Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Global cities
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

Designing work in a digitalising world

Thorben Albrecht and Detlef Gerst 18th May 2021

A German trade union has developed a ‘compass’ to help works councils frame digitalisation in workers’ interests.

digitalisation,digitise,digitalise,works council
Thorben Albrecht

Industrial companies increasingly introduce digital technologies to raise productivity. This not only alters production but changes business models.

It also leads to new tasks at work and new work processes—with effects on job security, workloads and skill requirements and so the quantity and quality of work. Shaping the use of digital technologies on the shopfloor is therefore crucial for works councils and other workers’ representatives.

To ensure workers’ interests are articulated amid these new and often complex changes is not easy though. Trade unions need to provide workable tools, which allow works councils to assess new technologies and influence the processes. One such tool is the ‘compass for digitalisation’ which has been developed by the German metalworkers’ union IG Metall, together with researchers.

digitalisation,digitise,digitalise,works council
Detlef Gerst

Clear picture

The compass is an aid to assess and shape digitised work. It helps actors in a company get a clear picture of the current situation and introduce, frame and improve digital work processes. Compared with other instruments that assess digitalisation in companies, the compass does not only measure to what extent digital possibilities are exploited but also evaluates whether a company’s strategy is adequate and assesses the quality of the change process.


Become part of our Community of Thought Leaders


Get fresh perspectives delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter to receive thought-provoking opinion articles and expert analysis on the most pressing political, economic and social issues of our time. Join our community of engaged readers and be a part of the conversation.

Sign up here

Its results help management and workers’ representatives get a realistic and holistic impression of the state of play when it comes to digitalisation. Utilisation of the compass is therefore ideally done by a team made up of representatives of the works council, management and selected experts from affected departments. It is possible for works councils to use the tool without management participation—but it is advantageous for improvements in work design if there is joint action from the beginning. At least part of the team (or the moderator) should have a basic knowledge of occupational science.

There is one precondition for optimal impact: management and workers’ representatives must be willing to evaluate and shape the situation together. First, they assess the current state of digitalisation and the existing work design. In a second step, they agree on targets to be achieved with new technology—achievement of these targets is subsequently measured with the help of the compass. Employees affected by the changes should be involved from an early stage and throughout the process.

Surveillance avoided

One instance where the compass has already been used by a works council is a ‘Miele’ factory near Hannover. At an assembly line for laundry dryers an assistance system was to be introduced, to help workers assemble different versions for different export countries’ requirements. The works council used the compass to assess and document the work process and then analyse the new system, using a tablet to help workers avoid deficient products and manage their growing variability.

The works council was able to specify the workers’ qualification needs and made sure that the new system could not be used to control workers’ behaviour or performance. By using the compass, management and the works council could ensure that productivity targets were fulfilled, training schemes adjusted and surveillance of workers avoided.

Companies of course vary greatly in terms of their overall structure, as well as work organisation and workforce age and qualification range. So the compass has been designed for use in all industries and vis-à-vis all digital technologies. In each company it can be adjusted to the specific conditions, as it is constructed in such a way that every issue, every technology, each area in a company can be brought into focus—in detail and in an overview.

One aspect is crucial: introducing new technologies needs to be understood as a holistic process. New digital systems can only exceptionally be introduced in workplaces in ‘plug in and play’ mode. Rather, a systematic, co-ordinated approach is required, which while sometimes tedious is necessary to improve both productivity and the quality of workplaces.

Knowledge and experience

Workers having a say in digitalisation is equally critical, to maintain or improve the quantity and quality of work and to secure workers’ rights. Therefore, workers’ representatives must enjoy a right to be involved in the design and application of digital tools from the outset.

But even if they have such rights, securing workers’ interests in practice is often easier said than done, as workers’ representatives can lack knowledge and experience in digitalisation. Trade unions must provide workers with the training and tools required to enable them to face the continual challenges of digitalisation.


