Ambrosetti Club Europe lunch meeting
Commissioner Schmit
Jobs and Social Rights
Ambrosetti Club Europe lunch meeting
The new world of work. The European agenda and the contribution of the
business community on lifelong learning, upskilling and reskilling and
labour policies in the light of the Twin Transition
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20 May 2022, 12:30-14:00
CAB SCHMIT/1227
Scene setter
the meeting of the Ambrosetti Club Europe on
The theme of the meeting is “The new world of work. The
European agenda and the contribution of the business community on lifelong learning,
upskil ing and reskil ing and labour policies in the light of the Twin Transition”.
Ambrosetti Club Europe is a platform reuniting the top management of major Italian
multi-national corporations. The aim of the club is to facilitate an open and informal
dialogue between top executives, policy makers and other stakeholders on priority
issues for businesses.
open debate
focusing on issues
such as jobs, skil s and social inclusion, in light of the post-pandemic scenario and the
new needs imposed by the conflict in Ukraine.
Table of Contents
Speaking points .............................................................................................................. 3
Background ................................................................................................................ ..10
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• Dear members of the Ambrosetti Club Europe,
• I commend the organisers of this meeting for choosing such a topical theme
as the new world of work and the challenges raised by the twin green and
digital transitions in the areas of lifelong learning, upskil ing and reskil ing
and labour policies.
• The meeting comes at a time when recovery and the twin transitions are in
full swing. With the Commission at the forefront of EU action to ensure a
social fair transition.
• We are living in turbulent times, with the coronavirus pandemic stil raging in
several parts of the world and the
ongoing war in Ukraine, with whom we
stand in solidarity and to which we offer our full support. This only serves to
strengthen our conviction that dialogue and constructive
cooperation
among all stakeholders, be they public authorities, trade unions, civil society
organisations or employers’ associations such as this one, is the right way
forward.
•
Climate change is already disrupting our environment and affecting the
lives of bil ions of people around the world. At the same time, in light of
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the new geopolitical and energy market reality
requires us to
accelerate the clean energy transition and increase
Europe's energy independence.
• The stakes for the success of the transition are therefore even higher in the
current context. We can only succeed if this accelerated transition occurs in
a
fair and just manner. This requires both mid-and long-term foresight, and
policy action from the outset as well as in the long run.
[EU initiatives on green transition]
•
The European Green Deal sets the goal of making Europe the first climate
neutral continent by 2050.
•
Fairness and solidarity are defining principles of this growth strategy for a
sustainable Europe. The success of the green transition depends on our
capacity to ensure that no one is left behind.
• To reaffirm this ambition and put people at the heart of the transition, the
Commission put forward on 14 December 2021, as part of the
“Fit for 55”
package, a proposal for a
Council Recommendation on ensuring a fair
transition towards climate neutrality.
• This proposal sets out specific guidance to help Member States devise and
implement policy packages that ensure a fair transition by addressing the
relevant
employment and social aspects linked to the transition in a
comprehensive manner.
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• To take an example that is close to your scope of activities, industry employs
around
30 million people and accounts for
20% of the greenhouse gas
emissions in the EU.
• However,
the decarbonisation process wil require a significant
transformation of the industry (changing the production modes, creating
sustainable supply chains etc.), with direct implications for workers. In the
medium to long term, job losses are expected in declining industries, for
instance, coal mining and certain parts of energy production.
• It is also important to recognize
regional disparities that just transition
policies must consider. For instance, while all Member States face
challenges, employment in energy-intensive manufacturing, including in the
automotive industry and in extractive industries tends to be concentrated in
regions in the South, Central and Eastern Europe.
• At the same time, many
regions in Europe, including in coastal areas and
remote territories that may face specific adjustment challenges, have
substantial potential to generate renewable energy.
[Green skills]
• The Commission estimates that, with the right accompanying policies, the
green transition could lead to the creation of
up to 1 mil ion additional jobs
in the EU by 2030. Many of these new jobs are likely to be in the middle-skill
and middle-income range.
• The green transition coupled with the automation and digitalisation of our
economies wil lead to both
new emerging green occupations and a
transformation of existing jobs.
• This shift wil require what we broadly refer to as
‘skil s for the green
transition’. They include occupation- or sector-specific professional skil s,
for instance expertise in renewable energy, but also science, technology,
engineering, mathematics skil s, as well as soft and other transferable skil s.
• Overall, this points to the urgent need for policies to realise potential and
address risks of the transition notably through measures looking at labour
market policies,
re- and up-skilling, investments and the mitigation of
regressive impacts.
• In particular, people most affected - in certain sectors and regions - must
have access to skil s development and adequate income security to
transition towards the green economy or other sectors with labour needs
labour needs.
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[Digitalisation]
• We also need to ensure that every European can benefit from the
opportunities the digital transition brings. European Commission is
determined to make the coming decade
Europe's Digital Decade. The EU’
digital strategy aims to strengthen business competitiveness, improve
infrastructure and modernise public services. Most importantly, it is
anchored on rights and principles that put solidarity and skil development at
the core of the strategy.
•
Over 90% of jobs now require some level of digital skil s, as does
participation in society at large. The collaborative economy, robotisation,
artificial intelligence, e-services all require a workforce with relevant skil s.
• Today, over 28 mil ion people in the EU work through
digital labour
platforms. In 2025, their number is expected to reach 43 mil ion people. The
Commission’s proposal for a
Directive on improving the working
conditions in platform work aims to ensure decent, transparent and
predictable working conditions and adequate social protection for them,
while supporting the sustainable growth of such platforms.
•
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the world of work
and made one thing clear: being able to use digital technology has become
necessary not only to study or to work, but also to carry out many daily
activities, such as accessing medical care.
• One impact of this social transformation is
that job stability has decreased
in most countries.
1 It is a very visible fact that workers today face more
frequent job transitions throughout their careers. This requires them to
update and widen their skil s to adapt to quickly changing demand.
• In the EU, we benefit from a strong labour acquis that sets rules related to
working and resting times, health and safety, sound working conditions and
preserving the boundaries between professional and private life.
• It is important that we continue monitoring the context and evolution of
telework and the
right to disconnect, in the broader context of the new
forms of work, as well as exchanging experience and good practices on the
various responses to the challenges and opportunities posed by
digitalisation of the world of work.
• Such research and exchanges wil feed evidence into the Commission’s
reflections on the appropriate response to the requests of the
European
Parliament’s Resolution on the right to disconnect.
[Poverty/inequalities]
• The twin green and digital transitions have a positive potential but are not
inclusive by default: we must work together to tap into this potential and
ensure they are truly fair and inclusive, in line with the principles of the
1
OECD Employment Outlook 2019
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European Pil ar of Social Rights. The Pillar is our guiding compass,
together with its
action plan and targets for 2030 in the area of jobs and
working conditions, skil s and equal opportunities, as well as social
protection.
•
One in ten workers is at risk of poverty in the EU (9.4%). Work must pay.
Low wages make it more difficult for people to make ends meet and, at the
same time, they affect the dignity of work.
• We estimate that 37 to 69% of tasks are automatable thanks to new
technology, which also presents risks for minimum wage earners.
2
• To help remedy this situation, the Commission proposed a
Directive for a
framework on adequate minimum wages. The proposal would in
particular benefit women, who are twice more likely to earn the minimum
wage than men, as well as migrants, young and low-skilled workers, single
parents and workers with non-standard contracts, by allowing them to earn a
decent living for them and their families.
• This year we wil present a proposal for a
Council Recommendation on
minimum income schemes to strengthen upwards convergence of people
who find themselves unable to access the labour market.
• Also, an upcoming
European Care Strategy wil aim to support men and
women in finding the best care and work-life balance.
[The relevance of lifelong learning]
• Skills are a necessary ingredient - for innovation, for the economy, and for
the society at large – as acknowledged by the European Pil ar of Social
Rights, whose first principle is that
“everyone has the right to quality and
inclusive education, training and life-long learning”.
• At the EU
Social Summit in Porto in May 2021, the leaders of the
European Union agreed on three ambitious
headline targets to steer our
joint action by 2030:
o increasing employment (to 78% employment rate, from 72% in Q3
2020);
o reducing poverty (15 mil ion fewer people at risk of poverty and social
exclusion, of which 5 mil ion children, from 91 mil ion people in 2019);
o
developing skills.
• By 2030, at least
60% of adults in the EU should participate in learning
every year, from less than 40% (in 2016). Moreover, 80% of adults should
have basic digital skil s by 2030 (versus 56% in 2019).
