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The WORKS (Work Organisation and Restructuring in the Knowledge Society) final conference that took place in Rome, Italy last week was attended by more than 120 participants from the research community, the media, the civil society and the politics.



The EU-funded project, in which 17 EU and Accession State partners participated "investigates in a comparative perspective the major changes in work in the knowledge-based society" and its growing workforce. Many aspects of today’s evolving division of labour such as the use of skills and knowledge, flexibility, quality of work and time use have been analyzed. The crucial role of social dialogue and institutionalized labour relations also received particular attention while the EU flexicurity policy has been criticized.



Results from the qualitative research



The main findings of the impressive reports are not very reassuring regarding European workers in general. WORKS found there has been a move of specific tasks from sectors in which they are “peripheral” towards sectors in which they represent the core activity. For example, IT departments of big multinationals (non-active in IT) are outsourced to IT specialist companies. That’s why, in the IT sector, we observe a strengthening of the core businesses.



Other findings say that overall, jobs in the new member states and acceding countries are less complex, less intense and the quality is lower than in the “old” Europe. Nonetheless, jobs in the EU-15 have become less complex, more intense, less stable and more routine between 1995 and 2005 with workers having less control over their work; their jobs involve a lower degree of problem solving and fewer learning opportunities.



This is extremely dangerous for the European economy and its workers since we know the crucial importance of lifelong learning. This also could mean that Europe is going down the value chain on a global scale, which is worrying in today’s highly competing world.



But it has to be said that no decrease in job satisfaction has been observed at the aggregate level, with scandinavian workers being the most satisfied ones. But dissatisfaction is widespread especially among those with fixed-term contracts. On top of that, many Europeans feel overqualified for the work they do.



Results from the comparative analysis



The study shows a clear process of fragmentation and integration of value chains with worse working conditions at the bottom of the chain. Outsourcing induces in fact, a lengthening of the value chain while workers formerly employed under the same contracts become fragmented workforces with different terms and conditions. This also reduces the influence of unions since contracts are different and are often negotiated on an individual basis.



Another finding is that outsourcing creates new tasks and work roles but they do not necessarily imply skills upgrading. This can explain the high level of overqualification felt by the workers. On top of that, business processes are accelerating and time horizons are becoming shorter, which increase the level of stress of many professionals.



On the equality side, the research found there's an increase in atypical hours and flexibilty. This may favour women in highly skilled occupations if they can get greater autonomy while it will surely penalize those in low-skilled jobs who depend much more on temporal frameworks laid down by employers.



Finally, the project showed that restructuring deeply affects employment and working conditions. Overall, the effects of restructuring on health and safety seem to be negative while the presence of a union seems to soften the process for workers. While addressing the audience UNI’s Lorenzo De Santis plead for union membership as a project recommendation since it leads to more profitable conditions for the workers.



In addition, political pressures on countries that do not respect EU regulations and the adoption of MOOS standards to prevent social dumping have been emphasized.