Stakeholder Conference on the ‘Future of Work’ : summary report.
Date: 2019-08-08
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: EU Member State, employment policy, employment service, evaluation method, fight against unemployment, public service

SUMMARY REPORT

STAKEHOLDER CONFERENCE  
ON THE ‘FUTURE OF WORK’

JANUARY 2019

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The European Network of Public Employment Services was created following a Decision of the European Parliament and Council in June 
2014 (DECISION No 573/2014/EU). Its objective is to reinforce PES capacity, effectiveness and efficiency. This activity has been developed 
within the work programme of the European PES Network. For further information: http://ec.europa.eu/social/PESNetwork.

This activity has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation ‘EaSI’ (2014-2020). 
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SUMMARY REPORT

STAKEHOLDER CONFERENCE  
ON THE ‘FUTURE OF WORK’

JANUARY 2019

Contents

Introduction 

What will the future of work look like? 

Trends 
Effect on target groups 
New forms of work 

What role for PES and their partners? 

On future skills needs 
On new forms of work as new opportunities 
On agile talent management for organisational transformation in PES 
On new services for employers 
On knowledge for new services 
On empowerment of PES customers 

Next steps for collaboration 

Annex – Marketplace of Possibilities 

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INTRODUCTION

The PES Network Stakeholder Conference on the 
‘Future of Work’ took place in Brussels on 8 Novem­
ber 2018. It brought together PES from 32 1 coun­
tries and diverse labour market stakeholders, 
including social partners, private employment ser­
vices, education and training services providers, aca­
demia, national and labour market experts, business 
representatives, employer associations, international 
organisations  such  as the  World  Association 
of Public  Employment  Services  (WAPES),  the 
International  Labour  Organization  (ILO),  the 
Organisation  for  Economic  Co­operation  and 

Development (OECD), and non­governmental organ­
isations (NGOs). The aim was to strengthen existing 
partnerships and support the development of new 
ones, in order to work together to face the opportu­
nities and challenges of the future of work. 

While it is unknown what type of jobs will be per­
formed by whom in the future, it is important that 
PES, together with their partners, understand the 
changes ahead and at the same time develop 
responses to these. 

WHAT WILL THE FUTURE  
OF WORK LOOK LIKE?

What  do we  know  about  the  future  of work 
in Europe? Opening the conference, the ILO, OECD 
and the European Commission highlighted major 
trends that will impact future labour markets and 
have implications for PES.

Trends

While work will remain an important source of 
income and self­realisation, the ILO singled out 
globali sation, digitalisation, climate change, and 
demographic change as key drivers that will funda­
mentally change the way we work. This presents 
a number of job creation and growth opportunities, 
such as green jobs that will generate up to 24 mil­
lion jobs by 2030. But ageing will also affect labour 
demand through goods and services demanded 
by an older population – in fact 269 million care 
jobs are expected by 2030. Changes such as auto­
mation will also lead to the disappearance of some 
jobs. According to a 2018 study by the OECD, 14 % 
of jobs in a subset of OECD countries have a prob­
ability of automation of 70 % or more; and 32 % 
of jobs have a probability of automation between 
50 % and 70 %. This is concentrated in sectors 
where processes can be performed with minimal 
human intervention, such as manufacturing, con­
struction or transport. However, some jobs cannot 

be automated because of cultural barriers, and 
technological progress will also continue to create 
new jobs and new industries. 

Effect on target groups

It is expected that new jobs will not be the same 
as those disappearing, which is likely to polarise 
workforces further into those who are highly skilled 
in well­paid work, and those who are less skilled 
in lower­paid work. This divide risks increasing 
inequalities, especially if workers have insufficient 
skills and struggle to upgrade their skills: for exam­
ple, across OECD countries, 10 % of the working­age 
population do not know how to use a computer. 
In addition, people with lower skills participate less 
in training than higher­skilled people. For labour mar­
ket actors such as PES and their partner organisa­
tions, this calls for greater focus on the people 
furthest away from the labour market, offering tar­
geted re­skilling and up­skilling opportunities 
throughout a person’s life. 

In addition, younger generations will increasingly 
need help to access and stay in the labour market 
as tenure is linked to age. Younger people experi­
ence less stable careers and lifetime employment 
is becoming far from common practice. While 

1  PES represented came from 26 EU countries and Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Re­

public of Macedonia, and Montenegro. Representatives from the World Association of Public Employment Services included PES 
participants from Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, and the United States.

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younger workers are more mobile, they also need 
support to navigate future career transitions, and 
in­job mobility will increase as jobs evolve as well. 

Finally, labour market actors need to address exist­
ing gender inequalities as they turn to future labour 
markets, so as not to perpetuate and reinforce cur­
rent inequalities linked to specific labour markets. 
This can be led by, for example, efforts to promote 
jobs within technology­led industries and support­
ing/guiding science, technology, engineering and 
mathematics (STEM) education for women.

New forms of work

Non­standard employment is on the rise, introducing 
platforms, on­demand work, crowd­work, temporary 
employment and agency work. This trend has been 
driven by a variety of forces, including demographic 
shifts, labour market regulations, macroeconomic 
fluctuations, and technological changes. However, 
new forms of employment do not impact all employ­
ees equally – there are significant differences across 
countries and economic sectors. 

For PES, there is a central question of sustainable 
employment outcomes, while keeping pace with 
labour market developments and new forms of work. 
Some illustrations point to the future already:

 ● In France, people who plan to work in the 

platform economy or in other new forms of work 

have access to the public guidance service and 
an individualised learning account. Furthermore, 
employees who want to retrain have access 
to professional development advice. 

 ● Germany’s Federal Employment Agency 

developed a new counselling service offering 
comprehensive, lifelong and preventive 
careers guidance and counselling. This 
includes enhancing counselling services for 
adults in employment who are looking for 
a new orientation in their working life. 

 ● In Estonia, the PES provides career counselling 
regardless of the person’s employment status 
or form of work. 

 ● Finally, in Slovenia, anyone ‘stuck’ in an 

undesirable form of work or employment can 
register as a jobseeker and receive job 
referrals from the PES.

