New forms of employment

Across Europe, due to societal, economic and technological developments, new forms of employment are emerging that are different from traditional standard or non-standard employment in a number of ways. Some transform the relationship between employer and employee, some change work organisation and work patterns, and some do both. To date, very little is known about what characterises these new employment forms and what implications they have for working conditions and the labour market.

In an effort to close this knowledge gap, this research project set out to map these new forms of employment across the EU28 and Norway, exploring their working methods and impact on workers and on the labour market. Case studies are available.

Key findings

The initial project provides an overview of nine forms of employment that are new or have become increasingly important in Europe since the year 2000.

• employee sharing
• job sharing
• interim management
• casual work
• ICT-based mobile work
• voucher-based work
• portfolio work
• crowd employment
• collaborative employment

Although most have the potential to benefit employers and employees equally, in a few instances concerns have been raised about their impact on working conditions and the labour market. The report concludes with recommendations about the need to raise awareness of potential problems and establish safety nets for workers.

Following up on this first mapping exercise, Eurofound continues to explore some of the identified new trends in more detail. The first project in this series investigates the potential of strategic employee sharing. This is an employment form for companies that have specific HR needs that do not justify a permanent full-time position, but are often recurring. The companies jointly hire workers to work on a rotating basis in the participating companies. These companies have joint responsibility and liability towards the shared workers who are ensured ‘equal pay, equal treatment’ with core staff. This report summarises the preconditions for a further spread of strategic employee sharing as well as its impact on employers and employees.

Case studies

The ‘New forms of employment’ report is based on 66 individual case studies from across Europe that represent a variety of employment forms. The cases studies either deal with a specific employer-worker relationship or comprise a policy analysis (legislation or collective agreement, public support instrument). The list below details the case studies. For the report on strategic employee sharing, the case studies on the policy analysis in Germany, Belgium, France, Hungary and Austria for this employment form have been updated, and an additional case study on Ireland has been conducted.