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The final conference for the IRESDES 4.0 project “Connecting Voices: Social Dialogue for Digital Skills and Smart Working”, is taking place on Tuesday, 28 February 2023 from 13:00 to 17:00 CET. The format of the event is hybrid and you can participate either online or in-person at the Office of Region Lombardy, Place du Champ De Mars 1/3 – Brussels.

While the EU is slowly recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic, enterprises are still getting used to the disruptive changes caused by it. This is confirmed by the latest DESI Index Report (2022), concluding that the EU-level growth rate for the adoption of digital technologies by citizens and businesses has risen, as well as trends of automation, increased numbers of common remote work, etc.

To this extent, over the past two years, IRESDES 4.0 project has dived into the developments of smart working and digital skills. Specifically, the project consortium has analysed the impact of collaborative labour agreements and other social dialogue practices in ensuring digital skills development within SMEs and how the presence of contractual ambiguity is still pending over smart working options.

On 28th of February, key recommendations to the social partners – including company and territorial levels – and decision makers will be presented in the project’s Final Conference.

The conference will also invite industry and employee representatives, decision makers and field scholars to discuss the social dialogue’s impact on digital transition and how it can fit into a rightful conversion of employees’ conditions.

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COMPANY AND TERRITORIAL LEVEL EXPERIENCES OF SOCIAL DIALOGUE’ is a workshop taking place on the 14th of October in Venezia Mestre within the framework of the European project ‘Iresdes4.0’.

The project is implemented by Confimi Industria (lead partner), FIM CISL Veneto, Fondazione ADAPT and European DIGITAL SME Alliance, with the support of Confimi Industria Digitale, Confimi Servizi and IndustrialAll Europe.

The event will last between 10 AM and 1 PM at the meeting room of Cisl Veneto headquarter (in via Torino 103 in Mestre).

The workshop will attract local and European experts from industry, workers’ representatives and trade unionist, academia and other stakeholders, who will discuss corporate and territorial bargaining of smart working and training for digital skills in SMEs.

Click here to join the event

Click here to go to the event’s agenda

Download here ADAPT slide for the event

“How can social dialogue embrace digital skills for SMES?”. This is the title of the public workshop organized in the context of the project Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue for an Economy and a Society “4.0” (IRESDES4.0), next friday april 29th, 2022 in Brussels at the Residence Palace (Rue de la Loi 155) from 10 to 12 pm.

The event will bring together researchers, stakeholders and representatives from unions and employers to discuss different tools and instruments available for social partners to facilitate digital skills development. It will also look at the preliminary findings of the IRESDES 4.0 project and concrete stories and examples of how collaborative labour agreements and other tools (such as mutually agreed guidelines, etc.) can support skills development at the company sectoral and territorial level.

Almost two years ago, social partners signed the European Social Partners’ Framework Agreement on Digitalisation (Agreement). One of the key pillars of the Agreement is Digital skills, as it stresses an urgent need to prepare a current and future workforce and enterprises with the appropriate digital skills. Meanwhile, Digital Decade 2030 targets highlight the goal to reach 20 million ICT specialists in Europe and ensure that 80% of the population is acquainted with more basic digital skills.

Although significant progress has been made in the past years, digital skills gap remains one of the key societal challenges in Europe. In this light, collaboration among social partners has proved to be an important facilitator to develop digital skills in the European workforce.

April 13^th, 2022- IRESDES 4.0 at Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for Telecommunications  Working Group Meeting held by UNI-EUROPA and ETNO last march 21th. The research results were submitted by the project partners Sebastiano Toffaletti of DIGITAL SME and Margherita Roiatti and Diletta Porcheddu of ADAPT.

The Committee, held by videoconference in english, french, portuguese and polish, started with the introduction of the new SDC president, Mariana Guez, and went on with the section “Digital Skills & Training”, of which IRESDES 4.0 was a part. Other section was dedicated to the Third Party Violence project.

Also always current themes as remote working and sustainability have been treated in two different focuses. In particular, a  potential new project on sustainability was submitted, with attention on the role of social partners within the twin transition to transform into a just transition.

An opportunity of great prestige for the project IRESDES 4.0 which the partners can share the results of its research with EU stakeholders and experts.

Those are the results of the report presented during the workshop of the project Iresdes 4.0, held in Bergamo last november 26th.

In the report by Margherita Roiatti and Diletta Porcheddu – respectively senior and junior researcher of ADAPT – the progress of the project was assessed, which aims to produce a series of recommendations to innovate bargaining and social dialogue practices at national level and European applied in SMEs, considering the recent significant innovations that the industry 4.0 paradigm has brought to companies, starting with smart working.

