Micro and small companies constitute the backbone of private business in Europe, accounting for nearly 99% of all enterprises, more than half of total employment in the private sector and an even greater proportion of new jobs. Despite their crucial place in the economy, there has been little
Quality of work and employment is a priority in the European Union. The annual review of working conditions in the EU 2009-2010 focuses on four critical dimensions: career development and employment security, health and wellbeing, skills and competence development, and work–life balance. It outlines
Quality of work and employment is a major policy issue in the European Union. This sixth annual review of working conditions in the EU outlines relevant legislative and policy developments during the period 2008–2009 in the context of labour market mobility and demographic change. It also explores a
On 11–12 October 2007, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working conditions (Eurofound), in cooperation with the Portuguese EU Presidency, held a conference on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in Portugal’s capital city of Lisbon. In his concluding remarks at the conference
The EU Member States take a variety of approaches to continuing vocational training (CVT), and the social partners are involved in CVT governance and implementation to varying degrees. The European ‘Copenhagen Process’ aims to increase participation in adult education by enhancing cooperation in
Quality of work and employment is a key priority in the European Union. This fifth annual review of working conditions in the EU examines a range of issues and challenges related to working life and the workplace. It focuses in particular on four critical dimensions: career development and
The preliminary results of the second Quality of Work in Italy Survey, carried out in 2006 by the National Training Agency, show that working conditions have tended to decline since the 2002 survey, although overall job satisfaction is still high. Italian workers seem to be less satisfied with their
This fourth annual review from the European Working Conditions Observatory puts the spotlight on four key dimensions of working conditions and quality of work and employment: career and employment, health and well-being at work, skills development and work–life balance. The report outlines relevant
The study /Innovative dynamics, industrial relations, performance in manufacturing companies/ (Antonioli et al, 2007) offers an in-depth analysis of the 2006 report entitled /Innovative dynamics, Industrial relations, performance. A survey of Reggio Emilia manufacturing companies/ (‘Dinamiche
The call centre industry is growing rapidly in Italy: the customer relationship management (CRM) group Customer Management Multimedia Competence estimates that some 250,000 operators are employed in 1,400 companies. Call centres are currently perceived as the archetype of a post-industrial society
The National Confederal Assistance Centre (Istituto Nazionale Confederale di Assistenza, Inca-Cgil [1]) is the social security assistance service of the largest Italian trade union, the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil [2]). Inca-Cgil
The issue of occupational health and safety has received increasing attention on the public agenda due to the persistently high numbers of reported accidents at work, reaching between 900,000 and 1,000,000 accidents a year, albeit with a slight decline between 2002 and 2006. These data are
The Labour Force Survey of the second quarter of 2004, carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (Istituto nazionale di statistica/,/ Istat [1]), included an ad hoc module on atypical labour contracts and working time. It follows on from the results of a comparable module (in Italian, 1
In October 2006, the Regione Veneto [1] and the National agency for risk prevention and health at work (Istituto Superiore per la Prevenzione e la Sicurezza del Lavoro, Ispesl [2]) published a study on Health and safety at work in the Veneto region (in Italian, 985Kb PDF) [3]. The report includes a
The 2005 report Plus – Participation, labour, unemployment survey (in Italian) [1] was published by the National training agency (Istituto per la Formazione dei Lavoratori, Isfol [2]). The report summarises the main results of the first comprehensive survey aimed at monitoring the most significant
Each year, the research institute Arbeitsförderungsinstitut – Istituto per la Promozione dei Lavoratori (AFI-IPL [1]), supported by the trade unions, carries out a quality of work survey in the province of Bolzano/Bozen, a bilingual Italian and German province with a special regional status. This
The Italian Union for Workers in Commerce, Hotels and Services (Federazione Italiana Lavoratori Commercio Turismo e Servizi, Filcams-Cgil [1]) carried out a survey on health and safety [2] among workers in retail chains in the Italian Marche region, with the support of Ispesl, the National Agency
After some delay, Law 53/2000 implemented into Italian law Council Directive 96/34/EC [1] of 3 June 1996 on the ‘framework agreement on parental leave’, concluded by the European employer and trade union organisations - the Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE), the