Progetto Salute & Sicurezza – Seminario di Vilnius del 22 e 23 settembre 2016

Well-being and occupational safety & health (OSH) in central government administrations: tackling psychosocial risks at work

Project Seminar 1: The Impact of the use of new technologies

Vilnius (Lithuania) - 22-23 September 2016

Final programme

22 September 2016 – Day 1 Setting the scene

9h00    Welcome by Mr Jonas Katinauskas, Vice-Chair of LTUSE, TUNED-Lithuania, and a representative of the Internal Ministry, EUPAE-Lithuania.

Project objectives and adoption of the agenda, Mr Simon Loreal, DGAFP, EUPAE-France, and Ms Nadja Salson, TUNED Secretariat

9h30    Trends of digitalisation in Europe and impact on employees

Chair : Ms Britta Lejon, President of ST Sweden, TUNED Chair

This first session will set the scene on digitalisation and health and safety at the workplace, two issues which are rarely linked to one another. Whilst there is a vast amount of literature on digitalisation of public services, little is known about its impact on working conditions. This is a challenge that needs a national and European response in order to protect and improve the quality and availability of public services as well as well-being at work, especially at times of organisational changes. We will discuss the opportunities and challenges for employees and management and how it relates to the EU social legislation on health and safety which is currently under review.

EU agenda on e-government and digitalisation of public services: Introduction by the European Commission, DG connect, Public Services Unit, Mr Serge Novaretti, Policy and Programme Officer – presentation via video link

Discussion

The EU legal framework on health and safety and implications for psycho-social risks at the workplace and its ongoing review: presentation by the European Commission, DG EMPL, Unit B3, Ms Cristina-Alexandra Eftimie, policy officer

Discussion

11h00    Coffee/tea break

11h30  Psycho-social risks and use of new technologies in central government administrations: initial findings of the project research and selection of country case studies: Presentation by Mr Lionel Fulton, Labour Research Department, UK

Discussion

12h30-14h00  Lunch

14h00  Introduction to the 3 workshops by Mr Andrea Valenti, EUPAE Chair: evaluating and responding to the psycho-social risks

3 theme-based workshops, 1 multilingual and 2 English, will be held in parallel that will feed into the step-by-step guide on the effective use of risk assessments, one of the key outcomes of the project. Participants will select one of the 3 proposed themes that closely relate to one another with some overlaps.

The following cross-cutting issues will guide the discussions in the 3 workshops:

• Are opportunities, problems and solutions the same for all employees regardless of their status, gender, income and age?
• Health risk assessment at the workplace: How does it work, how effective is it as a prevention tool? What can be improved?
• Chain of responsibility to tackle and respond to psycho-social problems (management, occupational doctors, labour inspectors, trade unions…): How does it work, how effective is it, are there specificities in central government administrations?
• Role of social dialogue and enforcement of national and EU health and safety regulations:  What are the challenges and scope for improvement?  Are there specificities in central government administrations?
•  How are health and safety concerns taken into account in restructuring plans?

14h15-17h00

Workshop 1 – multilingual: Impact and challenges of digital transformations on working time

Chair:                          Mr Marco Ouwehand, FNV, TUNED-Netherlands  

Rapporteur:     Mr Alexandre Castet De Biaugue, DGAFP, EUPAE France

Introduction by Mr Jorge Cabrita, Research Officer, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), Dublin

Telework, remote management, culture of mobile devices (phone, computer, connected object,…), new frontier between professional and private life: right to disconnect, autonomy and control : how these changes and health risks are tackled, evaluated and prevented with employees, trade unions and management? Which solutions have been brought forward? How are health and safety regulations including on working time enforced?

Workshop 2 - English only: New technologies, a stress factor at work…or not? 

Chair:              Ms Nadja Salson, TUNED Coordinator

Rapporteur:     Mr Andrea Valenti, EUPAE Chair

Introduction by Mr Arunas Ziedelis, chief specialist in Occupational health centre of Institute of Hygiene and Psychology PhD student (field of research: occupational health psychology),  Vilnius University.  

Participants will discuss the extent to which new technologies bring in new stress factors or alleviate them around issues such as unexpected work and permanent requirements, quality and meaning of work and job content, satisfaction of workers, communication with service users. What are the key symptoms that something is going wrong? Is absenteeism a key indicator? How to cope with destabilization feelings? Computer literacy skills and training needs in light of the age and gender of the workforce; definition, measurement and regulations of (techno)stress; how is the growing phenomenon of “burnout“ tackled?

Workshop 3 - English only: New relationship between employees and the workplace

Chair:              Mr Héctor Casado López, EUPAE-Spain

Rapporteur:     TUNED

Introduction by Ms Jane Lethbridge, Director, Public Services International Research Unit,

Department of International Business and Economics, Business School, London; currently project researcher for the Social Dialogue Committee Local and Regional government.

The focus will be the changing relationship between employees, their workplace and management. What impact on working space, such as individualised office, open plan, space for co-working and so-called nomadism? What are the consequences on privacy boundaries in the workplace? Does digitalisation increase trust between employees and management or increase measurement of performance or even surveillance? What are the consequences for the protection of workers’ personal data? What impact on job content and public sector values?

17h00    End of the workshops (coffee break foreseen at 16h00)

19h30    Dinner

23 September 2016 – Day 2 The way forward?

Chair: Alexandre Castet de Biaugue, EUPAE-France, DGAFP, Head of unit social affairs and health and safety at work

9h00    Digitalisation of tax services in Lithuania – when, why, how much, how and what effects for employees and tax collection? Mr Vygantas Ivanauskas, Deputy Head of the State Tax Inspectorate, Ministry of Finance, Republic of Lithuania.

Discussion

10h00    Workshop reports

11h00    Coffee break

11h15    How can social partners better prevent and tackle psycho-social risks related to new technologies?

• Risk assessment, chain of responsibility and role of social partners
• Good practices on preventing, managing and reducing techno-stress
• Initial conclusions and takeaways for the guide on risk assessment 

12h30    Short evaluation, next steps (seminar 2 in Madrid on third party violence) & closing

13h00    Lunch