SECOND FOCUS GROUP: THE IMPACT OF DIGITALISATION ON WORK-LIFE - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
TUNED - Trade Union ' s National and European Delegation EUPAE - European Public Administration Employers SECOND FOCUS GROUP: THE IMPACT OF DIGITALISATION ON WORK-LIFE BALANCE Improving work-life balance: opportunities and risks coming from
Improving work-life balance:
29 may 2019
With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
TUNED - Trade Union's National and European Delegation EUPAE - European Public Administration Employers
Research Methodology recap A short overview of the received Case Studies Major Trends influencing the world of work at public administrations What are the responses to these major Trends? Research limitations Initial Findings I-II-III. Key Success Factors Q and A
2 | With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
Focus on the individual Review of existing knowledge (Literature Review) 2 Focus Group meetings (14 March Paris; 29 May Madrid) Collection of Case studies + set of Interviews Data analysis Scope: 12 countries (Denmark, Estonia, Belgium, France, Germany, Romania, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal and Slovenia) Established a set of 9 criteria to select the case studies from the Member States 2 main project outputs: Field Study + Guideline Final conference on the 27th of September 2019 in Rome
3 | With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
4 | With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
Collected 18 case studies from 12 EU countries (currently 10 focus countries + 2 "extra" countries): Romania (1), Belgium (1), Estonia (1), Germany (2), Ireland (1), Italy (4), Portugal (2), Spain (1), Slovenia (1), France (1), Austria (1), Czech Republic (2) The case studies are fulfilling the 9 criteria to differing levels (e.g coverage by gender criteria - information about gender take-up by only 4 case studies: BE, IE, IT, SI) Cases were discussed and distributed among the members
Some of the examples: Teleworking (Slovenia, Portugal, Estonia, Romania), Agile Work (Italy), NoVo (Belgium), Action Plan on Gender Equality (Spain), Digitalisation and automation in Revenue (Ireland) ...
5 | With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
Factors of external context Factors of internal context
Social and Demographic factors (e.g talent war, consumption trends, gender, WLB, education) Environmental considerations (e.g climate change, commuting, CO2) National Digitalisation Strategies (e.g Danish Digital Strategy 2016-2020; e-Estonia) Technological factors and resources (e.g infrastructural capacity, ICT readiness) Individual preferences and characteristics of employees (e.g. perceptions about digitalisation improving work-life balance, public officials’ autonomy, or managers attitude towards new technologies) Organisational factors (modernisation, organisational learning, culture, trade-union presence and workers’ representation)
Overall public service modernisation programmes; culture change initiatives (e.g Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Estonia)
6 | With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
Legislation and/or Agreements led change (i.e. Italy, Slovenia) Work-life balance/HR initiatives (e.g flexible working policies, online education of mothers on leave) to improve employee wellbeing and attract and retain talent (i.e. Portugal, Czech Republic, Estonia)
6 case studies out of the 18 have been in place from 2018, which shows the nature
13 years old - Belgium) 6 case studies out of the 18 were measured/assessed; out of the 6 cases only 2 focused on work-life balance; in most cases, only anecdotal evidence exist currently It is a challenge to compare the gathered information and success factors of the case studies, therefore it is difficult to generalise results Specific nature of the scope of the research: both digitalisation and work-life balance are TOOLS and GOALS at the same time
7 | With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
8 | With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
High level initial findings include:
7 out of the 18 case studies specifically reported that their employees' work-life balance was positively impacted by digitalisation - the remaining doesn't mention The research confirms that digitalisation has the potential to increase workers autonomy and provide greater access to flexibility It also confirms that digitalisation may contribute to a decreased level of stress, and improved level of trust of staff towards
Only 1 case study reports about the negative impact of digitalisation on employees' work-life balance But, the research confirms that digitalisation contributes to the weakening of work-life boundaries It reinforces the argument that digitalisation may lead to the isolation of teleworkers (2 cases) It reportedly contributes to digital stress and longer working hours (reported by 2 case studies) and interferes in privacy issues
9 | With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
Case studies (IE, RO) suggest that digitalisation can be particularly important for women as it can facilitate their job (re)entry and improve gender equality Case studies report about higher levels of commitment and job satisfaction as a result of digitalisation Digitalisation can also, reportedly, lead to reduced absenteeism and
The research also reinforces the arguments that digitalisation may lead to an increased level of productivity
10 | With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
The study finds that digitalisation may improve the work-life balance of central government administration
digitalisation and the work-life balance of employees. If work-life balance agreements or policies are not linked with digitalisation initiatives, this may lead to unexpected outcomes or frustration Digitalization requires new competencies from line managers in the absence of which even the most forward-looking initiatives might fail - only 7 case studies out of the 18 report about line manager training (question of resources and priorities) The research supports the view that digitalization primarily affects the work-life balance of employees at medium or higher hierarchical levels, lower level take up is necessary and must be encouraged to create sustainability The degree to which trade unions are involved in the planning and implementation of digitalisation related programmes might differ even in the case of one single initiative, which might lead to uneven implementation
1) Trade union representatives involvement, including collective bargaining 2) Access to relevant training and earmarking budget for it 3) Pilot testing, active learning (continuous assessment including impact on health) 4) Digital readiness (e.g existence of an IT department, nr of available computers, internet connection) 5) Implementation (policies, performance, measuring, rules, culture, gender equality policy, working time rules) 6) Line manager’s skills, competence (e.g. leadership, emphatic skills, digitalisation skills) 7) Protection of workers’ privacy and data 8) Trust towards employees
11 | With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
With the support of the European Union - VS/2017/0370
Zoltan Vadkerti
zv@worklifehub.com