2
Employment and Social Developments in Europe. Annual review 2018, European Commission
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• These are ambitious targets that we cannot af ord to miss. With the shift to a
climate neutral society and the digitalisation of all aspects of work and life,
lifelong skil s development has become a necessity for all.
[EU responses]
• Raising the skil s of the workforce and the adult population in general is a
major objective of the
European Social Fund Plus, the EU’s main
instrument for investing in people with a budget of close to EUR 100 bil ion
for the period 2021-2027.
• The
Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) – the temporary recovery
instrument of over EUR 720 bil ion at the heart of NextGenerationEU
recovery package –
has added firepower to this objective. All EU Member
States have allocated a significant share of the facility to improving
education and training, with a focus on upskil ing adults, while driving
forward the green and digital transitions.
• The EU policy framework for skil s at European level is the
European Skil s
Agenda, a five-year plan (2020-2025) to help individuals and businesses
develop more and better skil s.
• Our European Skil s Agenda also heralds concrete measures to support the
development of digital skil s and skil s for the green transition.
• With regard to the green transition, we developed tools to help identify the
policies and the skil s needed for this transition.
• Last year, the Commission put forward a
Recommendation on fair
transition to encourage Member States to put in place comprehensive
policy packages to deliver on the promise of leaving on one behind. Skil s
are key in this regard.
• Another concrete example of the Commission’s actions is the
taxonomy of
skil s for the green transition that we published in January this year. Here,
we identify 381 skil s, 185 knowledge concepts and 5 transversal skil s
considered as most relevant on a greener labour market.
• This classification wil provide an important reference point when it comes to
designing and planning learning programmes.
• We have supported the development of a
core green skil s set of
professional skil s that wil be needed for the green transition across
economic sectors.
• We have recently updated the
Digital Competence Framework to take
account of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, and
phenomena such as increased teleworking, and the green and sustainability
aspects of interacting with digital technologies.
• And we have created the
Digital Skills Assessment tool to help people
assess their digital skil s levels.
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• The Commission has also proposed to Member States to set up schemes
for
individual learning accounts, providing training entitlements for all
adults of working age.
• In other words, we aim to put the individual in the driving seat with a training
budget that can be transferred between jobs.
•
Information and guidance also play a major role. Guidance services need
to rely on good
anticipation of skil s needs, both in general and related to
the local or regional labour market.
• There has been a proliferation of so-called
micro-credentials, which are
small, targeted qualifications that can support flexible upskil ing and
reskilling.
• But workers do need good advice in order to find those micro-credentials
that are most useful for their professional development. And both they and
employers need to be able to
trust micro-credentials.
• For this purpose, the Commission has just proposed to set up a common
European approach to micro-credentials, to increase their quality and
credibility.
• Micro-credentials work very well, among others, to
validate the skills
acquired in non-formal and informal settings.
• Education and training institutions need to cooperate with
industry, both
employers and unions, and with civil society.
• We are trying to promote innovative cooperation through an action that we
call the
Pact for Skills, launched in November 2020, which is emblematic of
the Skil s Agenda – an initiative built upon partnership and shared
endeavour.
• This
call for action has been heard. Almost
600 organisations have joined
the Pact and
eleven large-scale skil s partnerships have been established
in key industrial ecosystems, including the automotive sector, offshore
renewable energy, and cultural and creative industries.
• Together these partnerships have committed to providing training
opportunities for
6 million working-age people across Europe.
• At the European level, we established support services for Pact members to
provide networking opportunities and facilitate access to skil s intelligence
and information on funding opportunities.
• By the end of this year, our
ambition is to have at least one large-scale
skil s partnership in each of the 14 ecosystems identified by the EU industrial
strategy.
• And in the coming months, we wil also seek to develop new
regional skills
partnerships.
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• Working in partnership is the key to cracking the skil s gap challenge. The
Pact for Skil s is built on this principle - calling on companies to work
together to build skil s throughout the value chain.
[Social Dialogue]
•
Social dialogue is a key factor for achieving a just transition that is fair to
workers and employers. Because the social partners are best placed to
explore solutions suitable for both sides.
• This is why the Commission works closely with the social partners, involving
them in the process in various ways. Just transition is a constant subject of
discussion in the
social dialogue meetings supported by the Commission,
which provide valuable input to the decision-making process.