EU Policy measures 

Some policy measures at European level have 
been developed to create a context for the future 
of work, supporting productivity and well­func­
tioning labour markets. For example, the Pillar 
of Social Rights sets out 20 principles which 
mirror existing social rights, extending the com­
petence of the EU. Proposals on a new Directive 
on transparent working conditions have been 
initiated, aiming to develop an EU­level definition 
of workers on the premise that greater security 
needs to be provided for contracting workers. 

WHAT ROLE FOR PES AND  
THEIR PARTNERS?

Throughout the conference, participants developed 
concrete ideas and proposals to work together 
in various areas, such as identifying and responding 
to future skills needs, supporting key target groups 
into new forms of work, raising organisational agil­
ity to support transformation in PES, working closely 
with employers to deliver pertinent services, har­
vesting knowledge from data and digital services, 
and empowering PES customers. The ideas and key 
messages from the conference are summarised 
in this section, together with potential next steps 
that could be taken by PES (and jointly) in the 
future. In addition, a Marketplace of Possibilities 
was made available to participants throughout the 
conference. Large posters were exhibited to present 

PES practices and activities, as well as practices and 
initiatives from PES partners. The aim was to 
enhance the profile of PES Network activities and 
to encourage exchange on these initiatives with 
stakeholders. These marketplace posters are pre­
sented in the Annex.

On future skills needs

Technological and demographic changes will 
increase demand in occupations that require 
social, interpersonal, creative and non­routine 
analytical skills. In addition, more frequent transi­
tions between employers and occupations will 

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place a greater emphasis on lifelong learning and 
skilling.  Having  the  right  skills  and  ongoing 
up­skilling will help to secure opportunities and 
social mobility in today’s and tomorrow’s labour 
markets.

Example

LMI for All is an open online data portal, devel­
oped by the UK Commission for Employment and 
Skills, that connects and standardises existing 
national sources of labour market information 
(LMI). The system classifies jobs according 
to tasks and skills needed. This data is openly 
available and individuals and organisations are 
encouraged to use it in applications and web­
sites in order to inform people’s choices about 
their careers. 

With rapid labour market changes and changing 
skills needs, rapid responses are needed from PES 
and their partners in the education and training 
sector, employers, private employment services, 
social partners, and NGOs. Their role is to address 
future skills mismatches by forecasting skills 
needs (identifying skills in demand and locating 
skills gaps), supporting people to realise their skills 
and competences (validating non­formal and 
informal  learning),  and  helping  individuals 
to develop new skills that will foster sustainable 
employment in future labour markets. PES and 
partner organisations, such as the social and 
health sectors, also play a role in supporting the 
people furthest away from the labour market 
to access up­skilling opportunities. 

To prepare people for future labour markets, PES 
and the educational and vocational training sector 
raise awareness about upcoming skills needs and 
promote flexible forms of lifelong learning. This 
can be done in various ways as demonstrated fur­
ther below in ‘Empowerment of PES Customers’. 
In Estonia, certain target groups are motivated via 
an outreach campaign, encouraging them to think 
about the skills they already have – and skills they 
would like to learn.

Example

A campaign by the Estonian PES 
invites  people  to learn  and 
acquire new skills while making 
them aware that the PES also 
provides services for the working 
population. Key messages in the 
campaign are: 

•  New skills move you forward in life.
 •   Come and learn the job that is really needed 

on the labour market.

•  Age does not matter for studying.
At the centre of the campaign, there are four 
non­existent occupations – a couch heater, 
weather lightener, tomato holder and neighbour­
hood watchman. The campaign was dissemi­
nated  via  outdoor  media  (including  public 
transport), social media, television, radio, and 
online media. The picture of the couch heater 
says: It is too early for this occupation. Your work-
ing life can be more than a TV serial. New skills 
move you forward in life and it is never too late 
to study. Ask for free training opportunities from 
the PES.

Example

Key messages from discussions include:

In Austria, there is a Committee on New Skills, 
with social partners, companies, training provid­
ers engaged in regular discussion, resulting in an 
annual training programme. At a regional level, 
training programmes are designed through col­
laboration.

PES  increasingly  provide  support  to  in­work 
groups, such as low­skilled workers or people 
working in sectors affected by change. This helps 
to prevent future unemployment and skills mis­
matches. For example, the Estonian PES has vari­
ous up­skilling opportunities for people in sectors 
affected  by labour  market  change.  This  is 
enhanced by a dialogue with employers to under­
stand skills needs and to provide training for skills 
in need. 

 ● Optimising labour market intelligence 
through analytical tools (including 
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)), governance/open 
access of data, and a new taxonomy. Several 
approaches to forecasting future skills needs 
are already evident, often in combination 
with research: some describe current skills 
supply and demand, while others make 
long­term projections. Ideally, employers 
engage with PES to describe future skills and 
investment needs. PES can build on their 
labour market intelligence and use it to 
inform skills needs, for example by reviewing 
and updating standards for occupations 
or developing a taxonomy that describes 
various skills required for specific jobs. Data 
collected from vacancies can also be used 

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to design training programmes pertaining 
to specific skill sets. 

 ● Fostering more strategic and ‘rapid 

response’ cooperation across sectors and 
stakeholders. Cooperation between PES and 
employers is crucial. Firstly, the more 
information (or vacancies) the PES receives, 
the better and the quicker it can respond 
to employers’ needs and close the time­gap 
between defining training needs and 
up­skilling people. In addition, strengthening 
partnerships with private employment services 
can help to collect more and more accurate 
information on future skills needs.

 ● Adapting cooperation to future skills. 
Working with employers in sectors that are 
likely to grow in the future informs PES 
services; this cooperation needs to extend 
to the education and vocational training 
sector. As the demand for transversal skills 
will increase (such as interpersonal 
or communication skills), PES and the 
education sector need to balance the need for 
such skills and the need for sector­specific 
competences and skills (in particular for 
sectors on the rise).

