Working conditions
Working conditions refer to the conditions in and under which work is performed. A working condition is a characteristic or a combination of characteristics of work that can be modified and improved. Current conceptions of working conditions incorporate considerations of wider factors, which may affect the employee psychosomatically. Thus, a broader definition of the term includes the economic dimension of work and effects on living conditions. Working conditions are a subject of labour law and are regulated by all of its various sources: legislation, collective agreements, works rules, the employment contract, as well as custom and practice.
Find the latest content on this topic below.
The shift to hybrid working: Management challenges - Digital story
This digital story presents headline findings on how hybrid work is reshaping management practices at the line manager level: Why hybrid work demands new forms of coordination; How managers maintain visibility and performance oversight without physical co-presence; What sustains team cohesion and well-being across dispersed teams; How equitable access to information and opportunities can be ensured; Where policy guidance or support is most needed.The shift to hybrid working: Management challenges
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the transition to hybrid work, where employees split their time between working remotely and on-site. While this model offers greater flexibility, it also introduces new challenges for line managers and other supervisors. This report examines how hybrid work reshapes work organisation and influences day-to-day management practices at the line manager level, focusing on changes in coordination, communication, performance management and employee well-being.Algorithmic management in European workplaces: Implications for work organisation and working conditions
This study presents a secondary analysis of data from Eurofound’s Seventh European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS 2024) that explores the prevalence of digital technologies in modern workplaces and the spread of algorithmic management practices. By linking workers’ reported exposure to computer programmes that monitor performance, allocate tasks, and schedule work with indicators of job quality, the analysis assesses how technology reshapes work. It also identifies distinct worker profiles based on patterns of digital technology use and the characteristics associated with each profile. The findings will inform policymaking aimed at promoting high-quality jobs in increasingly digital workplaces.Eurofound monitors the working conditions of employees and self-employed at work. It provides analyses focusing on work situations of interest – such as ICT mobile work and psychosocial risks at work – and addressing specific groups in the labour market. Research on sustainable work looks at the role of work and its conditions in supporting people’s participation in work across their life course in ways that accommodate individual preferences and enable them to experience a good quality of work.
European countries have a strong commitment towards improving working conditions. While much attention has focused on working conditions that have a negative impact on health and safety and well-being, conditions supportive of ‘good work’ and high job quality are also gaining in importance.
Working conditions and job quality are high on the European policy agenda. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) underlines as significant objectives the ‘promotion of employment, improved living and working conditions … proper social protection, dialogue between management and labour, the development of human resources with a view to lasting employment and the combating of exclusion’.
EU policy enshrines equal opportunities in the workplace for women and men, limits working hours, sets standards to ensure safety, and promotes investment in skills development. The European Commission and Member States have set up different processes to monitor progress and developments in relation to working conditions.
On 17 November 2017, the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission formally proclaimed the European Pillar of Social Rights. One of the main principles of the pillar is to achieve fair working conditions. This covers secure and adaptable employment, wages, employment conditions and protection in case of dismissals, social dialogue and involvement of workers, work–life balance, as well as a healthy, safe and well-adapted work environment and data protection.
Adopted in June 2019, and as a direct follow up to the Pillar, the new Directive 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions sets out new minimum rights for all workers and new rules on the provision of information to workers about their working conditions.
This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.
29 November 2022
Working conditions in the time of COVID-19: Implications for the future
The strict public health restrictions implemented by governments in 2020 to control the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly changed working life and continued to shape it over the two years that followed. Between March and November 2021, over 70,000 interviews were carried out in 36 countries by the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS), a high-quality probability-based survey. The aim was to provide a detailed picture of the working lives of Europeans in that exceptional time.
The report documents the working conditions of Europeans in 2021. It examines variation in job quality and identifies its positive association with well-being, health, work engagement and the financial sustainability of work. It highlights the divergences in the experiences of workers depending on workers’ own attributes and their place in the workforce. From this analysis, the report aims to derive lessons for the future, particularly in relation to the enduring marks on how we work and the implications for work organisation, the quality of work, and the interaction between work and private life.
7 December 2022
Living, working and COVID-19 in the European Union and 10 EU neighbouring countries
The Living, working and COVID-19 survey, first launched by Eurofound in early 2020, aims to capture the wide-ranging impact of the pandemic on the work and lives of EU citizens. The fifth round of the Eurofound survey, which was implemented in spring 2022, also sheds light on a new uncertain reality caused by the war in Ukraine, record-high inflation and sharp rises in the cost of living. As a pilot survey, a shorter version of the questionnaire was fielded by the European Training Foundation (ETF) in 10 European Union (EU) neighbouring countries. This joint Eurofound-ETF factsheet presents a selection of results from the survey covering both the EU-27 and the 10 selected EU neighbouring countries.