The research has moved from studies and reports on remote work, on its impact on companies and in the dynamics of the labor market, as well as on the development of digital skills. Also fundamental is a series of semi-structured interviews with trade union and business world representatives, identified by FIM CISL Veneto and Confimi Industria Digitale.

Three best practices suggested in the field of remote work:

• teamwork of the company (Human Resources department) with the trade union to identify the areas where smart working can be implemented;
• “test” on a limited number of workers and for a predefined time before structurally implementing the remote work to monitor the adaptation to the new organizational model;
• establishment of a joint committee made up of workers and entrepreneurs to discuss the implementation of smart working practices and come up with shared proposals.

The research showed that, although the crisis caused by COVID-19 has also shown how much digitalization is fundamental to improve the economic resilience of businesses, as well as services, products and competitiveness. In 2020 only 1% of European companies with at least 10 employees reached a very high level of digital intensity, 14% a high level, 46% a low level and 19% very low. Only 18% of SMEs provide ITC training compared to 68% of large companies. This difficulty in the use of digital technologies is also reflected in the low diffusion of remote work in SMEs. At the base, according to the scientific literature, there is a corporate culture that is not always favorable to experimenting with new forms of work organization. Furthermore, the so-called “teleworkability” varies considerably in the Member States both according to the type of contract of the workers (there are many more cases of remote work among employees with permanent contracts than those with fixed-term or atypical contracts) and depending on the economic sectors: if in manufacturing the percentage of teleworkers was around 20%, in ICT and communication services it was already 40% in 2018.

Moderated by Rita Querzè, journalist of Corriere della Sera expert in changes in the production and work system, the workshop also collected contributions from Paolo Gubitta – scientific director of the Digital Professions and Hybrid Works Observatory of the University of Padua, by Stefania Marassi – Senior Lecturer and Researcher.

“In this restart phase, also in consideration of the transition processes underway, starting from the digital and ecological ones, the search for a right balance between competitiveness and social justice can only pass from interlocution and discussion between social subjects and careful monitoring by the public conscription “is how Andrea Orlando – Minister of Labor and Social Policies, in his video message to the event entitled Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue for an Economy and Society “4.0” – A focus on digital skills and remote work today in Bergamo as part of the European project IRESDES4.0, of which Confimi Industria is the lead partner. “The changes taking place need to be governed and this must be a shared process in an area of ​​strong social cohesion which is the premise for effective development policies” concludes Minister Orlando.

The workshop, which was attended by over 70 stakeholders, entrepreneurs and trade unionists, is part of the international conference “Work and its Value. Interdisciplinary Reflections on an Ever-Changing Concept ”, organized by the ADAPT School of Higher Education on Occupational Transitions and Labor Relations and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

“The processes of computerization and digitization of production and organizational processes began many years ago. We have witnessed the introduction of artificial intelligence and machine learning within our companies”. Those are the words of the president of Confimi Industria, Paolo Agnelli at the workshop of Iresdes 4.0 project, held last novembre in Bergamo, which was attended by over 70 stakeholders, entrepreneurs and trade unionists. It was part of the international conference “Work and its Value. Interdisciplinary Reflections on an Ever-Changing Concept ”, organized by the ADAPT School of Higher Education on Occupational Transitions and Labor Relations and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

“For manufacturing, this translates into an improvement in terms of quality and manufacturing tolerances. At the same time, however, the skills that our technicians and collaborators must have have changed and will change, for this reason the subject of training is of equal importance to the digitization of processes. It is clear that there is a need to update skills and reorganize the work system, consequently revising employment contracts that take these transformations into account. – continued Agnelli – The verification of the adequate digital skills of the workforce, which takes into account demographic adjustments, is therefore crucial, in order not to leave behind – for example – older workers who were trained years ago and may not be prepared for the new context economic and productive “concluded the president Agnelli.

Representatives of national and local institutions, employers’ and trade union organizations, professionals and scholars interested in the project, together for an analysis in a comparative and international perspective. “Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue for an Economy and Society” 4.0 “- A focus on digital skills and remote work” is the title of the workshop organized as part of the European project IRESDES4.0, of which Confimi Industria is lead partner , which will be held next Friday, November 26, in Bergamo (from 9.30-12.30 in the Auditorium in Piazza Libertà, corner with via Norberto Duzioni).

