Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Key components of sustainable quality work during and after recovery

(Exploratory opinion at the request of the Slovenian Presidency)

(2021/C 517/04)

Rapporteur: Andrej ZORKO

Request by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council Letter of 19.3.2021 Legal basis Article 304 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union Section responsible Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship Adopted in section 7.9.2021 Adopted at plenary 23.9.2021 Plenary session No 563 Outcome of vote (for/against/abstentions) 146/24/54

1. Conclusions and recommendations

1.1. Quality of work is one of the fundamental components of quality of life. The principle of quality of work for quality of life must be followed, as this is a prerequisite for sustainable social development. The EESC therefore firmly believes that it should be given special attention in EU policies, as it must prevent the risks of inequality, poverty, social exclusion and unfair competition.

1.2. The EESC firmly believes that the problems and challenges that exist in the field of quality work should be addressed in the light of the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals. The ILO international standards of decent work ( 1 ) should also be considered, along with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union ( 2 ) . It therefore calls on the Member States and the social partners, in the context of social dialogue and collective bargaining, to identify and find solutions to the changes which have been accelerated by the pandemic in the labour market, at appropriate levels and according to national circumstances.

1.3. The EESC believes that the European Union and Member States should take a more ambitious approach to supporting, coordinating and implementing efforts towards active labour market policies while protecting workers’ fundamental rights and ensuring a sustainable and competitive business environment for companies in the global economy. The European Pillar of Social Rights should guide the implementation of the principles of social Europe, social justice and sustainable recovery.

1.4. Building on the experience of the pandemic in the field of work, the European Commission and the Member States, actively involving the social partners and other stakeholders, could monitor the functioning of or, where appropriate, review and, if necessary, amend existing regulations and develop appropriate policies to ensure decent and sustainable quality work. This could include protecting workers and proper work organisation leading to higher productivity and innovation, while promoting the positive elements of digitalisation, including the need of workers to digital training to promote their employability ( 3 ) . There should be particular focus on legislation and policies on artificial intelligence and ensuring that all stakeholders have the opportunity to participate in the adoption of new solutions, through consultation and negotiation with workers and employers.

1.5. The EESC calls on the European Commission, notably within the reinforced European Semester and other existing mechanisms, to establish new mechanisms and/or ( 4 ) continue identifying medium- and long-term labour market needs. This would allow Member States, actively involving the social partners and civil society organisations, to develop longer-term planning and implementation of employment policies, including planning for the training and lifelong learning of workers and providing solutions to address the skills gap. It is also important to strengthen public employment services and their cooperation with the private sector in order to help integrate the most vulnerable groups into the labour market more effectively.

1.6. The EESC reiterates that active labour market policies (ALMP) need to be effective and targeted in order to reach good employment outcomes ( 5 ) and highlights the need for Member States and social partners to engage in developing active labour market policies that promote quality work. The EESC highlights also its support for a gradual approach to common minimum standards in the field of unemployment insurance to ensure quality work in Member States ( 6 )

1.7. The Member States must create the necessary conditions to ensure both adequate participation (collective governance) in design processes and the implementation of employment or labour market policies.

1.8. The EESC encourages the Member States and the social partners to strengthen social dialogue at national level. It also recommends capitalising on the traditional content of social dialogue to include other, more strategic content oriented towards sustainability and solutions. This would be, for example, anticipating the future needs of companies and workers with certain competencies and skills, joint activities for training workers, ensuring a fair transition to the digital and green economies, and regulating as well as developing balanced solutions for the work of platforms, and similar important development issues.

1.9. The EESC recognises the importance of the social partners and collective agreements for maintaining the balance of the labour market. Appropriate training for the social partners is crucial for the further development of social dialogue ( 7 ) . This is proving to be both a critical and a key point for the further development of social dialogue, which should also work towards ensuring sustainable quality work.

