- Work on demand: Recurrence, effects and challenges
- Employment and working conditions of selected types of platform work
- New tasks in old jobs: Drivers of change and implications for job quality
- Automation, digitisation and platforms: Implications for work and employment
- Game changing technologies: Exploring the impact on production processes and work
- Non-standard forms of employment: Recent trends and future prospects
- Future of Work: Making IT e-Easy - EU Presidency Estonia
- Future of work conference
The digital age: opportunities and challenges for work and employment
29 January 2019
The capacity of humankind to store, transmit and manipulate information has expanded hugely in recent years as a result of innovations in computing and telecommunication technologies. Such information and communication technologies (ICTs) are having significant effects in almost all areas of the economy, leading to a general acceleration in the pace of technical change. At the same time, work, its content, its organisation and design, its regulation and protection, are all undergoing great change in this digital age. These changes also often bring a blurring of boundaries between different dimensions of work and between work, employment and non-work activity.
Subscribe now and receive updates on Eurofound's work in the area of Digital age
Policymakers need to gain knowledge that will help to address questions about effective regulation, how to ensure social protection in its broadest sense and balancing the demands of companies, societies and individuals in exploiting the great potential of digitalisation.
The European Commission adopted its Digital Single Market strategy for Europe in 2015, highlighting it as one of its political priorities. The strategy can create digital opportunities for citizens and businesses and aims to strengthen the EU’s position as a world leader in the digital economy. It aims to increase access to information, lead to jobs for those with the right digital skills and transform public services. As the collaborative economy is expanding across the EU, the Commission is looking to encourage the development of new and innovative services, while ensuring adequate protection measures. The Commission’s 2016 Communication on the European agenda for the collaborative economy clarifies the rules and policy recommendations in this area for citizens, businesses and Member States.
- European Commission: Digital Single Market
- European Commission: Collaborative economy
- European Commission: A European agenda for the collaborative economy
Eurofound's work
Eurofound is looking at the broader implications for working conditions, labour regulation and beyond of the increasing scale and scope of digital technologies for the labour market.
The employment impact of game-changing technologies in services is being explored. Eurofound also examines the implications of the platform economy, notably platform work, for the labour market. Furthermore, research on the working and employment conditions of ICT-based mobile workers is being continued.
The nature of work and employment in the digital age will be investigated, with a focus on:
- the opportunities and policy challenges associated with specific forms of employment which are new or expanding and altered ways of work organisation as a result of technological change
- the role of the social partners.
Key contributions
A joint report with the International Labour Organization (ILO) on working anytime and anywhere has considered the impact of telework and ICT-mobile work on selected elements of working conditions.
Eurofound’s Foundation Seminar Series (FSS) is an opportunity for governments, trade unions and employers to discuss the development of EU social, employment and work-related policies. In 2016, the FSS focused on the impact of digitalisation on work and building up national agendas for better implementation of digital changes.
Resources
- European Industrial Relations Dictionary entries: Collaborative economy, Crowd employment, Digital Agenda, Digital economy, Gig economy, ICT-based mobile work, New forms of employment
Ongoing work
- Technology scenario: Employment implications of radical automation
- Impact of digitalisation on health and social services
- Decent employment in platform work
- Conditions of work and employment of ICT-based mobile workers
- European Company Survey 2019: Overview report
- The employment impact of automation
- Investigating the nature of work in digitised workplaces, in particular company approaches to digital devices and their impact on job quality, work organisation and industrial relations
Highlights (11)
All (56)
- Webinar: Flexible working in the digital age - Is everyone a winner?
- Work on demand: Recurrence, effects and challenges
- Lloyds bank’s digital transformation
- Webinar - Future of work
- Making the platform economy work well for workers - Webinar
- Platform work – Breaking barriers or breaking bad?
- Are blue-collar jobs turning white?
- Employment and working conditions of selected types of platform work
Publications (22)
- Work on demand: Recurrence, effects and challenges
- Platform work – Breaking barriers or breaking bad?
- Are blue-collar jobs turning white?
- Employment and working conditions of selected types of platform work
- Employment and working conditions of selected types of platform work - Executive summary
- New tasks in old jobs: Drivers of change and implications for job quality
- Overview of new forms of employment - 2018 update
- Platform work and employment conditions
Articles (14)
- Lloyds bank’s digital transformation
- Spain: AXA recognises workers’ right to turn phones off out of working hours
- Czech Republic: Latest working life developments – Q2 2017
- Denmark: Latest working life developments – Q2 2017
- Italy: New rules to protect self-employed workers and regulate ICT-based mobile work
- Germany: Working time back on the social partners' agenda
- Spain: Latest working life developments – Q1 2017
- France: Latest working life developments – Q1 2017
News (3)
Events (17)
- Webinar: Flexible working in the digital age - Is everyone a winner?
- Webinar - Future of work
- Making the platform economy work well for workers - Webinar
- Informal meeting of the EU Employment Committee (EMCO)
- Digitalisation of Work Conference
- Informal meeting of the EU Social Protection Committee (SPC)
- LABOR.A conference - Future of work
- Informal meeting of employment and social policy ministers (EPSCO)