 ● Responding to the needs of specific 

groups (e.g. those furthest away from the 
labour market, or the ‘over­skilled’) and the 
growing importance of soft skills. Around 39 % 
of adult EU employees are over­skilled and 
trapped in low­quality jobs: PES need to inform 
these workers how they can use their existing 
skills and potentially re­skill to regain 
sustainable employment elsewhere.

On new forms of work 
as new opportunities

Together, new forms of employment (such as 
self­employment, temporary working arrange­
ments, the ‘gig economy’, freelance work, part­
time employment), the rise of new skills needs, 
and the use of digital technologies can bring 
opportunities to people that are furthest away 
from the labour market. PES play a key role in pro­
viding personalised help to more vulnerable and 
hard­to­place groups, as well as offering guidance 
on new forms of work. 

Looking at the future, PES can support individu­
als by developing their autonomy and self­aware­
ness,  through  activation  and  up­skilling  of 
competencies. This helps jobseekers, especially 
the most vulnerable ones, to equip themselves 
with relevant skills for the future labour market. 

They can participate in new forms of employ­
ment, such as IT start­ups, platforms, social 
enterprises, digital job mediation platforms, and 
job­carving. This form of support from PES is 
most effectively achieved by cooperating with 
relevant stakeholders, such as organisations 
working with specific target groups and with pri­
vate companies that are leading the introduction 
of new forms of work, as highlighted in the two 
examples below:

Example 

The Belgian start­up Molen­
Geek is an ecosystem where 
knowledge and experiences 
are shared among students, 
entrepreneurs and people who 
want to learn new skills. They cooperate with the 
Belgian­Brussels PES and other private actors 
to reach marginalised young people and help 
them benefit from new forms of work, developing 
digital and entrepreneurial skills through a very 
practical approach. As a result, young people 
develop technical and soft skills (such as entrepre­
neurship, self­confidence and self­commitment) 
to create their own job and feel empowered. 

Example

The As Galiu training centre in Lithuania cooper­
ates with the local PES, employers, NGOs, social 
partners, vocational training institutions and 
social enterprises, such as the Bod Group. As 
Galiu pursues the objectives of training people 
with disabilities and preparing them to be inte­
grated in the open labour market. Key is under­
standing both the competences and the needs 
of each person with a disability, which are con­
sidered in the application process.

Key messages from discussions include:

 ● New forms of employment call for new 
forms of partnerships to facilitate the 
integration of those furthest from the labour 
market, especially the long­term unemployed. 
Since PES and other stakeholders are 
complementary in the employment and 
training ecosystem, there is scope to increase 
collaboration to help the long­term 
unemployed face the prospect of working 
in new types of jobs.

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 ● When referring to ‘the people furthest 
away from the labour market’ it is 
important to bear in mind the wide spectrum 
of target groups facing different kinds 
of obstacles with different needs. To that 
end, the approach adopted by PES and their 
partners should, as far as possible, 
be individualised.

 ● Training needs to be ‘future-proof’. 

Especially young people need to develop the 
skills required by the labour markets of today 
and tomorrow, such as digital skills and more 
general soft skills. These are needed both 
in new forms of work and in traditional jobs 
most affected by recent changes. It is 
important to future­proof skills acquisition for 
young people. 

 ● Successful partnerships with education 

providers and private companies can create 
conducive physical spaces where the long­
term unemployed can develop their potential. 
PES can be a catalyst for such partnerships. 

 ● Finally, PES can use innovative 

approaches (user experience, co­creation, 
data­sharing, job­carving and involvement 
of start­ups inside the PES) to better 
anticipate change. In that context, PES staff 
should receive appropriate training to deal 
with the challenges linked to new forms 
of work.

On agile talent management 
for organisational 
transformation in PES

Whatever the future of work will be, PES should 
be equipped  to know  how  to respond.  And 
to address future changes, staff at all organisa­
tional levels in the PES need to be equipped with 
skills, competencies and enough flexibility to act 
autonomously. 

In that context, the role of strategic human resource 
management (HRM), including an agile talent man­
agement perspective, is  crucial to  adapt and 
respond to labour market changes affected by dig­
ital transformation and changing work patterns. 
HRM  has  to operate  at a strategic  level  and 
empower managers to oversee employee develop­
ment, which can build better trust, communication, 
and engagement of staff.

Many PES are implementing change agendas 
to respond to clients’ needs and, as a result, are 
experiencing and driving forward cultural transfor­
mation that affects their staffing structures and 

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management models. Aiding this, agile HRM fosters 
expertise, collaboration, and decision­making and 
is driven by participative management. It creates 
a continuous learning environment for employees, 
implements systems of engagement to facilitate col­
laboration and information sharing, establishes con­
tinuous feedback, and measures success in terms 
of retention, employee satisfaction, and innovation, 
as illustrated in the following two examples: 

Example

In order to address internal 
micro­management issues and 
a lack of customer orientation, 
the Swedish PES embarked 
on a ‘journey of renewal’ by setting a renewal goal 
for 2021. This includes a comprehensive reform 
plan to shift both the cultural and structural/digital 
paradigm, opens the door to new management 
models (such as a self­leadership), and utilises dig­
italisation. Key to its success factors is the long­
term, holistic approach to make the goal a central 
part of who the organisation wants to be.

Example

The Belgian­Brussels PES (Actiris) is renewing 
aspects of its management approach by giving 
employees more freedom and leadership opportu­
nities. The objective is to generate value for the 
PES and its customers by staff being more creative 
and feeling more directly responsible in/for their 
own work. In this context, shared lessons point 
to the fact that such management approaches can 
be challenging for some managers as they build 
on trust. In addition, ‘disseminating talent’ becomes 
an important aspect, ensuring managers identify 
good practices and make them available to others 
within the PES. 

Finally, private employment services point to the 
fact that management practices have changed 
significantly and need to combine several dimen­
sions: engagement, wellness, social recognition, 
performance and learning. New social platforms 
also change the way staff communicate in the pri­
vate sector – fewer face­to­face meetings and 
closer relations between employees via virtual 
channels. With that, new opportunities, new tools 
and new problems are arising, which require fast 
responses and flatter hierarchies. It is important 
for PES to keep abreast of these changes in work­
ing and management practices. 

