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Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2014
Box 6: Promoting Learning forms of work organisation
Labour market policies aimed at reducing, halting and reversing the decline in Learning organisations should:
• Promote mutual learning and exchange of good practices in the design of programmes: e.g. Denmark, the Netherlands
and Sweden have been developing national initiatives and research programmes to support innovations in organisations.
• Provide staff training and development, with emphasis on learning a broader skill set that enables workers to engage
with a wider range of problems, to be more able to respond to unforeseen events and to support processes of work-
place innovation.
• Involve social partners (when social partners are involved in work organisation) in the initiation and streamlining of the
process of organisational change, thereby adding to its legitimacy and increasing acceptance.
• Provide innovative policy instruments that help to initiate, streamline and guide the process of change and the introduction
of new, more innovative work practices. Aside from various forms of direct or indirect financial support, this could include
consultancy helpdesks or information databases with (locally relevant) good and bad examples. These would be especially
relevant to SMEs that may lack the resources for such activities compared to bigger companies.
• Emphasise the synergies between workers’ well-being and companies’ performance, which may increase workers’ involve -
ment and intrinsic motivation, improving their learning and problem-solving abilities and benefiting their physical and
psychosocial state.
• Assist individual workers in developing their abilities throughout their working life, via, inter alia, the provision of neces-
sary information and facilities, certain types of training or (subsidised) access to various forms of education and life-long
learning, and encouraging workers to take a more active approach to the development of their skills and abilities.
5.9. Further globalisation experience to the fullest extent. Never- local employers may be inclined to hire
brings changes to work theless, further opening to international temporary contract workers to act as
organisation with job markets creates stronger opportunities a buffer against unexpected develop -
quality implications to off-shore activities and may increase ments further down or up the chain
pressures to deregulate, which can (e.g. Lehndorff and Voss-Dahm, 2005).
5.9.1. Global restructuring weaken the bargaining power of employ - Consequently, while workers in core
of value chains ees (as employers can use, for example, activities may gain favourable working
94
the threat of offshoring) ( ). conditions, workers in non-core activi-
Globalisation and the expansion of global ties may see their job insecurity increase.
value chains is expected to have a deep 5.9.2. The risk of This may in turn affect adversely the
impact on work organisation, giving rise further polarisation motivation and effort of workers who
to a stronger division of tasks (including are most affected and perpetuate their
conception, design, production, adver- Such changes in work organisation asso - unfavourable position.
tising and marketing) spread across the ciated with the expansion of global value
world (Newhouse, 2007; Dedrick et al., chains will also pose risks to workers, In other words, future developments
2008). For workers, this means increas- adding to polarisation and inequality in global value chains may imply job
ing the need for specialisation in specific among workers just as seen with tech- losses or lower job quality (lower wages,
tasks at the local level and the acquisi- nology. The restructuring of global value job insecurity), affecting primarily the
tion of skills (e.g. foreign languages and chains may place stronger emphasis on ‘weakest’ workers including the low-
ICT skills) related to global collaboration. unit labour costs competition. This may skilled or those on temporary contracts
As global value chains expand, work- lead to either lower wages or job losses (e.g. OECD, 2006).
ers have the opportunity to specialise due to firm relocation to exploit differ-
in those activities in which they have ences in unit labour costs, notably in In addition, the resilience of a global
a comparative advantage while gain - areas with fewer job alternatives. While chain is largely determined by the resil-
ing more international experience and this may be (partly) off-set by taking up ience of all of its components. In that
interacting in multicultural environments. new activities, the risk exists that the sense, job security may be adversely
Further specialisation and participa- patterns of specialisation built up in the affected by events beyond the control
tion in networks may lead to increased past will no longer meet the require- of local management and employees,
overall productivity which in turn may ments of the new tasks. This may be such as geopolitical tensions or natu -
increase job quality, including earnings of especial concern in the case of older ral disasters.
and learning ability (e.g. Grossman and workers and workers with limited learn-
Rossi-Hansberg, 2006). ing capabilities. 5.9.3. Working across
time zones
As global value chains expand and Euro - Furthermore, in anticipation of a further
pean enterprises want to remain at the restructuring of the global value chain, Expanding global value chains will also
cutting-edge of innovation, employees intensify real-time collaboration across
and their representatives may get more ( ) See, for instance, ILO at http://www.ilo.org/ different time zones (e.g. Stanoevska-
94
involved in participative and empowering global/research/topics/labour-standards- Slabeva, 2009). Alongside the gains in
and-socially-inclusive-globalisation/lang--en/
forms of work to use their knowledge and index.htm productivity and earnings mentioned,
166
Box 6: Promoting Learning forms of work organisation
Labour market policies aimed at reducing, halting and reversing the decline in Learning organisations should:
• Promote mutual learning and exchange of good practices in the design of programmes: e.g. Denmark, the Netherlands
and Sweden have been developing national initiatives and research programmes to support innovations in organisations.