• As announced in the European Pil ar of Social Rights Action Plan, the
Commission is preparing a major
social dialogue initiative for this autumn.
• The initiative wil include a chapeau
Communication on strengthening
social dialogue in Europe and a proposal for a
Council Recommendation
on the role of social dialogue at national level.
• Social dialogue, including collective bargaining, is a crucial factor and
beneficial tool for a well-functioning, social y fair and highly competitive
social market economy.
• A strong involvement of social partners is key for ensuring fair transitions to
a climate neutral and digital economy and for shaping the future of work.
[Conclusions]
• Before I conclude let me say a few words on Italy.
The Italian national
Recovery and Resilience Plan includes a comprehensive set of actions,
including a reform agenda that concerns the entire education cycle, from
early education to higher education. It also aims at strengthening
employment, social and territorial cohesion by financing Active Labour
Market Policies, public employment services, upskil ing and reskil ing
initiatives. It also envisages social inclusion actions targeted towards
vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, such as people with disabilities and
the elderly.
• The ESF – and
the ESF+, which is the main EU fund investing in human
capital – plays a also key role in supporting Italian companies and public
authorities at national and regional level to address these challenges. Its
2021-2027 budget amounting to more than EUR 14.8 bil ion investing on
employment, social, education and skil s policies, combined with the EUR 50
bil ion of RRF support in these areas can make a significant difference and
represents a unique opportunity for skil s development in Italy.
• The COVID-19 pandemic, and now the Ukraine refugee crisis have created
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a broad consensus that we need to work together.,
•
We need to build a true, strong Social Europe in a moment where
digitalisation, artificial intelligence, automation and the greening of the
economy are transforming the world of work at breath-taking speed,
challenging workers’ rights and our social protection systems.
• We need to act swiftly and effectively to foster investments towards quality
job creations, inclusive education systems and skil s, and to ensure fair
living, working conditions and well-bei
Background
European Skil s Agenda
The European Skil s Agenda includes
12 actions organised around four building
blocks:
• A call to
join forces in a collective action:
o Action 1: A Pact for Skills
• Actions to ensure that people have the
right skil s for jobs:
o Action 2: Strengthening skil s intelligence
o Action 3: EU support for strategic national upskil ing action
o Action 4: Proposal for a Council Recommendation on vocational
education and training (VET)
o Action 5: Rolling out the
European Universities Initiative and upskil ing
scientists
o Action 6: Skil s to support the twin transitions
o Action 7: Increasing STEM graduates and fostering
entrepreneurial and
transversal skills
o Action 8: Skills for life
• Tools and initiatives to
support people in their lifelong learning pathways:
o Action 9: Initiative on individual learning accounts
o Action 10: A European approach to micro-credentials
o Action 11: New Europass platform
• A framework to
unlock investments in skills:
o Action 12: Improving the enabling framework to unlock Member States’
and private investments in skil s
The European Skil s Agenda sets objectives to be achieved by 2025, based on well-
established quantitative indicators.
Indicators
Objectives Current level (latest
Percentage increase
for 2025
year available)
Participation of adults aged 25-
64 in learning during the last 12 50%
38% (2016)
+32%
month (in %)
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Indicators
Objectives Current level (latest
Percentage increase
for 2025
year available)
Participation of low-qualified
adults 25-64 in learning during 30%
18% (2016)
+67%
the last 12 months (in %)
Share of unemployed adults
aged 25-64 with a recent
20%
11% (2019)
+82%
learning experience (in %)
Share of adults aged 16-74
having at least basic digital skil s 70%
56% (2019)
+25%
(in %)
Digital skills
Digital skil s are omnipresent across the Skil s Agenda: in the Pact for Skills, the
Blueprint for sectoral skil s cooperation and so on.
More specifically, Action 6 of the 2020 Skil s Agenda aims to support skil s for the twin
transitions and, more specifically, digital skil s for all. This includes actions 8 and 9 of
the Digital Education Action Plan, which are under the responsibility of DG EMPL.