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Key messages from 
discussions include:

 ● Strategic, holistic and long-term actions 

are required, ensuring that HRM takes 
a strategic role in the PES’ organisational/digital 
transformation. This helps to create structurally 
and culturally sustainable value for PES staff, 
customers and partners. Organisational renewal 
is not a project on the side – it needs to be 
integral to the PES’ daily work.

 ● A clear transformation objective focused 
on customer satisfaction can be a key 
catalyst for PES. Sustainably increasing 
benefits to customers (jobseekers and 
employers) should then be visible in data and 
in staff behavioural change.

 ● Leadership/self-leadership is a driver for 
change, fostering talent development and 
attracting competences. This approach 
empowers employees and increases 
motivation and efficiency. It is important 
to make this a PES investment where action 
and recognition are part of the reward 
mechanism.

 ● PES need to make full use of the 

potential from digitalisation in order 
to prepare for future labour market changes. 
The cooperation with the private sector will 
support this. There are two important roles for 
PES in this future: 1) leading and facilitating 
the digital ecosystem and 2) delivering 
services that make it easier for jobseekers and 
employers to connect.

On new services for employers

Labour markets are changing fundamentally, intro­
ducing new risks, opportunities, and requirements 
for both PES and employers. Both share challenges 
linked to the emergence of new forms of employ­
ment, new skills for new jobs and new digital modes 
of recruitment. For PES, this means paying closer 
attention to the needs of employers, providing more 
demand­oriented services that are more attentive 
to the quality of outcomes for employers. At the 
same time, identifying and developing services 
through closer cooperation with employers opens 
new opportunities for supported employment and 
for specific groups of jobseekers. This support 
emphasises, for example, sustainable employability 
through skills and competence matching, job­carv­
ing, coaching and in­work support.

The Maltese PES illustrates well how PES can sup­
port  employers  to employ  people  who  face 

difficulties entering or remaining connected to the 
labour market – with the introduction of new job 
profiles. While facing increasing difficulties placing 
people with disabilities in the Maltese labour mar­
ket, many vacancies continued to be unfilled. Facing 
a growing gap between requirements of existing 
vacancies and preparedness of disabled jobseekers, 
a job­carving approach was adopted by the PES. 

Job­carving looks at specific occupations and 
develops a job profile that can form the elements/
tasks of several jobs. In essence, it creates a new 
job out of the existing portfolio of vacancies/jobs 
within an enterprise. The ‘carving’ exercise is 
driven by the requirements of a company and the 
existing pool of competencies and skills across 
a pool of registered jobseekers (in this case, job­
seekers with disabilities). As such, it fulfils a social 
obligation insofar as it enables a disabled person 
to contribute – at their level of ability. This approach 
is taken forward in Malta:

Example

The Maltese PES combines job­carving for people 
with disabilities with training and work exposure 
schemes, in order to improve the employability 
and preparedness of the jobseekers. At the same 
time, the PES supports employers’ outcomes 
through job­coaching, working closely with 
employers to promote the job­carving concept. 
The approach is illustrated by the case of Claire:

Claire  is a registered  disabled  person.  She 
is timid, requires a quiet and structured work 
environment, a well-lit room and big fonts/zoom-
ing ability. She wants to work full-time, but start-
ing with a part-time job would be ideal. Claire 
is then matched with a vacancy and after the 
acceptance of the employer, the job is carved for 
Claire: it consists only of data inputting tasks and 
is part-time. After an introduction to the work-
place and workmates, Claire starts employment 
with a big monitor and the help of a job coach.

The approach resulted in high job retention rates 
and an increase of skills and tasks of disabled 
people placed through job­carving. As a result, 
the Maltese PES is looking to adopt this approach 
for other target groups and more vulnerable cus­
tomers. 

Stakeholders at the conference highlighted how 
job­carving is an example of a successful new PES 
service, which should be extended to more groups 
in the current labour market, not only vulnerable 
ones. From a business point of view, PES can also 

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 ● Innovate and trial. New initiatives such 

as job­carving create new opportunities for 
vulnerable customer groups. There are 
opportunities for PES to extend such products 
to more target groups and to further review 
existing services.

On knowledge for new services

PES have access to a wide set of data and infor­
mation from the labour market. Developing new 
ways to analyse information can be useful to pro­
vide new insights into jobs, skills and wages and 
offer efficient and effective services. Such data 
can also be successfully used to identify whether 
specific customers will benefit more from online 
or face­to­face services (segmentation). At the 
same time, partnerships between PES and educa­
tion providers, local and social services, or NGOs 
can help to reach out to people who are not used 
to digital services.

Many PES have successfully adopted gradual 
approaches that use the power of technology 
in the face of changing demands from customers. 
As PES capitalise on the power of technology, both 
in terms of service delivery and in terms of knowl­
edge building, discussions continue to stress the 
importance of finding the right balance between 
face­to­face and digital services. Taking into 
account the needs of specific target groups is key, 
and the Belgian­Flemish PES’ new contact strategy 
is underpinned by a market study that segments 
customers according to their digital skills.

In that context, A.I. can be used to develop new 
digitalised services for jobseekers, such as apps 
and other types of attractive and functional sup­
port tools that can contribute to the empowerment 
of customers. In much the same way, digital ser­
vices can empower counsellors as they have more 
time to focus on individual counselling activities 
instead of handling administrative processes, as is 
presented in the Belgian example next page:

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innovate further with existing services, notably 
by providing more targeted and flexible services 
to address issues relating to workflows, rapidly 
changing skill sets and new contractual arrange­
ments in changing labour markets. Current labour 
markets are also increasingly influenced by digital­
isation and how people are expected to work in that 
context. Faced with these challenges, a more inte­
grated approach to service provision is required, 
based on the cooperation of PES with the private 
sector, social partners, private employment ser­
vices (PrES) and municipalities. Cooperation can 
involve sharing pools of vacancies, combining 
CV databases, and outsourcing services where rel­
evant, creating more targeted services (which, ide­
ally, are regularly assessed in matters of efficiency 
and cost­effectiveness). 