• Provide staff training and development, with emphasis on learning a broader skill set that enables workers to engage
with a wider range of problems, to be more able to respond to unforeseen events and to support processes of work-
place innovation.
• Involve social partners (when social partners are involved in work organisation) in the initiation and streamlining of the
process of organisational change, thereby adding to its legitimacy and increasing acceptance.
• Provide innovative policy instruments that help to initiate, streamline and guide the process of change and the introduction
of new, more innovative work practices. Aside from various forms of direct or indirect financial support, this could include
consultancy helpdesks or information databases with (locally relevant) good and bad examples. These would be especially
relevant to SMEs that may lack the resources for such activities compared to bigger companies.
• Emphasise the synergies between workers’ well-being and companies’ performance, which may increase workers’ involve -
ment and intrinsic motivation, improving their learning and problem-solving abilities and benefiting their physical and
psychosocial state.
• Assist individual workers in developing their abilities throughout their working life, via, inter alia, the provision of neces-
sary information and facilities, certain types of training or (subsidised) access to various forms of education and life-long
learning, and encouraging workers to take a more active approach to the development of their skills and abilities.
5.9. Further globalisation experience to the fullest extent. Never- local employers may be inclined to hire
brings changes to work theless, further opening to international temporary contract workers to act as
organisation with job markets creates stronger opportunities a buffer against unexpected develop -
quality implications to off-shore activities and may increase ments further down or up the chain
pressures to deregulate, which can (e.g. Lehndorff and Voss-Dahm, 2005).
5.9.1. Global restructuring weaken the bargaining power of employ - Consequently, while workers in core
of value chains ees (as employers can use, for example, activities may gain favourable working
94
the threat of offshoring) ( ). conditions, workers in non-core activi-
Globalisation and the expansion of global ties may see their job insecurity increase.
value chains is expected to have a deep 5.9.2. The risk of This may in turn affect adversely the
impact on work organisation, giving rise further polarisation motivation and effort of workers who
to a stronger division of tasks (including are most affected and perpetuate their
conception, design, production, adver- Such changes in work organisation asso - unfavourable position.
tising and marketing) spread across the ciated with the expansion of global value
world (Newhouse, 2007; Dedrick et al., chains will also pose risks to workers, In other words, future developments
2008). For workers, this means increas- adding to polarisation and inequality in global value chains may imply job
ing the need for specialisation in specific among workers just as seen with tech- losses or lower job quality (lower wages,
tasks at the local level and the acquisi- nology. The restructuring of global value job insecurity), affecting primarily the
tion of skills (e.g. foreign languages and chains may place stronger emphasis on ‘weakest’ workers including the low-
ICT skills) related to global collaboration. unit labour costs competition. This may skilled or those on temporary contracts
As global value chains expand, work- lead to either lower wages or job losses (e.g. OECD, 2006).
ers have the opportunity to specialise due to firm relocation to exploit differ-
in those activities in which they have ences in unit labour costs, notably in In addition, the resilience of a global
a comparative advantage while gain - areas with fewer job alternatives. While chain is largely determined by the resil-
ing more international experience and this may be (partly) off-set by taking up ience of all of its components. In that
interacting in multicultural environments. new activities, the risk exists that the sense, job security may be adversely
Further specialisation and participa- patterns of specialisation built up in the affected by events beyond the control
tion in networks may lead to increased past will no longer meet the require- of local management and employees,
overall productivity which in turn may ments of the new tasks. This may be such as geopolitical tensions or natu -
increase job quality, including earnings of especial concern in the case of older ral disasters.
and learning ability (e.g. Grossman and workers and workers with limited learn-
Rossi-Hansberg, 2006). ing capabilities. 5.9.3. Working across
time zones
As global value chains expand and Euro - Furthermore, in anticipation of a further
pean enterprises want to remain at the restructuring of the global value chain, Expanding global value chains will also
cutting-edge of innovation, employees intensify real-time collaboration across
and their representatives may get more ( ) See, for instance, ILO at http://www.ilo.org/ different time zones (e.g. Stanoevska-
94
involved in participative and empowering global/research/topics/labour-standards- Slabeva, 2009). Alongside the gains in
and-socially-inclusive-globalisation/lang--en/
forms of work to use their knowledge and index.htm productivity and earnings mentioned,
166
