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Kvalitet i arbetet
Kvalitet i arbetet används för att komplettera mått på antal arbetstillfällen när sysselsättningsstrategier bedöms. Kvalitet i arbetet är ett flerdimensionellt begrepp och de dimensioner som framhävs beror på den politiska agendan och ämnesområdet.
I merparten av Eurofounds forskning mäts kvaliteten i arbetet utifrån det enskilda arbetet. Begreppet omfattar aspekter som kan observeras och beskrivas ur ett objektivt perspektiv, och som handlar om att tillgodose människors behov i samband med arbetet. Det består av allt det som kännetecknar arbete och sysselsättning och som har bevisats ha ett orsakssamband med hälsa och välbefinnande. I begreppet ingår arbetets positiva och negativa aspekter. Dessa indikatorer speglar arbetets resurser (fysiska, psykologiska, sociala eller organisatoriska) och krav eller de processer som påverkar dem.
Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound researchers Agnès Parent-Thirion, Tina Weber and Jorge Cabrita about how climate change is influencing working conditions and the labour market in Europe, the role of...
Workers will experience the effects of climate change in many ways: job insecurity, changes to their work tasks and responsibilities, and changes in their workplaces that may involve different work...
There is no one future of work for all jobs – policymakers will have their work cut out to ensure that remote and platform working, artificial intelligence and climate change...
Blog
EU context
Job quality and its improvement is an important policy concern, as quality jobs are crucial for higher labour force participation, higher well-being and increased economic performance. Job quality is also a key component in making work sustainable and enabling workers to remain motivated to remain in work for longer. It is central to the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda, the OECD’s jobs strategy and to the European Union’s quality of work policies to create more and better jobs. For workers, for the enterprises and organisations that employ them and for societies, there are benefits associated with high-quality jobs, and costs associated with poor-quality jobs.
International Labour Organization (ILO): Decent work
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): OECD Jobs Strategy
Job quality can be supported by a wide-ranging set of policies and actions at EU level, by national authorities and social partners, and within companies aimed at addressing the issues raised in the EWCS analysis of job quality indices and profiles and that support workers throughout their working lives.
By bundling practices that increase employee autonomy, facilitate employee voice and promote training and learning, businesses can boost performance while improving job quality.
Job quality can be improved by reducing excessive demands on workers and limiting their exposure to risks – and also by increasing their access to work resources that help in achieving work goals or mitigate the effects of these demands. Each dimension of job quality can also be improved through workplace practices and policies.
Workers and employers and their organisations each have a role to play in improving job quality; social dialogue is critical for devising policies in the workplace and beyond. Public authorities should regulate with the common goal of improving job quality in mind.
Being a manager is challenging for both women and men. To increase the attractiveness of managerial positions, job quality for all managers needs to be improved. Linked to this are difficulties in achieving a satisfactory work–life balance. Addressing the working time and work–life balance needs of managers increases the attractiveness of this function and also makes working as a manager more sustainable.
As some employment statuses are linked to poorer quality jobs, labour market policies aimed at addressing global economic competitiveness and combating high unemployment rates hence need to consider the potential effects for job quality.
Eurofound aims to consolidate the position of its European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) as an important tool for benchmarking job quality in the European Union and beyond, feeding into policy development in the area of quality of work. The data have been used to carry out further research on various topics linked to job quality, including job quality in different work situations, job quality of different groups in the labour market, the impact of job quality on quality of working lives and in-depth analysis of individual dimensions of job quality. The European Company Survey 2019 (ECS 2019) also looks at different dimensions of job quality for workers and employers. Recent research has also looked into job quality in a global perspective.
Eurofound’s EWCS 2015, the sixth edition of the survey, provides an in-depth account of people’s current experience of work in Europe and an overview of working lives through the lens of job quality. The survey gathered detailed data on almost every aspect of working life, from working time to relationships with colleagues to opportunities for training.
To explore what the data say about job quality, Eurofound developed seven indices representing different dimensions of job quality, based on aspects of work that have an independent influence on health and well-being. These are:
Physical environment
Work intensity
Working time quality
Social environment
Skills and discretion
Prospects
Earnings
Those jobs that scored similarly on the seven job quality indices were grouped together in five job quality profiles: High flying, Smooth running, Active manual, Under pressure, Poor quality.
The data show a diverse and heterogeneous labour market, where one in five workers has a 'poor quality' job.
Eurofound's 2021 flagship report on working conditions and sustainable work sums up research on job quality in the past five years. It highlights the relevance of job quality to address challenges in the future: pyschosocial risks at work, ICT-based mobile work, fragmentation of work and the specific challenges in the era of COVID-19.
