Stefan Gran has been elected Chair of Eurofound’s Management Board during the third meeting of the Board on 6 November 2020. He takes over from outgoing chair Aviana Bulgarelli, Ministry of Labour and Social Policies (Ministero del Lavoro, della Salute), Italy.
Stefan, from the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB – Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund), represents the Workers group in Eurofound’s tripartite management structure. He is currently based in Brussels where he is Head of DGB’s EU Liaison Office.
News archive
21 items found
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10 December 2020 -
30 November 2020At the end of his term as Executive Director on 30 November 2020, we engaged in a socially distant interview with Juan Menéndez-Valdés to review the last decade, his thoughts on Europe and his hopes for Eurofound. We wish him all the best into the future. -
16 November 2020Have your say! Let us know what you think of Eurofound’s website, data and reporting by taking part in Eurofound’s annual User Feedback Survey. The survey will only take 10 minutes to complete. Your contribution will allow us to ensure that our outputs meet your needs and are relevant for our users. -
11 November 2020EMCCThe COVID-19 crisis has led to a doubling of restructuring job loss in the first half of 2020 compared to the rolling average. The labour market impacts have been highly selective, with two broad sectors – transport (including air transport) and hotels and restaurants – accounting for nearly half the overall announced job loss compared to less than 10% in ‘normal’ times. The new European Restructuring Monitor ERM report 2020: Restructuring across borders reviews recent restructuring activity in the EU, from January 2019 up to and including the first impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. It also presents an analysis of transnational restructuring cases – those that affect workers in more than one country. -
29 October 2020EMCCThe best outcomes in terms of company performance and workplace well-being are obtained in companies where training is valued highly according to the recently published European Company Survey 2019 by EU agencies Eurofound and Cedefop. The survey also reveals how businesses fare better when the responsibility for skills use and skills development is explicitly shared between the employer and their employees. According to the findings, almost all managers (96%) agree training is important for employees to do their current job and most workplaces in the EU offer at least some training, yet only a small number – 9% – offer comprehensive training and learning opportunities to most of their employees. -
21 October 2020Fewer than one-third (31%) of companies in the EU27 facilitated the regular direct participation of employees in organisational decision-making and accorded them a high degree of influence last year. This is despite research showing that businesses that combine direct employee involvement, with high levels of job complexity and autonomy, and comprehensive training and learning opportunities, do best in terms of both performance and well-being. Over half of establishments in Sweden (56%) and Denmark (55%) were characterised by regular, high influence direct engagement with employees, but only around a fifth in Poland (20%) and the Netherlands (21%). -
15 October 2020Trust in the European Union was significantly higher among respondents in the July wave of Eurofound’s Living, working and COVID-19 survey than in April, with average trust in the EU exceeding trust in national governments. This reflects positively on the work of the European institutions during the summer in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, as very low levels of trust in the EU during the early stages of the pandemic raised fundamental questions about perceived EU action and broader European solidarity during the crisis. -
13 October 2020‘High investment, high involvement’ workplaces have the best outcomes for workers and employers according to a recent large-scale survey of company practices across Europe. Just 20% of EU organisations fall into this category – bundling practices that increase employee autonomy, facilitate employee voice and promote training and learning. These companies, which are managing to boost performance while also improving workers’ job quality, can be found across all types of business regardless of country, size, sector, or competitiveness strategy, but are most prevalent in Nordic countries, such as Finland and Sweden, and in sectors known to have better working conditions, such as financial services. -
08 October 2020Mental well-being among people in Europe improved between the April and July waves of Eurofound’s Living, working and COVID-19 surveys, with the largest increases among those aged 50 and over. On a national level, reported mental well-being was highest in Denmark, Slovenia and the Netherlands, and marked improvements were seen in France and Italy – coinciding with an easing of confinement measures over the summer. Despite broad improvements in a number of well-being and quality of life indicators over the summer months, comparatively low reported mental well-being was recorded among younger people and the unemployed; this is cause for concern, particularly considering that mental well-being has traditionally been higher among younger age groups. -
13 July 2020The second wave of Eurofound’s pan-EU Living, working and COVID-19 survey is now open. The first results of the online survey, carried out in April, showed a Europe grappling to respond to the crisis caused by the pandemic, with many respondents reporting low levels of optimism about their future, job and contract loss, and a spike in financial insecurity. This second wave of the survey will delve deeper and aim to capture how lives have changed over time – particularly for those most impacted, such as the self-employed.
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