Key messages from discussions include:

 ● It is important that PES are sufficiently 

informed to gain employers’ trust, and 
understand different sectors/employers 
that are/will be most affected by labour 
market changes introduced by new forms 
of work. Improving CV databases and 
collecting/analysing information on labour 
market shortages, maintaining close 
contacts with employers and promoting 
well­informed, flexible services help 
to increase the trust that employers place 
in the PES.

 ● Each employer needs to be treated 

as a partner, not just as a customer. PES 
have a role to play in helping employers 
identify their needs and tailor services 
accordingly to best support future 
employment. This is particularly important 
with small­ and medium­sized enterprises 
and start­ups, which often need support 
with drafting job descriptions and 
publishing vacancies.

 ● Partnership agreements with key 

stakeholders create sustainable networks 
and develop more suitable approaches for 
the most disadvantaged customer groups. 
Where possible, for PES/employer 
partnerships, transparency and visibility, 
and allocating clear responsibilities to each 
party, should be increased.

 ● Skills-matching processes, supporting 
a shift from occupational­based matching 
to competence­based matching, help 
to avoid skills and job mismatches; this can 
be ideally supported by automated 
procedures that consider search behaviours 
and real­time data on high­demand jobs. 

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Example

The Belgian­Flemish PES 
(VDAB) has adopted a new 
‘digital­first’ contact strat­
egy aimed at empowering 
customers to work digitally and to become more 
aware of their competences. The use of machine 
learning and A.I. to analyse datasets contributes 
to a more efficient segmentation of customers 
and a better identification of their needs, and 
therefore ensures customer orientation. In addi­
tion, ‘customer insight’ via co­production with 
customers and the PES’ Innovation Lab is a way 
to approach problem­solving from a customer 
perspective and to develop services by trying and 
testing new approaches. 

However, not everyone has the skills, the knowledge 
or the means to access digital services, or the tech­
nology that is needed to do so. It is a reality that 
PES cannot ignore, despite the advances and inno­
vations that PES are leading the market. While 
many PES (notably in Greece and Poland) provide 
access to digital services on PES premises, travel 
can be a limiting factor and digital skills remain low 
in certain areas and across certain target groups. 
European network initiatives such as ALL Digital 
come into play here, helping people develop digital 
skills through various projects and initiatives. 
Notably, ALL Digital focuses on skills that are not 
only related to the use of specific tools but that are 
sustainable and adaptable. 

Key messages from discussions include:

 ● There is value in increasing transparency 
and sharing data between PES and their 
partners. Improved, evidence­/data­based 
dialogues with employers, NGOs and other 
stakeholders should help to develop more 
tailor­made approaches to support specific 
target groups more effectively. PES and their 
partners need to establish common 
governance principles around the use of data 
to support this, especially in Member States 
where data­sharing is subject to legislative 
challenges. 

 ● Partnerships between PES and other 
stakeholders (for instance with local 
municipalities, the private sector, and NGOs) 
can be used to deliver services to customer 
groups who are typically low users of digital 
services. Focusing on cohesive and continuous 
approaches to accompanying jobseekers 
in challenging situations, such partnerships 

13

27/7 online services

Estimation and active follow-up

27/7 online services

Personal counseling  by sector

Partner network

<

can focus on handovers between services 
so that customers don’t ‘fall off’ between 
services or find themselves going from one 
service to the next every day of the week 
(making work ‘un­workable’). Initiatives 
in Norway and Finland have recently focused 
on these two issues.

 ● Sometimes someone else knows better. 
PES are very good at offering core­PES 
counselling services, but often specialist 
services can be best undertaken by others. 
Some PES even outsource their counselling 
to specialist counsellors when not best placed 
themselves to provide it, based on solid 
customer information/segmentation (Iceland). 

 ● Where feasible, customers should 

be placed at the centre and be involved 
in designing new digital tools. Approaches 
based on co­creation with end­users and 
facilitators, and open innovation measures 
ensure that customers are part of the 
development process.

On empowerment of PES customers

As the average worker in the EU has gone from 
having a job for life to more than 10 jobs in a life­
time, we no longer follow a linear career trajectory, 
but face multiple transitions between employers, 
occupations, and regions or countries in the course 
of individual careers. In times of ambiguous labour 
market changes, support from PES in managing 
those transitions is increasingly important. This 
means PES and partners provide career guidance 

13

14

to enable people to recognise their skills and inter­
ests  while  helping  them  to understand  and 
respond to the skills, qualifications, competences 
and working conditions they will face in future 
labour markets. Depending on the national con­
text, this support is offered through education, 
training,  employment,  community  or private 
opportunities. 

In the future world of work, the role of PES and 
their partners is to advise on new forms of work, 
declining, increasing and new skills needs, chang­
ing occupations, and revising and clarifying new 
terminologies that come with new jobs and forms 
of employment. Here, PES are in the lead because 
they mediate and inform relationships between 
employers, jobseekers, policy makers and relevant 
stakeholders (training organisations, trade unions, 
social services, etc.). 

As illustrated by a number of PES, physical spaces 
are effective ways to reach and empower custom­
ers, to enhance collaboration and to create aware­
ness for career guidance. This is well illustrated 
by the Cité des Métiers in both France and Belgium 
that provide a range of career counselling services 
in one space, the Finnish Ohjaamo onestop shop 
or the Croatian Lifelong Career Guidance Centres 
(CISOK). 

In addition, digital skills introduce activation 
opportunities for customers by allowing PES to mix 
various forms of career guidance, such as in the 
Slovenian example below:

Example

The  eCounselling  tool 
i n  S l o v e n i a   o f fe r s 
an online self­assess ­
ment  of personality, 
interests and competen­
cies.  It is  based  on  a 
short decision­making algorithm which gives advice 
on job searches and provides an action plan. 
Customers accessing this tool are either directed 
to complete questionnaires at home, or they are 
supported to do this at a career centre. The PES has 
observed that it is a useful tool to motivate job­
seekers, notably encouraging the long­term unem­
ployed to be more pro­active.