Company survey: Workplace practices and job quality
The European Company Survey (ECS) looks at workplace practices with regard to work organisation, human resource management and direct and indirect employee participation. These workplace practices are key determinants of the job quality of employees. The ECS 2019 examines job autonomy and complexity, the prevalence of part-time work and permanent contracts, the expectations management has of employees, the motivational drivers that are in place, the training and learning opportunities that are offered to employees, as well as the channels for, and impact of, direct and indirect employee participation. Both the ECS 2013 and the ECS 2019 show that establishments that have workplace practices that ensure good job quality also do better in terms of performance and workplace well-being.
Infographic: How good company practices impact on workplace well-being and performance
Only one-fifth of European companies find secret to combining optimal workplace well-being and business performance.
‘High investment, high involvement’ workplaces have the best outcomes for workers and employers, managing to boost performance and improve job quality.
Using EWCS data, Eurofound has collaborated with the ILO on a pioneering project to provide a comparative analysis of job quality covering approximately 1.2 billion workers in Europe, Asia and the Americas. It analyses the seven dimensions of job quality, finding both important differences and similarities between countries.
How different groups fare on job quality
Eurofound’s policy brief on women in management uses EWCS data to look at the diversity of job quality in management positions, analysing whether the working conditions of managers are better than those of non-managers and whether they are similar for women and men. Analysis of gender equality at work also highlights important gaps in men’s and women’s working conditions and job quality which require specific attention.
Research on working conditions of workers of different ages examines the role of job quality and other work-related factors in workers’ decisions and ability to remain in paid employment. Other research on working time patterns for sustainable work examines from a gender and life course perspective the links between working time patterns and organisation, working time quality and work–life balance, and health and well-being.
The research on working conditions in sectors examines trends in job quality from a sectoral perspective. Findings also reveal that workplace accommodation of the needs of workers with chronic disease can impact their job quality and the sustainability of work.
Determinants of job quality: Employment status, working time patterns
Eurofound’s policy brief on employment status uses EWCS data to investigate the job quality associated with different employment statuses in the EU Member States. The research explores the working conditions of five categories of self-employed and analyses their job quality.
Other research examines the working conditions and job quality associated with ICT-based mobile work and the impact of this form of work on quality of working lives.
Research also looks at human resource management and how employee involvement in decision-making can benefit organisations, helping to improve job quality and working conditions.
Impact of job quality
Research on working conditions and workers’ health examines the interplay between job demands and job resources which support workers in greater engagement and well-being. In terms of reconciling work and life, Eurofound examines the reciprocal relations between working conditions and job quality and people’s lives outside work, and what is most important for people in terms of work–life balance.
The EWCS 2015 demonstrates the positive relationship between each job quality index and worker's experience of the quality of working life in terms of: career and employment security, developing skills and competences, maintaining and promoting health and well-being, reconciling working and non-working life, work sustainability, and meaningful and motivating work.
Labour market change and job quality
Eurofound’s European Jobs Monitor (EJM) tracks structural change in European labour markets. It describes shifts in employment at Member State and EU level, analysing changes in terms of occupation and sector and the implications for job quality.
Workers will experience the effects of climate change in many ways: job insecurity, changes to their work tasks and responsibilities, and changes in their workplaces that may involve different work...
Ensuring greater social protection for self-employed people has been the subject of much policy debate in recent years. In 2019, the Council of the European Union adopted a recommendation on...
Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound Research Manager Jorge Cabrita about new research that highlights poor job quality - including high emotional demands, working at high speed and to tight deadlines...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a diverse collection of workers ensured the functioning of our societies. In a time of crisis, they maintained access to healthcare, long-term care and other essential...
I flaggskeppsrapporten sammanfattas de viktigaste resultaten i Eurofounds undersökning av arbetsvillkoren som utfördes under programperioden 2017–2020. Vi kartlägger de förbättringar av arbetsvillkoren som skett sedan 2000 och undersöker om förbättringarna...
Gender inequality at work persists across Europe, despite the long standing attention paid and efforts made to tackle it. This Eurofound report presents a closer look at women’s and men’s...
Denna rapport grundas på den fjärde upplagan av Europeiska företagsundersökningen (ECS), som genomfördes gemensamt av Eurofound och Cedefop under 2019. I rapporten beskrivs flera olika metoder och strategier som genomförs...
Job quality is a major focus of policymakers around the world. For workers, the enterprises that employ them and for societies, there are benefits associated with high-quality jobs, and costs...
The sixth European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) builds on the lessons learned from the previous five surveys to paint a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors...