1.10. The EESC believes that the Commission and the Member States should reinforce the capacity of the social partners and civil society. It is necessary to create an environment of trust in social dialogue, recognise its importance and involve social partners and other stakeholders in a timely manner in formulating measures and in the decision-making process itself, where appropriate and in line with development needs. A strong framework for information and consultation with workers is needed to deal properly with the green and digital transition while ensuring the quality of work ( 8 )

1.11. The EESC recognises that the Recovery and Resilience Facility could make a positive contribution to strengthening and ensuring the quality of work and of the role of the social partners in implementing it. It therefore proposes that the Commission hold annual meetings with the social partners and civil society organisations in order to obtain opinions on implementing the facility. Due to the diversity of situations in the Member States, it would make sense to carry out consultations separately and jointly formulate guidelines and recommendations for continuing to implement the facility successfully.

1.12. The EESC notes that the Recovery and Resilience Facility does not directly address the components of quality work, and therefore calls on the Commission to supplement this part of the facility. Quality of work is key to achieving the targets set by the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Vulnerable groups, such as precarious and young workers, who have been hit hardest by the epidemic, should not be overlooked.

1.13. The EESC calls for research to be carried out to monitor labour market developments during the recovery period more closely. It is also necessary to take into account changes in business models that have an impact on the way work is carried out and on workers’ fundamental rights, as well as digitalisation and the introduction of new technologies, with particular focus on skills gaps and the labour market transition. The implications for the organisation of work and other important aspects of quality work should be carefully examined and explored, considering both positive solutions and the perils of rapid digitalisation. The Committee stresses the need to factor in countries’ diversity and the consequences of the pandemic for both society and the labour market. Changes need to be evaluated using a holistic approach.

2. Background

2.1. The EESC recognises the diversity and multifaceted nature of the concept of sustainable quality work and points out that it is made up of various components that directly or indirectly affect people’s quality of life, workers’ rights and workers’ social security. At the same time the EESC also recognises that employers and Member States have a central role in ensuring quality work, including promoting skills, quality employment, new and diverse forms of work, security, well-being of workers and competitiveness of companies. The Commission seems to be aware of this, given that a considerable amount of programmes and financial assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the SURE programme, have been aimed at both economic recovery and maintaining people’s social security. The EESC firmly believes that economic recovery and development of the European economy are not possible without preserving and developing social security while ensuring competitive environment for European companies in global economy and that economic and social recovery must go hand in hand.

2.2. The EESC believes that it is the responsibility of the Commission, the Member States and European and national social partners to plan and implement measures to ensure sustainable quality work. Therefore, strategy and measures to ensure sustainable quality work need to be developed and implemented as soon as possible on the basis of joint efforts by all relevant actors.

2.3. Ensuring fair, competitive conditions for the European economy, investing in innovation and development, preventing social dumping, encouraging job creation and promoting fair working conditions and appropriate incentives should be key components of the European Union’s and Member States’ strategies and can make a significant contribution to raising the quality of work.

2.4. With the right conditions European business can contribute to sustainable prosperity, more quality jobs and strengthened welfare. This requires favourable framework conditions as regards especially ensuring a reliable supply of energy, skilled workforce, good transport infrastructure, and effective labour markets.

2.5. The concept of sustainable quality work is one of the essential components of quality of life and must be considered together with the concept of sustainable development, taking into account the larger context of sustainable growth and employment, in particular the transition to a green economy and digitalisation, which must be fair to all stakeholders. In this connection, the EESC draws particular attention to the opinions it has already adopted in this context.

2.6. The EESC firmly believes that implementing the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 8, adopted by the 193 United Nations Member States in 2015 ( 9 ) , can make a significant contribution to ensuring sustainable quality work also taking into account economic growth, full and productive employment. Especially during the recovery period, the European Commission should focus more on achieving these objectives and encourage Member States to achieve them.