Discussions touched on how customer approaches 
were changing, which in turn influences the job­
seeker­job counsellor relationship. As PES custom­
ers are becoming more heterogeneous (and needs, 
such as in­work support, are growing), PES services 
themselves need to change. This starts with the 
empowerment of job counsellors to make informed 
decisions, to take customers’ needs into account 
and to learn from their customers as well. This has 
the potential to create new roles within PES, focus­
ing on new sectors and working with employers 
to offer career support at the workplace. 

Key messages from discussions include:

 ● Customers are taking more control over 

their careers and owning their journey/career 
paths. This fundamentally influences the 
relationship between the counsellor and the 
citizen, shifting it towards co­careering 
approaches, where customers take decisions 
and seek advice from PES and partners 
to reach their goals. 

 ● However, individual approaches remain 
equally important for people who have 
a lower self­perception and less autonomy 
to take decisions for themselves. Here, 
a personal, face­to­face, more traditional 
jobseeker–job counsellor relationship 
remains best. 

 ● Empowerment through better and more 
flexible PES guidance is enhanced where 
career guidance is an integral part of the 
system (even in the school curriculum, for 
example in Finland) and where methodologies 
are continuously quality assured (as is the 
case nationally in Slovenia).

 ● Empowerment of customers through 

better coordination of services between 
PES and their partners is also effective. The 
engagement of customers with multiple 
services because of life situations is important, 
but often activation measures and checkpoints 
from different services can distract from what 
is most important: time and ability to work. 
Giving customers more control over how and 
when they interact with services is key (and 
at the centre of a recent initiative in Norway). 

14

15

NEXT STEPS FOR COLLABORATION

The following next steps were highlighted in dis­
cussions during the conference:

 ● On future skills needs – enabling more 

strategic and ‘rapid response’ cooperation 
across sectors and stakeholders (education 
and training providers, employers, PrES, social 
partners, NGOs) and creating new structures/
fora to facilitate and reinforce collaboration.
 ● On new forms of work as new opportunities 

– ensuring PES and other labour market actors 
have a mechanism for keeping up with key 
changes and linking new approaches 
to existing arrangements, while ensuring 
adequate social protection and working 
conditions for workers. Partnerships can 
be formalised with agreements, defining 
common goals, responsibilities, tasks and 
tools for collaboration; clear communication 
channels between PES and stakeholders 
enhance the quality of the dialogue.

 ● On agile talent management for 

organisational transformation in PES – 
adopting strategic, holistic and long­term 
actions and measuring changes in PES more 
systematically; making more use of A.I. tools 
and big data to develop and provide future 
services to customers.

 ● On new services for employers – 

understanding needs and tailoring services 
at all geographical levels and partnering with 
stakeholders to create networks that generate 
more suitable approaches.

 ● On knowledge for new services – increasing 
the transparency and sharing of data and 
developing common governance of data, 
in the context of a continuous dialogue 
between PES, partners and stakeholders.

 ● On empowerment of PES customers – 

adapting career support to the changing needs 
of customers and changing the way PES are 
organised to reflect the changes that are 
taking place in the outside world of work.

Concluding remarks stress the need for PES to com­
bine two complementary perspectives in the context 
of changing labour markets: a short­term approach, 
providing rapid answers to pressing issues, combined 
with a strong long­term vision to face complex and 
interlinked future issues. Orchestrating activities 
in the labour market, adapting PES services and 
capabilities to new customers, collaborating more 
closely with education, career guidance and learning 
policies, and investing in staff to raise PES agility – 
these will be the building blocks for the future PES 
and their cooperation with partners and stakeholders. 

15

16

ANNEX –  
MARKETPLACE OF POSSIBILITIES

‘Future of Work’ Practices:
Market of Possibilities

Agenzia Del Lavoro - Labour Agency 
Autonomus Province Of Trento - Italy

Accountable Governance Leads To An Effective Labour Market Policy

Description of practice

In 1983 the Labour Agency was established by law in the Autonomous Province of Trento. It has a peculiar governance: 
its governance model of sharing interests and final aims between social partners has improved the economic growth and 
the creation of new job opportunities, facing the recent crisis in the labour market within the Province. Therefore, it has 
contributed to keeping a good standard of life and social peace in the Province of Trento. 

What worked well, and why?
 ▶ The co-responsible and constructive dialogue between social partners participating in the Board of Directors has led to 
a co-decisional, co-responsible and accountable decision-making process. This enables/allows to take rapid, rational and 
targeted resolutions/decisions for facing the needs and the challenges of the local labour market. All decisions/resolutions 
are included in the Plan of Active Labour Policy Actions. It represents a precise and very flexible plan. Main successful 
activities to point out are: the “Conditionality Agreement” for economic growth and job creation, the actions aimed at 
developing and improving the “Parental Leave”, “Intervention 19” (the number is taken from the Plan of Active Labour 
Policy Actions) which is a strong policy of community services targeted at disabled workers and vulnerable persons and 
the recently adopted Open Data Policy within the framework of the EU Digital Single Market Strategy - Data Driven 
Economy.

Responsible organisations/Cooperation Partners

Labour Agency of the Autonomous Province of Trento 
Employers’ organisations
Trade unions
Ombudsman for gender equality at the workplace

Contacts and Useful Links

www.agenzialavoro.tn.it

16

‘Future of Work’ Practices:
Market of Possibilities

ENAIP VENETO I.S. - Italy 
(Member of the European Vocational Training Association)
VET Qualifications For Adults

Responsible organisations/
Cooperation Partners

Public Employment Services, private 
employment agencies; enterprises; social 
partners organisations

Contacts and Useful Links

international@enaip.veneto.it

Description of practice

Aim: to provide a tailored path for adults (mainly unemployed but also 
employed people) who need to get a VET qualification to re-enter the 
labour market or to improve their job positions.
Activities: certification and validation of competences; training; 
internships; career guidance (for unemployed people).
Before starting any training activity, people are “pushed” by expert career 
counsellors to reflect on the competences they have already acquired 
during their past educational, professional and personal experience. 
People are encouraged to bring evidence of their previous experiences 
and, when necessary, to undergo tests and/or on-the-job exams, in order 
to have their competences officially validated by an examination board. 
According to the competences they prove to already possess, the number 
of hours of their training gets reduced (so usually every person in the 
classroom has to attend a different number of hours of the course).
How it addresses future changes on the labour market: no more one-
fits-all solution but tailored solutions to help people get a qualification, 
by giving value to the competences they have acquired during their 
lives in formal but also non-formal and informal contexts. This means 
empowering people and helping them be more motivated and self-
confident while facing job changes and challenges.