17 november 2016
Publication
Research report
Ongoing work
Eurofound aims to consolidate the position of its European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) as an important tool for benchmarking job quality in the European Union and beyond, feeding into policy development in the area of quality of work. The data have been used to carry out further research on various topics linked to job quality, including job quality in different work situations, job quality of different groups in the labour market, the impact of job quality on quality of working lives and in-depth analysis of individual dimensions of job quality. The European Company Survey 2019 (ECS 2019) also looks at different dimensions of job quality for workers and employers. Recent research has also looked into job quality in a global perspective.
Eurofound’s EWCS 2015, the sixth edition of the survey, provides an in-depth account of people’s current experience of work in Europe and an overview of working lives through the lens of job quality. The survey gathered detailed data on almost every aspect of working life, from working time to relationships with colleagues to opportunities for training.
To explore what the data say about job quality, Eurofound developed seven indices representing different dimensions of job quality, based on aspects of work that have an independent influence on health and well-being. These are:
Physical environment
Work intensity
Working time quality
Social environment
Skills and discretion
Prospects
Earnings
Those jobs that scored similarly on the seven job quality indices were grouped together in five job quality profiles: High flying, Smooth running, Active manual, Under pressure, Poor quality.
The data show a diverse and heterogeneous labour market, where one in five workers has a 'poor quality' job.
Company survey: Workplace practices and job quality
Infografik
The European Company Survey (ECS) looks at workplace practices with regard to work organisation, human resource management and direct and indirect employee participation. These workplace practices are key determinants of the job quality of employees. The ECS 2019 examines job autonomy and complexity, the prevalence of part-time work and permanent contracts, the expectations management has of employees, the motivational drivers that are in place, the training and learning opportunities that are offered to employees, as well as the channels for, and impact of, direct and indirect employee participation. Both the ECS 2013 and the ECS 2019 show that establishments that have workplace practices that ensure good job quality also do better in terms of performance and workplace well-being.
See European Company Survey 2019 infographic.
Working conditions in a global perspective
Using EWCS data, Eurofound has collaborated with the ILO on a pioneering project to provide a comparative analysis of job quality covering approximately 1.2 billion workers in Europe, Asia and the Americas. It analyses the seven dimensions of job quality, finding both important differences and similarities between countries.
How different groups fare on job quality
Eurofound’s policy brief on women in management uses EWCS data to look at the diversity of job quality in management positions, analysing whether the working conditions of managers are better than those of non-managers and whether they are similar for women and men. Research on working conditions of workers of different ages examines the role of job quality and other work-related factors in workers’ decisions and ability to remain in paid employment. Other research on working time patterns for sustainable work examines from a gender and life course perspective the links between working time patterns and organisation, working time quality and work–life balance, and health and well-being.
Determinants of job quality: Employment status, working time patterns
Eurofound’s policy brief on employment status uses EWCS data to investigate the job quality associated with different employment statuses in the EU Member States. The research explores the working conditions of five categories of self-employed and analyses their job quality. Other research examines the working conditions and job quality associated with ICT-based mobile work and the impact of this form of work on quality of working lives.
Impact of job quality
Research on working conditions and workers’ health examines the interplay between job demands and job resources which support workers in greater engagement and well-being. In terms of reconciling work and life, Eurofound examines the reciprocal relations between working conditions and job quality and people’s lives outside work, and what is most important for people in terms of work–life balance.
The EWCS 2015 demonstrates the positive relationship between each job quality index and worker's experience of the quality of working life in terms of: career and employment security, developing skills and competences, maintaining and promoting health and well-being, reconciling working and non-working life, work sustainability, and meaningful and motivating work.
Labour market change and job quality
Eurofound’s European Jobs Monitor (EJM) tracks structural change in European labour markets. It describes shifts in employment at Member State and EU level, analysing changes in terms of occupation and sector and the implications for job quality.
Research continues in this topic on a variety of themes, which are outlined below with links to forthcoming titles.
Agnès Parent-Thirion is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound, tasked with the planning, development and implementation of working conditions research...
Workers will experience the effects of climate change in many ways: job insecurity, changes to their work tasks and responsibilities, and changes in their workplaces that may involve different work practices and the development of new activities and products. Climate change risks are associated with
Ensuring greater social protection for self-employed people has been the subject of much policy debate in recent years. In 2019, the Council of the European Union adopted a recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed. Sudden reductions in income during the COVID-1
In this report, we provide projections of how the Fit for 55 policy package may affect the sectoral and occupational structure of employment in the EU by 2030, and the impacts across different regions and countries.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a diverse collection of workers ensured the functioning of our societies. In a time of crisis, they maintained access to healthcare, long-term care and other essential goods and services, including food, water, electricity, the internet and waste treatment.