•
Update of the European Digital Competence Framework (with JRC - action 8 of
the Digital Education Action Plan: On March 22, the Commission has published an
updated framework to improve digital skil s in the European Union. The Digital
Competences Framework (DigComp 2.2) takes account of emerging technologies
such as Artificial Intelligence or the Internet of Things – i.e. connected devices like
washing machines, or connected cars – and phenomena like increased remote
working, which requires new and increased digital competence from workers and
employers. An additional focus of the new framework is on digital literacy, enabling
people to fact-check online content and its sources. Schools, companies and others
wil use DigComp 2.2 to update their learning curricula, set learning goals and
outcomes, assess digital skil s in education and the labour market, and to certify
skil s. The Commission presented DigComp 2.2 at the Digital Education
Stakeholder Forum. It wil play a central role in achieving the ambitious EU
objective to ensure that 80% of the population should have basic digital skil s by
2030.
•
European Digital Skills Certificate (with JRC), action 9 of the Digital Education
Action Plan – to develop a European Digital Skil s Certificate (EDSC) that may be
recognised and accepted by governments, employers and other stakeholders
across Europe. This would allow Europeans to indicate their level of digital
competences, corresponding to the Digital Competence Framework proficiency
levels. The EDSC levels wil correspond (map onto) to specific DigComp 2.1 (and
then future DigComp 2.2.) proficiency levels but wil require regular updates of
certification content. The EDSC could be issued by organisations (government-
recognised bodies, schools, VET colleges, industry) following an agreed set of
guidelines for quality, assessment. The EDSC wil support the ambitious 70% and
80% objectives mentioned in the Skil s Agenda and Digital Compass. The EDSC
wil only work if there is an agreement between key stakeholders (governments,
ministries of education and training, employers, unions, digital stakeholder
organisations and existing training providers egg CISCO and Microsoft, etc.) on the
process for obtaining certification, the skil levels indicated and what they represent.
Green skills
•
ESCO taxonomy of skil s for the green transition: The taxonomy was published
end of January 2022 and had been announced under the European Skil s Agenda.
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ESCO is the multilingual classification of European Skil s, Competences,
Qualifications and Occupations. It identifies and categorises skil s, competences,
qualifications and occupations relevant for the EU labour market and education and
training, supporting the transition in the labour market and the connection between
job seekers and employers. In its current version (v1.1) it includes 3008
occupations and 13890 skil s and knowledge concepts in 27 languages.
Occupations and skil s in ESCO are interlinked, meaning that the classification
displays the skil s and knowledge that are essential or optional to perform an
occupation. As workers need a skil set that can respond to the need of reducing
emissions in working practices, the Skil s/Competences pil ar of ESCO has been
enriched with the additional information at skil level to distinguish green skil s and
knowledge concepts. This means that within the whole dataset of ESCO skil s, it is
possible to download the set of identified green concepts in different formats. In the
next future, it wil be possible to filter the green skil s and knowledge concepts in
the ESCO website and to look at green skil s in occupational profiles. A total of 571
ESCO skil s and knowledge concepts are labelled as green. They were identified
following an approach combining human validation and machine labelling, based
on a definition of green skil s as the knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes
needed to live in, develop and support a society which reduces the impact of
human activity on the environment; Green skil s and knowledge concepts in ESCO
refer to technical and technological skil s, cross-sectoral skil s looking at the
broader dimension of sustainability and transversal skil s related to individual
sustainable and eco-friendly behaviours.
•
Core green skil s: The Commission launched an Erasmus+ call for proposals
under the Annual Work Programme 2022, focusing on green skil s in the VET
sector. The objectives of the call are to develop a set of core green skil s for the
labour market across dif erent economic sectors to guide training and to integrate
this set of core green skil s into VET curricula, as well as in the training of teachers,
trainers and other staff. Application deadline was on 15 March 2022. Currently, the
evaluation commit ee is assessing the applications received.
•
Developing a European competence framework on education for climate
change. “GreenComp”, the European sustainability competence framework, was
published in January 2022. It maps out the competences needed for the green
transition, including critical thinking, initiative-taking, respecting nature and
understanding the interconnections between the environment, society and the
economy. While the taxonomy of skil s for the green transition focuses on technical
skil s needed on a greener labour market, GreenComp defines more transversal
competences that all citizens need to live in a greener and more sustainable
society.
Council Recommendation on European approach on micro-credentials
Negotiations of the proposal are ongoing since March 2022. The FR presidency
decided to hold the negotiations in the EYCS filière.