What worked well, and why?
 ▶ Even though they are sceptical at the beginning, by getting through the process of certification and validation of 
competences, people become more aware of what they know and can do and of the value of learning (in its wide 
sense of trying to get something from anything that you do or that may happen to you). This new awareness is an 
incredible motivation boost which helps them go through the whole process and conclude the training path positively. 

17

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18

18

‘Future of Work’ Practices:
Market of Possibilities

ACTIRIS Brussels / Belgium

Participative Management

Description of practice

Why? 
 1. Improving our services, while taking into account both 

the needs and expectations of users and an increasingly 
complex reality 

 2. Promoting innovation through collective intelligence 
 3. Contributing to the job satisfaction and pride of 

employees 

What?
 1. Defining everybody’s perimeter of responsibility and 

autonomy 

 2. Helping decision makers to listen to and engage with 

workers in the field 

 3. Changing the managerial approach to “empower and 
coach”, rather than “predict, command and control”

How?
 1. Creating a vision and strategy, both top-down and 

bottom-up  

 2. Adapting the corporate culture and values

 ▶ Bringing the new set of cooperate values to life in a 

participatory way

 ▶ Participative projects, e.g. on customer focus 

 3. Changing systems and structures

 ▶ Setting up experiments and drafting guidelines
 ▶ Appointing ambassadors and project pool
 4. Strengthening people and their competences

 ▶ New management paradigm and job descriptions
 ▶ Training programme for staff and employees

What worked well, and why?
 ▶ Commitment of top management 
 ▶ Creation of a fair process
 ▶ Incremental implementation
 ▶ Continuity

Responsible organisations/
Cooperation Partners

Actiris HR-directorate, Department for Training 
& Organisational development 
Partners:  
 ▶ Lifran
 ▶ Métamorphosis
 ▶ BMC

Contacts and Useful Links

Dirk Vandendriessche 
Manager Training and Organisational 
Development 
dvandendriessche@actiris.be

19

19

‘Future of Work’ Practices:
Market of Possibilities

Bundesagentur für Arbeit (German Employment Agency)

Strategie 2025 Heute Für Morgen

Description of practice

Key Developments, Our Guidelines and Fields of Action

Demographic 
change

Structural change 
and digitisation

Flexibilisation and 
individualisation

Social 
inequalities

Future changes are adressed by Our 
Principles of co-operation and Our Process

Transparent

Vision 
BA 2025

Cross-
Functional

Flexible

1 The Employment Agencies and the Job Centres 

are the institutions for individual counselling, 
placement, qualification and reliable livelihoods 
for their clients

2 We take responsibility for social cohesion and 

improve participation opportunities

3 Together with our cooperation partners, we design 

the training and labour market

4 We use the possibilities of digitisation in the 

interest of our customers and employees

5 We work competently, collectively and 

passionately to provide the best service to our 
customers

Equality / Equal Opportunities / Diversity / Inclusion

Reducing long-term 
unemployment and the need 
for help

Improving the transition 
from school to work

Securing labour and skilled 
labour

Attractive digital services

Performance management 
enhancements

Further developments in 
culture and leadership

Automation of suitable 
processes

Suitable HR management

What worked well, and why?

 ▶ Establishing Fields of Action with compulsory Reporting system (for 

example: milestones, cross-linking plan, regular meetings)

 ▶ Defining Principles of Co-operation (Cross-Functional, Transparent, 

Flexible, Participative)

Contacts and Useful Links

Zentrale.2025@arbeitsagentur.de

Participative

Follow-up of the strategic workshop with the members of our 
administrative board to assess the activities and adjust the general 
framework

Establishing an implementation and change team for BA 2025

BA 2025 as a regular topic at the meetings of the top 
management board
Follow-up of the annual management convention in February 2019
Follow-up of meetings between executive board and regional senior 
management
Further communication: e.g. videos with board members, mentors, 
senior managers on BA 2025

Responsible organisations/
Cooperation Partners

 ▶ Administrative Board
 ▶ Top Management Board
 ▶ Regional Strategic Conferences

20

20

‘Future of Work’ Practices:
Market of Possibilities

Croatian Employment Service Republic of Croatia

CISOK – Lifelong Career Guidance Centres

Description of practice

Lifelong Career Guidance Centres (CISOK) are central places for 
the professional provision of comprehensive career guidance 
services to all citizens; pupils, students, employed and unemployed 
persons. Through CISOK’s services, users can receive professional 
guidance, counselling and information on enhancement of 
career management skills, job search, educational and training 
possibilities.
CISOK’s differentiated services include various levels of support 
according to the assessed clients’ needs: self-help and e-services, 
brief assisted services and individual case-management services. 
Services are delivered through individual and/or group counselling, 
thematic workshops for career management skills, e-tools (e.g. 
self-assessment questionnaires, labour market information system, 
statistics on-line, job exchange portal), brochures, guides etc.
The concept of CISOK centres is based upon the model of 
employability. This means that the services for individuals are 
tailored to promote better flexibility and adaptability to constant 
and future changes on the labour market. 

What worked well, and why?
 ▶ Career guidance services are delivered to existing and new clients 

which are not covered by the services of other institutions;

 ▶ Users’ satisfaction with the services is very high;
 ▶ New partnerships are set up;
 ▶ Public awareness about the importance of career guidance services is 

raised;

 ▶ Better cooperation and coordination of the organisations in sectors, 
such as employment, education and social inclusion, are established.