I rapporten utforskas rimliga och tänkbara scenarier för hur distansarbete och hybridarbete i EU kan ha utvecklats fram till 2035, och vilka konsekvenser detta kan ha fått för arbetslivet. Hur förberedda är chefer och anställda, arbetsgivarorganisationer och fackföreningar samt beslutsfattare på att
De strikta folkhälsorestriktioner som många länder införde under 2020 för att få bukt med covid-19-pandemin förändrade tvärt arbetslivet och fortsatte att påverka det under de nästföljande två åren. Mellan mars och november 2021 genomfördes över 70 000 intervjuer i 36 länder inom ramen för
Digitisation and automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), can affect working conditions in a variety of ways and their use in the workplace raises a host of new ethical concerns. Recently, the policy debate surrounding these concerns has become more prominent and has increasi
Forskning om den digitala revolutionens transformativa potential tenderar att genomföras ur ett kvantitativt perspektiv i försök att övervaka förändringar av sysselsättningsnivåerna på grund av digitaliseringen. Rädslan för en potentiell förlust av arbetstillfällen och negativa störningar till följd
I flaggskeppsrapporten sammanfattas de viktigaste resultaten i Eurofounds undersökning av arbetsvillkoren som utfördes under programperioden 2017–2020. Vi kartlägger de förbättringar av arbetsvillkoren som skett sedan 2000 och undersöker om förbättringarna gynnat alla arbetstagare i lika stor
The long-term care (LTC) sector employs a growing share of workers in the EU and is experiencing increasing staff shortages. The LTC workforce is mainly female and a relatively large and increasing proportion is aged 50 years or older. Migrants are often concentrated in certain LTC jobs. This report
Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound researchers Agnès Parent-Thirion, Tina Weber and Jorge Cabrita about how climate change is influencing working conditions and the labour market in Europe, the role of the green transition, and how policy can help protect workers and safeguard workplaces.
In this episode of Eurofound Talks, Eurofound Head of Unit for Working Life Barbara Gerstenberger discusses what the EWCTS reveals about job quality, the implications of poor-quality jobs on well-being and broader society, and what policymakers can do to improve the working lives of people in Europe
Living, working and COVID-19: Impact on gender equality 11 March 2021, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) virtual meeting Presentation by Maria Jepsen, Acting Executive Director, Eurofound
Preparations for the presidential election and a revival of national social dialogue with the signing of a new collective agreement on the unemployment insurance scheme are the main topics of interest in this article. This country update reports on the latest developments in working life in France i
The new agreement signed by Orange and three trade unions contains measures designed to achieve a level-playing field for employees and to avoid ‘over-consumption’ of digital tools, a key element being respect for work–life balance with a guaranteed ‘right to switch off’.
There is no one future of work for all jobs – policymakers will have their work cut out to ensure that remote and platform working, artificial intelligence and climate change policies will benefit and not disadvantage workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic made us acutely aware of how dependent our society is on certain essential workers. We felt deep gratitude towards workers in healthcare especially, because they worked ceaselessly in often-difficult conditions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we live and work. With the lifting of restrictions across the globe, we are now able to examine the many repercussions on the world of work. In particular, the unique demands of the last few years have shone a harsh spotlight on the pressures brought to bear
As we leave behind the lockdowns and business disruptions of COVID-19 and enter a ‘new normal’, it is time to talk about how workplaces might be transformed to drive innovation. Some may baulk at this suggestion, as we continue to grapple with the pandemic fallout, but crises have always been a crad
COVID-19 has shown that some things can hit us out of the blue. The pandemic sent a shockwave through businesses all over the world and has brought massive changes to work organisation, internal communication and day-to-day operations for many companies. Doubtless, the depth of the pandemic’s impact
Health professionals – doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, paramedics, ambulance workers – are in the vanguard of the battle against COVID-19. They are the ones dealing with sick people, triaging, testing and treating them. They are the ones confronting suffering and death. While some of their coll
We hear more and more about the platform economy, with the debate often revolving around the potential long-term implications of its growth on the labour market and the impact on traditional and established businesses and industries.
Much of the discussion on the future of work is focused on globalisation and technology, and their impacts on the labour market. However, there is also a growing interest in the business models used by cooperatives and social enterprises, and how they can contribute to a better future of work. Eurof
Economic disparities have been decreasing between EU member states over the past decade, but at the same time inequality has been growing within member states. Despite national level convergence, the gap in wealth and income between the rich and the poor is growing in most of Europe. Some of this ri
This policy brief investigates how organisations are adapting their work organisation and practices to hybrid work. Based on case studies and on data from the European Working Conditions Survey 2024, the policy brief examines how hybrid work is being managed in organisations and profiles t
