Demetriades, Stavroula

How do organisations get the best out of their employees? Research on human resource management has found that a key practice is employee involvement: enabling employees to make decisions on their own work and to contribute to organisationa...

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of individuals and societies, including on the economy and labour markets, is unprecedented. The impact of the global health emergency has placed a growing number of businesses under threat, ...

Female entrepreneurs represent just a small proportion of the total number of entrepreneurs in the European Union today. Some of the hurdles facing female entrepreneurs – or would-be entrepreneurs – are related to getting adequate funding, access to the right networks, and finding the right information and advice.

Much of the discussion on the future of work is focused on globalisation and technology, and their impacts on the labour market. However, there is also a growing interest in the business models used by cooperatives and social enterprises, and how they can contribute to a better future of work. Eurofound’s research shows that cooperatives and social enterprises are resilient organisations with an interest in creating good quality jobs and making a positive contribution to the labour market.

Companies are constantly competing for the next big thing in innovation – the next-generation 3D phone, the quantum computer, the virtual doctor. They fixate on technological breakthroughs and look for new business models. But innovation also needs systems, an organisational structure and people who work together. The human factor in innovation is often forgotten or neglected – the employees’ skills, their level of input, their autonomy in their jobs and the rewards they receive. Or do such factors really play any role in innovation?

The purpose of this short report is to provide a synthesis of Eurofound data and analysis regarding the situation of young people in Greece for the Greek government. The recent economic crisis has exacerbated the problem of youth integration in the labour market in the EU and Greece has been disproportionately affected.

Innovation is an important driver of improved competitiveness, productivity and growth potential. This report explores which workplace practices have the strongest links to innovative company behaviour, looking at innovation in the form of new or significantly changed products or processes, new or improved marketing methods, and organisational change.

Europe has gone through significant economic change over the past decade. Businesses have had to manage the challenges posed by the financial crisis, globalisation and a rapidly changing labour market. Eurofound's new report Win-win arrangements: Innovative measures through social dialogue at company level has shown that new challenges do not always require radical new approaches ,  and that innovation can be found in the full implementation of well-established positive workplace practices.

Well-functioning social dialogue is a key component for the successful design and implementation of reforms needed to increase the competitiveness of Europe’s economies and create more jobs. It balances workers’ and employers’ interests and contributes to both economic competitiveness and social cohesion.

The use of supplementary employee reward systems has increased across Europe in recent decades, both in terms of the number of companies using them and the number of employees covered. Supplementary reward systems include performance-related pay, profit-sharing, payment by results and benefits in kind. These forms of remuneration can help to motivate and reward workers and to link pay to company results.