2.7. The EESC also points out that implementing the principles set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights and the related action plan, as well as the relevant international legal standards ( 10 ) is of the utmost importance in ensuring sustainable quality work. The EESC has already adopted a number of opinions in this context and calls on the European institutions and the Member States according to their competences to play an active part in implementing them together with the social partners and other stakeholders.

2.8. When designing measures to ensure sustainable, quality work, account must be taken of the various factors affecting quality of life, ensuring decent work, reducing inequalities and social exclusion, preventing poverty and ensuring the competitiveness of the European economy while promoting smooth transition towards digital and green society and economy. All these factors must be balanced with the Sustainable Development Goals and the social partners and civil society organisations must be actively involved in designing measures. In this context, the EESC stresses the importance of a broader social consensus.

2.9. The EESC is aware of a number of elements, factors and circumstances that influence the quality of work and its sustainable provision and it has acknowledged this in its opinion ( 11 ) . These are elements such as the level and predictability of workers’ wages, forms and methods of work, the working environment, occupational health and safety, employment stability, lifelong learning, training of workers, regular and predictable working hours, protection of workers’ rights, work-life balance and active and effective social dialogue.

2.10. The EESC notes that ensuring decent work is one of the essential elements of ensuring quality work. It therefore calls on the Commission, the Member States and social partners to pay more attention to the issues of decent and quality work.

2.11. The EESC is aware that providing components of quality work also depends on the resilience of European companies in the global market, as well as on the internal market situation, various business models and economic policies. It therefore calls on the Commission and the Member States to create, together with the social partners, conditions that encourage sustainable investments and thus enable employers to provide quality work on a sustainable basis and to tackle unfair practices. Member States should help to speed up this situation through various incentives, policies and appropriate regulations.

3. COVID-19

3.1. The EESC acknowledges that economic activity has been declining asymmetrically during the epidemic and that the SURE mechanism put in place by the Commission during the pandemic has helped to preserve a large number of jobs. In order to avoid redundancies and prevent people’s income security deteriorating, Member States have adopted various short-time work schemes, wage subsidies for employees, furloughs (e.g. workers in activities that have not been allowed to operate) with a lower percentage of wages, various active employment policy measures, protection for young people and the elderly, subsidies partly compensating for loss of income, and basic income for certain groups of people, etc. However, the EESC stresses that these temporary measures should not overshadow the need for sound and sustainable economic policies in the EU and Member States aiming to create new growth and jobs.

3.1.1. The EESC regrets that the Commission has not actively made appropriate involvement of the social partners and other stakeholders an important criterion for taking up these funds. In some Member States, social partners have not been actively involved in defining labour market measures and policies. Recovery and ensuring quality work will be more difficult in these countries.

3.2. The EESC acknowledges that during the epidemic the way some work activities are carried out has changed, to the effect that some changes will continue during the recovery period and beyond. It is therefore crucial to recognise these changes, address them appropriately, monitor them and develop them in the direction of ensuring lasting quality of work, with the aim of creating additional opportunities for companies and workers. Particular attention should be paid to the impact and consequences of digitalisation and of the introduction of artificial intelligence in jobs.

3.3. The EESC points out that the epidemic has put the spotlight on certain economic and business models and forms and ways of working that had been overlooked or given too little attention before the epidemic. Care must be taken to ensure that these more frequent forms of business and working do not adversely affect the labour market or the quality of work and do not constitute unfair practices.

3.4. The EESC welcomes the Commission Recommendation on Effective Active Support to Employment (EASE) following the COVID-19 crisis and calls on the Member States to prioritise labour market policies in a way that makes investing in people one of the key elements in overcoming the crisis, taking into account the need for green and digital transitions. Member States should include EASE measures agreed with the social partners in their national recovery and resilience plans.

3.5. The EESC is concerned that the mental wellbeing of European workers has deteriorated considerably during the pandemic, especially among young people and those who have lost their job ( 12 ) . Therefore, the EESC calls for a holistic and joint approach, aiming at combining ambitious health, safety and mental wellbeing policies.