Responsible organisations/
Cooperation Partners

CISOK centres are partnership-based, 
which means they collaborate with 
all the relevant stakeholders in the 
particular regions they are set up in, 
such as NGOs, youth organisations, 
local bodies/municipalities, schools, 
universities, training providers, social 
institutions and social partners.
Particularly, the activities for 
identification, tracking and activation of 
NEETs have been established under an 
agreement on linking and exchanging 
data between the Ministry of Science 
and Education, the Ministry of Labour 
and Pension System, the Croatian 
Employment Service and the Croatian 
Pension Insurance Institute.

Contacts and Useful Links

CISOK web portal:  
www.cisok.hr 

E- guidance web site:  
http://e-usmjeravanje.hzz.hr 

Croatian Employment Service web site: 
www.hzz.hr

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21

‘Future of Work’ Practices:
Market of Possibilities
Employment Service Of Slovenia

Service Development of Lifelong Career Guidance and further Strengthening 
of National Coordination Point for Lifelong Career Guidance

Description of practice

The project contributes to the training of career guidance 
counsellors and systematically monitors career guidance in 
the country. Thereby it increases access to professional and 
qualified counsellors for individuals and free of charge tools 
for career guidance.

Responsible organisations/
Cooperation Partners

Career counsellors, employed in 
various organisations (Primary schools, 
Secondary schools, Employment services, 
External providers of lifelong career 
guidance etc.).

What worked well, and why?

 ▶ All tools are accessible to counsellors.  Few career guidance tools, especially for young people (Primary school, 

High school, students), have already been developed and are freely accessible on the website (www.vkotocka.si).   
 ▶ Training of career counsellors who are employed in various organisations; providing appropriate qualifications for 
career counselling; other activities related to lifelong career guidance in the form of short workshops, according 
to the needs in various fields (employment, schooling, etc.) and one long-term modular training for career 
counsellors (uniform for all fields). Now there are more than 100 trained career counsellors. 

 ▶ Quality assurance of lifelong career guidance. The Employment Service of Slovenia offers professional support to 
organisations with the implementation of guidelines and quality standards by forming working groups, preparing 
professional materials and other similar activities. The quality control system still needs to be developed in 
other fields. This year, the Employment Service of Slovenia has already carried out this quality check for 10 
organisations and found very good results.

 ▶ Promotion and awareness-raising of the professional public and individuals about the importance of lifelong 
career guidance (conferences, consultations, round tables). The conference on lifelong career guidance was 
organised for 235 participants. Also, the Employment Service of Slovenia has created a new website https://www.
vkotocka.si/ (former www.spletisvojokariero.si).

Contacts and Useful Links

www.vkotocka.si

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22

‘Future of Work’ Practices:
Market of Possibilities

CSR Europe Belgium

Corporate Digital Responsibility & Future of Work

Description of practice

Organisations driving forward technological development have a 
responsibility to do so in a manner that leads towards a positive 
future. 
This will require a new approach to Corporate Social Responsibility, 
expanding its current frontiers within company practices and functions 
to accommodate technological changes.
Corporate Digital Responsibility (CDR) is standing out as the new 
direction, fusing ethical considerations at the company, individual and 
societal level. 
To facilitate this new direction, CSR Europe and its members have set 
up a framework defining how Corporate Digital Responsibility can be 
applied in the world of work.  
_________
CSR Europe has set up a Business Platform on the Future of Work 
to drive and inspire people-centred work environments enabling 
employability and inclusive labour markets. 
In doing so, we ensure a practice-oriented approach enabling 
businesses to exchange real-life examples, pooling expertise together 
through and linking emerging challenges with policy-makers.

Contacts and Useful Links

Tommi Raivio, tr@csreurope.org
Daniel Lissoni, csr@csreurope.org

CSR Europe Business Platform on the 
Future of Work:
https://www.csreurope.org/business-
platform-future-work-0

Corporate Digital Responsibility:
https://www.csreurope.org/corporate-
digital-responsibility-cdr

Responsible organisations/
Cooperation Partners

Multinational companies, experts, 
academics, policy makers

What worked well, and why?
 ▶ Company culture is a key driver for responsible digital transformation
 ▶ Inside the company, strong collaboration is required between HR/IT/CSR officers
 ▶ Social inclusion is key for delivering business results in times of digital transformation (e.g. tailored training to age 

groups)

‘Future of Work’ Practices:
Market of Possibilities

European Network of Social Integration Enterprises

Reconciling Technological Development and Human Dimension

Description of practice

A continued, collective and democratic decision-making 
process aimed at anticipating future technological 
developments with the objective of preserving employment 
in the face of technological displacement. When a 
technological innovation is introduced to increase 
productivity, a new labour-intensive task is designed in 
order not to resort to layoff.  For instance, a technologically 
driven restructuring of second-hand clothes collection was 
compensated by the introduction of a shredding process of 
un-reusable clothes for recycling and reusing the fabric.

Responsible organisations/
Cooperation Partners

Groupe Terre, a Work Integration Social 
Enterprises (WISE) based in Liege, 
Belgium

Contacts and Useful Links

http://www.terre.be/

What worked well, and why?
 ▶ This practice, by giving workers a voice concerning their future, helps them to retain both a job and a purpose in life, 

in order not to compromise their process of socio-professional integration.

 ▶ However, such a practice is possible just because WISEs claim the human dimension of production to be on par with 
technological development and efficiency, and workers and managers alike are willing to bear the possible costs 
arising from such decisions (for instance, lower salaries). Therefore, a classic purely profit-driven business approach is 
incompatible with such a practice.

 ▶ For instance, in the aforementioned case (introduction of the shredding process), things are arranged for the activity 
just to break even, and this approach is clearly out of the logic of profit-driven activities. However, if the social added 
value of retaining workforce (what standard economics would call “positive externality”) is taken into account, the 
activity ends up having indeed a positive value.

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