However, an important part of the Recommendation focuses on the use of micro-
credentials in active labour market policies (ALMPs). It is important that labour
authorities are fully involved and that the final text wil enable the use of this flexible tool
for upskil ing and re-skil ing for the labour market to its full potential.
• The Commission adopted a proposal for a Council Recommendation on micro-
credentials for lifelong learning and employability in December 2021.
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• Micro-credentials can offer quick and targeted upskil ing and reskil ing for
workers, learners and jobseekers. They can be developed jointly by social
partners to meet specific labour market needs and address targeted skil s
shortages, including in the context of the recovery to respond to the digital and
green transition.
• It would be important to keep the current section on active labour market
policies and to actively promote the use of micro-credentials for labour market
purposes, as well as the involvement of social partners in the design and use of
micro-credentials
• Micro-credentials should by no means replace state-recognised qualifications.
They can be used to complement qualifications and to top-up and certify
people’s skil s in a flexible and relatively fast manner.
Proposal for a Council Recommendation on Individual learning accounts:
The proposal for a
Council recommendation on individual learning accounts
(adopted by the Commission on 10 December 2021, COM(2021) 773 final)
recommends Member States to:
• Set up an
individual learning account for all working-age adults and ensure
an adequate provision of training entitlements, with additional support for those
individuals most in need of up- and reskil ing. This account should allow
individuals to accumulate and preserve individual training entitlements over
time, in order to use them for eligible, quality-assured training, guidance or
validation;
• Embed the individual learning accounts in an enabling framework, which
includes a national registry of training, validation, and career guidance
opportunities that are eligible for funding from the training entitlements.
• The proposal for a Council Recommendation also calls on Member States to
allow for training leave arrangements that cover all the working-age population.
Negotiations started in January 2022 under the FR Presidency.
Telework
The coronavirus crisis has forced many companies to switch to telework, thereby
accelerating the already ongoing increase of teleworking arrangements. According to a
recent
Eurofound report for EU countries based on an e-survey, one third of
respondents worked exclusively from home in July 2020. Nearly half of the
respondents teleworked at least some of the time. Telework allowed many companies
to stay afloat and workers to keep their jobs during the pandemic.
• Figure 1: Teleworking during the pandemic
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The Commission is monitoring closely the developments in the labour market arising
from the coronavirus crisis. Eurofound estimates that about 37% of jobs are
teleworkable and that telework is here to stay. While the flexibility deriving from
telework offers opportunities, it can also challenge the work-life balance by blurring the
lines between professional and private life. Therefore, these opportunities need to be
seized and the challenges need to be addressed through the appropriate policy tools.
In the EU, a strong set of social and labour laws already address several of the
challenges of telework and the right to disconnect. These include th
e Framework
Directive on Occupational Safety and Health, the
Working Time Directive, th
e Directive
on transparent and predictable working conditions and the
Directive on work-life
balance for parents and carers.
Furthermore, in line with the European Pil ar of Social Rights Action Plan and the
Commission Work Programme 2021,
the new OSH Strategic Framework 2021- 2027,
scheduled for adoption in June 2021, takes into account the challenges brought by the
digital transition related to the changing nature of tasks, work pat erns and workplaces.
It points to the Commission’s aim to ensure appropriate follow-up to the EP Resolution
on the right to disconnect. It also repeats the invitation to the social partners to find
commonly agreed solutions to address the challenges raised by telework and
digitalisation and the right to disconnect, and invites social partners to take action to
update agreements to address such issues as for example psychosocial risks. The
OSH legislative framework, moreover, provides for several “hooks” that are relevant for
the right to disconnect which may be further explored as part of the current exercise.
The
Implementation report of the Working Time Directive, foreseen for Q4 2022,
provides a good opportunity to reflect on the implications of remote work on working
time. As agreed with Commissioner Schmit at the Jour Fixe of 13 April, the
accompanying Communication to the report wil consider some of the more strategic
challenges related to working time and indicate possible need for further reflection and
forward looking approach.
In addition,
social partners’ cross-industry Framework Agreement on telework (2002)
and the more recent
Framework Agreement on Digitalisation in 2020, tackle telework
and modalities of connecting and disconnecting. The latter agreement is currently
being implemented at national, regional and local level. European Cross-industry social
partners have acknowledged the need to clarify the “modalities of connecting and
disconnecting” from work. As with “remote work”, there is no one definition of the right
to disconnect. It is generally understood as the right of a worker not to be asked to
work outside contract-bound hours, through formal or informal solicitations by digital
means. The practicalities through which this may be achieved are up for discussion.
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Some countries have introduced legislation, some have left social partners deal with
the issue, while others are stil debating if and how they should act.
On 21 January, the European Parliament adopted
a legislative initiative resolution on
the right to disconnect. The resolution calls on the Commission “to put forward a
proposal for a Union directive on minimum standards and conditions on the right to
disconnect, as well as to present a legislative framework establishing minimum
requirements for telework across the Union. At the same time, it highlights the central
role of social partners in the negotiation, application and enforcement of rules on
telework and the right to disconnect.
The Commission, in the framework of its follow-up actions to the European
Parliament’s resolution, invites social partners to find commonly agreed solutions to
address the challenges raised by telework, digitalisation and the right to disconnect. It
proactively supports social partners in their endeavour, facilitating discussions and the
identification of best practices, by assessing existing practices and rules related to the
right to disconnect.
In parallel, the Commission will also continue to explore the context and implications of
the right to disconnect in its wider context of remote work beyond the pandemic. This
wil entail facilitating debate on these topics with Member States, social partners and
relevant stakeholders and exchanging good practices through various fora, as well as
conducting research on the trends, evolution and implications of remote work.
The outcome of these exchanges and research wil underpin the Commission’s
considerations for the need for a possible EU initiative addressing the requests of the
Resolution.
The Commission wil make sure that existing EU laws aiming to preserve a separation
between private and professional life, as well as a good work-life balance, are properly
enforced by Member States.
This concerns for instance the Working Time Directive and from next year on the Work-
Life-Balance Directive, which is due to be transposed into national law by August 2022.
Council Conclusions on telework
The Council Conclusions on telework, adopted on 14 June 2021, highlight that the
recent increase in telework makes it necessary to consider the potential limits and risks
of teleworking.
It underlines the opportunities offered by telework, which include for workers the
possibility to improve their work-life balance, achieve greater productivity and
autonomy, and reduce the time needed for commuting. For employers, it allows for
savings on the costs of premises and offices and can encourage the development of IT
skil s by employees. It also underlines several risks for workers, including, among
others, excessive control through monitoring of the use of corporate IT equipment,
blurring of lines dividing work and private life and higher levels of work intensity. The
conclusions note that rules of employers, collective agreements and labour laws have
often not yet been adapted to take into account the increase in telework.
The Council Conclusions therefore
cal on Member States to, among others, to
consider:
• Establishing new, or expanding existing national action plans or strategies,
addressing the opportunities and risks related to telework, taking into account
the gender perspective.
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• amending their policies regulating telework or issuing guidance, for instance
with regard to the organisation and monitoring of working time, risks related to
equality between women and men, equal training and career opportunities,
allowances to cover the costs of teleworking and the promotion of social
dialogue between employers and workers.
• establishing or reinforcing initiatives to strengthen labour inspection and
occupational health and safety in view of the risks arising from telework.
The Council Conclusions also
call on the Commission to analyse the context and
implications of telework in the EU and the extent to which current social and labour law
in the EU ensures decent working conditions for teleworkers and responds to their
particular situation and challenges, including the right to disconnect.
The Council Conclusions
recognise the important role of social partners in finding
commonly agreed solutions.
The topic of telework is high on the agenda of the Portuguese Presidency. Portugal has
recently published a green paper on telework at national level.
The Council Conclusions on telework were widely welcomed by MS. In SQWP
discussions, stronger emphasis on the issue of social partners’ autonomy and on
gender equality were supported by the vast majority of MS.
The Conclusions also refer to the European Parliament resolution on the right to
disconnect
3, which requests the Commission to submit legislative proposals on
telework and the right to disconnect.
The Commission, in its response to the European Parliament
4 outlined a number of
follow-up actions responding to the requests of the resolution. These include a large-
scale study (2022), as well a high-level conference in Q1 2022. The Commission wil
also call for debates in EMCO, EPSCO and the European Parliament. The Commission
may proceed with a first-stage consultation of social partners in early 2023 in line with
Art. 154 TFEU.
The Council Conclusions’ call on the Commission to examine the context and evolution
of telework and the right to disconnect, including the adequacy of the current applicable
labour acquis corresponds to the Commission’s follow-up actions to the EP Resolution.