3.6. The EESC reiterates the position and proposals it has set out in various opinions ( 13 ) on issues relating to the future of work, digitalisation, home working, organisation of working time, lifelong learning and training, and work-life balance. All stated about quality work is valid for all who work, regardless of their nationality that is why immigration and integration of third country nationals is important.

3.7. In view of the changes brought about by the pandemic, the parallel evolution of digitalisation and the fact that the quality of work is affected by many factors, this opinion focuses on only some aspects highlighted by the Slovenian Presidency which require particular attention when it comes to the development of quality work. These are: 1) adapting the working environment to an ageing population, 2) training and lifelong learning, 3) ensuring equality, 4) taking into account the benefits and traps of digitalisation and artificial intelligence, and 5) the role of the social partners.

4. Adapting the working environment to an ageing population

4.1. With Europe’s ageing population, working lives are also becoming longer in most Member States and the effective retirement age is rising. This, in turn, requires the creation of suitable working conditions for older people. It is primarily about adapting to their psychophysical abilities while also making sure that their skills base remains up-to-date to the labour market needs. Improving health protection at the workplace and access to lifelong learning for older workers are also indispensable in ensuring the quality of work of older workers.

4.2. While ensuring adequate working conditions is a primary duty of the employer, tripartite cooperation between the social partners and governments also has an important role to play in this respect, as, with their knowledge of working procedures and workers themselves, they can, through social dialogue and collective agreements at appropriate level, help to create a working environment that enables older workers to work properly.

4.3. Member States also have an important role to play. By providing an appropriate level of social protection, access to quality health services and various incentives and subsidies for employers, they can help create a working environment that enables people to work safely and productively as they get older.

4.4. The EESC proposes that more attention be paid to implementing demography-related labour market policies in the context of the European Semester. It is essential to actively involve the social partners in strategies and in implementing policies and measures relating to older people in the labour market, including appropriate integration into the labour market.

4.5. Modern and innovative ways for younger and older generations to work together need to be developed. Appropriate, two-way transfer of knowledge and experience is essential.

5. Training and lifelong learning

5.1. In its opinions, the EESC has repeatedly stressed the importance of lifelong learning and training for both unemployed and employed workers ( 14 )

5.2. The EESC underlines the importance of timely anticipation of workers’ and employers’ needs in terms of skills and strategic planning in this area. This requires the social partners to work together, particularly at sectoral and business level.

5.3. Particular attention should be paid to the long-term unemployed and to those who have been out of the labour market for a long period of time. Prolonged absence from the labour market holds employability back significantly, especially given the speed of digital change ( 15 ) . With the closure of certain activities, leaving workers at home, the pandemic deepened the problem. That is why effective active employment policies are necessary in these situations.

5.4. Training activities should focus on adequately raising employers’ awareness of the importance of timely planning as regards skills and competencies needs for future work. In this regard, the EESC recommends that special attention be paid to digital training plans for workers.

5.5. The EESC recommends that Member States also consider financial and tax incentives for more active training of workers by their employer, either in the form of direct funding or in the form of tax breaks for companies.

6. Ensuring equality

6.1. The EESC takes the view that during and after recovery, it is essential to maintain equality with regard to personal circumstances and to prevent all forms of discriminatory practices. While recognising the opportunities offered by diverse forms of work, there is also a danger that these could increase worker inequality, including gender-based equality ( 16 ) . Ways must be found to ensure the equal treatment of workers, through all appropriate channels, including both legislation and collective agreements.

6.2. The EESC notes that equality was not guaranteed during the pandemic, as the measures adopted did not cover all workers and all businesses. Small and medium-sized businesses, workers in precarious forms of work, self-employed people, migrants, young people and women have often been denied access to compensation for loss of income or not covered by measures. This means that poverty and social exclusion have increased during the epidemic. A number of businesses have also ceased operating, leading to a loss of jobs.