“Competition in the world of work must not be underestimated, we must be attractive to the best talents, and smart working is certainly a way to avoid” brain drain “and attract skills – said Domenico Galia, president of Confimi Industria Digitale – We need to think about a European labor market and this will not be able to evolve if innovative and flexible working models are not offered ”.

The workshop is part of the international conference “Work and its Value. Interdisciplinary Reflections on an Ever-Changing Concept ”, organized by the ADAPT School of Higher Education in Work and Industrial Relations and the International Labor Organization (ILO). An important opportunity also to discuss and disseminate the preliminary results of the project, with specific reference to the Italian context.

Moderated by Rita Querzè, Corriere della Sera journalist expert in changes in the production and work system, the workshop will open with welcome greetings and an introduction to the event by the president of Confimi Industria, Paolo Agnelli. Andrea Orlando – Minister of Labor and Social Policies was also invited to speak. It will then be the turn of the interventions by Paolo Gubitta – scientific director of the Digital Professions and Hybrid Works Observatory of the University of Padua, by Stefania Marassi – senior lecturer and researcher in European Labor Law, University of Applied Sciences of The Hague, and by Stavroula Demetriades – senior research manager of Eurofound. Below we will get to the heart of the description of the project results, by Margherita Roiatti and Diletta Porcheddu – respectively senior and junior researcher of the ADAPT Foundation. The conclusions will instead be entrusted to Sebastiano Toffaletti – general secretary of the European and Italian DIGITAL SME Alliance, to Cristiana Pauletti – referent for the training of FIM CISL Veneto and to Domenico Galia, president of Confimi Industria Digitale.

“Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue for an Economy and Society” 4.0 “- A focus on digital skills and remote work”. This is the title of the workshop organized as part of the European project IRESDES4.0, of which Confimi Industria is the lead partner, which will be held on Friday November 26th in Bergamo (from 9.30 -12.30 in the Auditorium of Piazza Libertà, corner via Norberto Duzioni).
The workshop is part of the international conference “Work and its Value. Interdisciplinary Reflections on an Ever-Changing Concept ”, organized by the ADAPT School of Higher Education in Work and Industrial Relations and the International Labor Organization (ILO). An important and perfectly consistent context with the workshop that will bring together representatives of national and local institutions, employers’ and trade union organizations, professionals and scholars interested in the project, for an analysis in a comparative and international perspective. It will also be an opportunity to discuss and disseminate the preliminary results of the project, with specific reference to the Italian context.
The workshop will open with welcome greetings and an introduction to the event by the president of Confimi Industria, Paolo Agnelli. Andrea Orlando – Minister of Labor and Social Policies, was also invited to speak. It will then be the turn of the interventions by Paolo Gubitta – scientific director of the Digital Professions and Hybrid Works Observatory of the University of Padua, Stefania Marassi – Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the University of The Hague (Netherlands) and Stavroula Demetriades – senior research manager of Eurofound. Below we will get to the heart of the description of the project results, by Margherita Roiatti and Diletta Porcheddu – respectively senior and junior researcher of the ADAPT Foundation. The conclusions will instead be entrusted to Sebastiano Toffaletti – general secretary of the European and Italian DIGITAL SME Alliance, to Cristiana Pauletti – referent for the training of FIM CISL Veneto and to Domenico Galia, president of Confimi Industria Digitale.

 

Iresdes 4.0 project is coming to life, which aims to find more suitable solutions to innovate collective bargaining in SMEs and support the development of digital skills in workers through the collaboration of the social partners.

After the kick off last March, project activities have begun which are also leading to the establishment, through the lively response to an international call, of a european stakeholders board representing both employers and trade unions, dedicated to develop the social dialogue. The experts will have to give their precious contribution to the discussion that will lead to the main expected result of the project: a series of recommendations to innovate the collective labor agreements applied in SMEs, in light of the notable innovations that Industry 4.0 has brought to the world of work, as well as the use of teleworking in the period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Expert feedback will be collected through online consultation tools and during 3 international meetings and a final conference, to be organized as part of the project, within two years of its inception.

The first of the meetings with the leading experts will be held at the end of November – presumably in presence – in Bergamo (the partnership is, however, preparing the necessary technologies to allow them to participate remotely). The important project appointment could also take place as part of the broader international event organized by the partner ADAPT on related issues. A first part, open to the public, will be dedicated to promoting the project and disseminating its progress. A second part, behind closed doors, will instead be more technical and dedicated to the work carried out up to then by the experts’ table.