The results reveal at least one clear commonality across respondents from all countries: serious concerns about the rising cost of living. At the same time, the results point to a large divergence in living and working conditions between respondents in the two groups of countries, but also show large differences within the EU itself and amongst the selected EU neighbouring countries.
19 May 2022
Working life in the COVID-19 pandemic 2021
This publication consists of individual country reports on working life during 2021 for 28 countries – the 27 EU Member States and Norway. The country reports summarise evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on working life based on national research and survey results during 2021. They outline the policy responses of governments and social partners in their efforts to cushion the socioeconomic effects and include a focus on policy areas related to adapting to the pandemic and the return to work. This includes in particular a focus on new health and safety arrangements at work, new work arrangements, policies to address labour shortages and wages and wage setting. The reports also explore the impact of the pandemic on social dialogue, collective bargaining and industrial action.
Please note that there is no consolidated report on working life in the EU in 2021.
10 March 2022
Overtime in Europe: Regulation and practice
Despite the well-known adverse effects of regular long working hours on workers’ health, well-being and performance, many workers in the EU continue to work beyond their normal hours. Part of this additional working time is classified as overtime. This report takes a comparative overview of how overtime is regulated in the EU Member States, Norway and the United Kingdom, including its definition, the limits on its use and the compensation received by workers for working extra hours. The report assesses the extent of the phenomenon using national-level data, delves into the factors that explain it, and examines the potential consequences for workers and firms. Finally, the report summarises the current debate on the topic, as uncompensated working hours, structural overtime and monitoring of working hours are currently some of the most discussed work-related issues across the EU.
9 December 2020
Employee monitoring and surveillance: The challenges of digitalisation
New digital technologies have expanded the possibilities of employee monitoring and surveillance, both in and outside the workplace. In the context of the increasing digitalisation of work, there are many issues related to employee monitoring that warrant the attention of policymakers. As well as the often-cited privacy and ethical concerns, there are also important implications for worker–employer relations, as digitally enabled monitoring and surveillance inevitably shift power dynamics in the workplace. Based on input from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents, this report explores the regulatory approaches to workplace monitoring in Europe, and the many challenges arising from the use of new digital technologies. Drawing from empirical and qualitative research, the report also provides some insight into the extent of employee monitoring in Europe and the implications for job quality and work organisation.
16 January 2020
Telework and ICT-based mobile work: Flexible working in the digital age
Advances in ICT have opened the door to new ways of organising work. We are shifting from a regular, bureaucratic and ‘factory-based’ working time pattern towards a more flexible model of work. Telework and ICT-based mobile work (TICTM) has emerged in this transition, giving workers and employers the ability to adapt the time and location of work to their needs. Despite the flexibility and higher level of worker autonomy inherent in TICTM, there are risks that this work arrangement leads to the deterioration of work–life balance, higher stress levels and failing worker health. This report analyses the employment and working conditions of workers with TICTM arrangements, focusing on how it affects their work–life balance, health, performance and job prospects. While policymakers in many EU countries are debating TICTM and its implications, the study finds that only a few have implemented new regulations to prevent TICTM from having a negative impact on the well-being of workers.
Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.
Agnès Parent-Thirion
Senior research managerAgnès Parent-Thirion is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound, tasked with the planning, development and implementation of working conditions research projects, in particular the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) and its analyses. She is responsible for the EWCS 2021 extraordinary edition and for the preparation of the questionnaire for the EWCS 2024. Her research interests include working conditions, job quality, the monitoring of working conditions, work organisation, gender, the future of work and time. She has been working in the area of European comparative surveys for more than a decade, in all aspects including design, questionnaire development, fieldwork, quality control and analysis. She is a graduate in economics and management from Paris IX Dauphine and Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne universities and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Statistics from Trinity College Dublin. She has recently completed online courses on artificial intelligence: inquiry-driven leadership with MIT Sloan Executive Education and ‘Les grand enjeux de la transition: re-ouvrir l'horizon, comprendre pour agir’ with the Campus de la Transition. Before joining Eurofound, she worked for a number of years in the European Commission.
This section provides access to all content that has been published on the topic.