6.3. The EESC notes that the situation of women in the labour market has deteriorated significantly during the pandemic ( 17 ) : many women have lost their jobs, work-life balance has worsened and, ultimately, precariousness has increased.

6.4. The situation of migrants in the labour market and young people, who are increasingly struggling to find a job, has also deteriorated. In addition, they are faced to an even greater extent with precarious forms of work, which does not guarantee a quality life.

6.5. Inequality is most reflected in the level of income and employment stability. The EESC therefore firmly believes that labour market policies must address the pay gap, together with measures that promote wage transparency, tackle horizontal and vertical labour market segregation, incentivise fulltime work for women and address unpaid care-related constraints and the implementation of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. Measures must also be taken to ensure that workers’ rights are respected. Social dialogue with a focus on collective bargaining in non-standard activities such as domestic work, care work, platform work and the like should also be encouraged.

7. Digitalisation and artificial intelligence

7.1. Digitalisation has a major impact on industrial relations, given the positive and negative consequences of employers implementing it in work processes.

7.2. Digital solutions also raise concerns regarding contractual relations between workers and employers. In order to ensure sustainable components of quality work, it is necessary to monitor developments in the labour market and to ensure that adequate mechanisms are in place to protect workers’ fundamental rights, without hampering the development of digital solutions. The EU, the Member States, the social partners and other stakeholders should all play a role in finding fair solutions for people’s concerns. The EESC stresses that increased digitalisation in working life can bring benefits, while also posing challenges. In this regard the EESC acknowledges that swift implementation of the European Social Partners framework agreement on digitalisation can play an important role ( 18 )

7.3. There is an urgent need to manage artificial intelligence in the workplace, in particular with regard to preventing discriminatory practices, unlawful surveillance of workers — including the right to disconnect — and other detrimental treatment of workers. The social partners must be included in the processes of adopting and implementing legislation on artificial intelligence.

Brussels, 23 September 2021. The President of the European Economic and Social Committee Christa SCHWENG

(1) https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/decent-work/lang--en/index.htm.

(2) OJ C 326, 26.10.2012, p. 391.

(3) OJ C 374, 16.9.2021, p. 16.

(4) Depending on the situation in Member States.

(5) OJ C 125, 21.4.2017, p. 10, point 3.19.

(6) OJ C 97, 24.3.2020, p. 32; OJ C 429, 11.12.2020, p. 159, point 1.6.

(7) Voss, Eckhard, Broughton, Andrea, Pulignano, Valeria, Franca, Valentina, Rodriguez, Contreras, Ricardo. Exploring the connections between EU- and national-level social dialogue. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union , 2018.

(8) For example, the EESC resolution on the Porto Summit, OJ C 286 du 16.7.2021, p. 6 and the OJ C 341, 24.8.2021, p. 23.

(9) Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

(10) ILO standards and Articles 151 and 156 TFEU.

(11) OJ C 125, 21.4.2017, p. 10, point 3.4.

(12) Eurofound (2021), Living, working and COVID-19 (Update April 2021): Mental health and trust decline across EU as pandemic enters another year, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, page 4.

(13) OJ C 129, 11.4.2018, p. 44; OJ C 197, 8.6.2018, p. 45; OJ C 237, 6.7.2018, p. 8; OJ C 367, 10.10.2018, p. 15; OJ C 440, 6.12.2018, p. 37; OJ C 232, 14.7.2020, p. 18.

(14) As expressed in OJ C 374, 16.9.2021, p. 38.

(15) The digital skills and training of worker vary widely across EU countries, and this exacerbates disparities between workers’ situations. In 2019, on average less than 25 % of businesses in the EU provided digital training, ranging from 6 % in Romania to 37 % in Finland.

(16) OJ C 220, 9.6.2021, p. 13.

(17) https://eige.europa.eu/news/covid-19-derails-gender-equality-gains.

(18) The European Social Partners framework agreement_and_studies/2020-06-22_agreement_on_digitalisation_-_with_signatures.pdf.