Right to disconnect
With the rise of digitalisation, there are growing demands for new rights tailored to the
digital age.
Among these, the so-called “right to disconnect” is an important issue in the future of
work debate that deserves careful consideration.
There is no single EU law addressing the Right to Disconnect. However, we have in the
EU a strong set of social and labour laws, which already address several of the
challenges raised by this report:
The Framework Directive on Occupational Safety and Health creates an obligation
for employers to take the measures necessary for the protection of workers’ safety and
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health at work.
The Working Time Directive lays down minimum requirements for the protection of
workers’ safety and health in all sectors of activity. It sets minimum daily and weekly
rest periods and a minimum period of paid annual leave, and limits weekly working time
and the length of night work.
The Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions will give workers
without a predictable working pattern (e.g. on-demand or zero-hours workers) the right
to know reasonably in advance when work wil take place; this wil de facto grant them
the right to be disconnected outside such periods. The Directive is due to be
transposed into national law by August 2022.
Last, the Directive on work-life balance wil facilitate the reconciliation of work and
family life, providing parents and people with caring responsibilities with rights related
to suitable leaves and flexible working arrangements. The Directive is due to be
transposed into national law by August 2022.
As highlighted in the European Parliament’s report, social partners have a central role
in dealing with issues linked to a right to disconnect and the broader issues raised by
remote working.
In the past, social Partners had already agreed on a cross-industry Framework
Agreement on telework (2002).
More recently, European social partners concluded a
Framework Agreement on
Digitalisation in 2020. It specifically tackles telework and modalities of connecting and
disconnecting although it didn’t foresee the right to disconnect. This agreement is
currently being implemented at national, regional and local level.
The Commission’s follow-up actions to the EP resolution on the right to disconnect
The following follow-up actions are being prepared / implemented:
• ECE seminar on post-COVID working arrangements, 18 June 2021
• Study on the context and implications of remote work and the right to disconnect
beyond the pandemic – to kick-off in March 2022
• Conference on telework and the right to disconnect – organisation in progress
• Informal ISG meeting on telework and the right to disconnect: first meeting was
held on 17 September 2021.
Council Conclusions on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on gender equality
These Conclusions adopted on 14 June 2021:
- noted that women, on average, have less access, less exposure, and less
experience with digital technologies than men, which risks limiting women’s
opportunities and individual capacity to respond to the demands emerging from
the increased use of telework; and
- that the lack of balance in domestic and care responsibilities can exacerbate
the workload and mental burden of female teleworkers, especially those with
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small children.
The Council invited the Commission and Member States to develop and disseminate
more data disaggregated by sex, information and research on the impact of COVID-19
on gender equality, including:
a) The implications of increased telework for gender equality including in the
context of the reconciliation of work, family and private life, taking into account
the relative prevalence of teleworking among women and men, and the impact
of the temporary closure of schools and childcare facilities, as well as dif erent
household configurations and their work arrangements.
b) The extent of men’s increased participation in domestic work and unpaid care
work during the pandemic and its reasons and impact.
c) The impact of the crisis on working patterns, including working hours, inactivity
and work interruption.
d) Take-up of parental, family and child-related leaves.
Social dialogue
The Social Dialogue initiative to be adopted in September 2022 wil promote social
dialogue and collective bargaining at European and national levels.
A chapeau Communication will outline the main challenges ahead in terms of social
dialogue and collective bargaining in light of the recovery, the transitions, the new
forms for work and the societal expectations.
It wil outline key actions on strengthening social dialogue at European level, stress the
European support to national social dialogue and collective bargaining, recall the
international dimension of strong social dialogue and set out actions to improve the
analytical underpinning on the topic,
A proposal for a Council Recommendation on the role of social dialogue at national
level would support the implementation of Principle 8 of the European Pil ar of Social
Rights and focus on the role of social dialogue at national level. It wil address the main
challenges:
(1) the substantial differences between Member States when it comes to the
structures, processes, and quality of social dialogue;
(2) the lack of proper involvement on social partners as evidenced again during
the preparations of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans;
(3) the decreasing trends in the coverage of collective bargaining agreements
and lack of participation of younger generations in social dialogue and
(4) the need for social partners to find innovative solutions to better cover new
forms of work including the platform economy.
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