Support Progressive Ideas: Become a Social Europe Member!


Support independent publishing and progressive ideas by becoming a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month. You can help us create more high-quality articles, podcasts and videos that challenge conventional thinking and foster a more informed and democratic society. Join us in our mission - your support makes all the difference!

Become a Social Europe Member

The compass for digitalisation is such a tool to shape the future of work in a very practical way. Most works councils need external support by the union to use it for the first time. But the example of Miele shows that works councils can easily learn to use the tool autonomously.

Thorben Albrecht and Detlef Gerst

Thorben Albrecht is policy director at IG Metall. He was a member of the Global Commission on the Future of Work established by the ILO and a state secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs from 2014 to 2018. Detlef Gerst is head of the 'future of work' department in IG Metall. Previously he worked as a social scientist for the Sociological Research Institute at the University of Göttingen.

You are here: Home / Economy / Designing work in a digitalising world

Most Popular Posts

Russia,information war Russia is winning the information warAiste Merfeldaite
Nanterre,police Nanterre and the suburbs: the lid comes offJoseph Downing
Russia,nuclear Russia’s dangerous nuclear consensusAna Palacio
Belarus,Lithuania A tale of two countries: Belarus and LithuaniaThorvaldur Gylfason and Eduard Hochreiter
retirement,Finland,ageing,pension,reform Late retirement: possible for many, not for allKati Kuitto

Most Recent Posts

Ukraine,fatigue Ukraine’s cause: momentum is diminishingStefan Wolff and Tetyana Malyarenko
Vienna,social housing Vienna social-housing model: celebrated but misusedGabu Heindl
social democracy,nation-state Social democracy versus the nativist rightJan Zielonka
chemical,European Union Which comes first—Big Toxics’ profits or health?Vicky Cann
Russia,journalists,Ukraine,target Ukraine: journalists in Russia’s sightsKelly Bjorkland and Simon Smith

Other Social Europe Publications

strategic autonomy Strategic autonomy
Bildschirmfoto 2023 05 08 um 21.36.25 scaled 1 RE No. 13: Failed Market Approaches to Long-Term Care
front cover Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound Talks: does Europe have the skills it needs for a changing economy?

In this episode of the Eurofound Talks podcast, Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound’s research manager, Tina Weber, its senior research manager, Gijs van Houten, and Giovanni Russo, senior expert at CEDEFOP (The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training), about Europe’s skills challenges and what can be done to help workers and businesses adapt to future skills demands.

Listen where you get your podcasts, or for free, by clicking on the link below


LISTEN HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

The summer issue of the Progressive Post magazine by FEPS is out!

The Special Coverage of this new edition is dedicated to the importance of biodiversity, not only as a good in itself but also for the very existence of humankind. We need a paradigm change in the mostly utilitarian relation humans have with nature.

In this issue, we also look at the hazards of unregulated artificial intelligence, explore the shortcomings of the EU's approach to migration and asylum management, and analyse the social downside of the EU's current ethnically-focused Roma policy.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI European Collective Bargaining Report 2022 / 2023

With real wages falling by 4 per cent in 2022, workers in the European Union suffered an unprecedented loss in purchasing power. The reason for this was the rapid increase in consumer prices, behind which nominal wage growth fell significantly. Meanwhile, inflation is no longer driven by energy import prices, but by domestic factors. The increased profit margins of companies are a major reason for persistent inflation. In this difficult environment, trade unions are faced with the challenge of securing real wages—and companies have the responsibility of making their contribution to returning to the path of political stability by reducing excess profits.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ETUI advertisement

The future of remote work

The 12 chapters collected in this volume provide a multidisciplinary perspective on the impact and the future trajectories of remote work, from the nexus between the location from where work is performed and how it is performed to how remote locations may affect the way work is managed and organised, as well as the applicability of existing legislation. Additional questions concern remote work’s environmental and social impact and the rapidly changing nature of the relationship between work and life.


AVAILABLE HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube