenter for Arbejdsliv og forskning i arbejdsmarkedsrelationer i EU. Hun kom til Eurofound i 2001 som forskningsleder i det dengang nyoprettede Europæiske Overvågningscenter for Forandring (EMCC). I 2007 flyttede hun til Eurofounds informations- og kommunikationsenhed som chef for kommunikationsprodukter, inden hun blev udnævnt til koordinator i direktoratet i 2011. Tidligere arbejdede hun som seniorforsker i European Metalworkers' Federation i Bruxelles. Hun er uddannet i statskundskab fra Hamborg Universitet og har en kandidatgrad i offentlig administration ved Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

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Mary McCaughey
Dragoș Adăscăliței
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European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment and work-related policies