empirica Projekte zur Zukunft der Arbeit

The objective of the QUALITY study issued by the European Commission is to develop quality labels for industry-based training and certification which at the same time are compatible with the European Commission 2009 Recommendation on a European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Training and Education (EQAVET).

The Directorate General Enterprise and Industry of the European Commission has asked empirica to provide sound, unbiased empirical evidence how the supply and demand for different types of ICT-related skills is evolving in Europe under different socio-economic scenarios. This will allow the European Commission order to prepare for targeted policy initiatives and encourage and facilitate the dialogue and cooperation between policy makers and relevant stakeholders at the EU and national levels about the implications and required actions to be taken to address current as well as anticipated skills gaps and shortages and to help reducing innovation skills shortages, gaps and mismatches in Europe. The study design requires a combination of different data collection techniques, the application of foresight scenario techniques, and statistical modeling of the data for the various scenarios. The work is addressed to the development of foresight scenarios and a forecasting of e-skills demand and supply until 2020 a vision report and the development of a policy roadmap for future action in this area.

ictQATAR - the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology and MADA- Qatar Assistive Technology Center in Qatar had asked empirica to develop and present a VOE model and blueprint for selected groups of people with disabilities in Qatar. The overall objective was to help increase the employment levels of people with special needs and disabilities in Qatar by using new forms of work organization and employment based on ICT such as teleworking and virtual office environments. This guide will become an integral part of the overall VOE implementation guide to help Qatari organizations to implement VOE models for the employment of people with disabilities

The project "VOE Qatar" was carried out for the Supreme Council for Information and Communication Technology, ictQATAR and for the first time systematically explored work-from-home in the Arab world. It developed a blueprint for Qatari companies and organisations which can be used as a how to guide for implementing this new form of work organization. The aim is to encourage companies and organizations in Qatar to launch their own pilot programmes for the Virtual Office Environment.

Demographic and labour market trends are raising challenges to maintain the contribution of informal carers (usually family members) to the long-term care for dependents with disabilities or with frailty because of old age whilst at the same time encouraging increased labour force participation of women (the traditional providers of the larger share of informal care). Already, a sizeable percentage of the workforce must balance their paid employment with caring responsibilities and this looks set to increase considerable over the coming years.
Against this background, the objectives of the study are as follows:

• To produce a review of the context for company initiatives for workers with care responsibilities in the EU;
• To design a framework for description and assessment of company case studies of good practice;
• To report developments in four selected countries: DE, IE, NL, UK;
• To carry out 20 case studies of relevant company initiatives in these countries.

The focus of this study is on company initiatives for workers with informal (family) care responsibilities for disabled children or adults. 'Company' initiatives are understood as actions implemented at the level of individual employers, including the public, private and third sectors. Workers with care responsibilities for disabled children or adults are termed 'carers' for purposes of this study, and are distinct from the more general grouping of working 'parents' (who care for children without disabilities). The latter are not the direct focus of this study although recognition and attention is given, where appropriate, to the fact that many workers (the 'sandwich generation') have both caring and child-caring responsibilities. Working carers encompass a spectrum, including those caring for children with disabilities, for non-elderly adults with disabilities (typically an adult child or a spouse/partner) and/or for elderly dependants (most commonly a parent or parent-in-law, sometimes a spouse/partner).
Company initiatives of relevance to our topic include both measures that aim to improve work-family balance in general (as long as carers are explicitly included as falling within their scope), as well as measures which are specifically oriented towards workers with care responsibilities for disabled children or adults. Examples of the former type include identification of carers as being eligible and efforts to encourage carers to avail of what is on offer for work-family needs in general. Examples of carer-specific schemes include: specific tailoring and provision of leave, part-time working, flexitime, teleworking and other family-friendly measures in a manner that addresses the particular needs of working carers (i.e. 'carer-friendly' measures), attention to the health and wellbeing needs of carers in occupational health services and programmes, care-related supports (information, counselling, referral, cost subsidy etc.), raising awareness of managers and co-workers, care audits, and so on.

The study commenced in late 2009, and will end in July 2010.

The study covers the second phase of the EuroFound initiative on "company initiatives for workers with care responsibilities for disabled children or adults". The first phase had already been carried out by empirica together with the Work Research Centre, Dublin. The study reviews recent research and policy documents from Member States, selecting 20-25 of the most important to be summarised in an Annotated Bibliography, apply the framework designed for documentation of policy/service developments in six Member States excluding those countries covered in the first phase (Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland), describe and assess company case studies of good practice in the six Member States, following the template drawn up in the first phase of the project, organise and finance a small Expert Workshop, to debate the findings of the research. Like in the first phase the focus of this study is on company initiatives for workers with care responsibilities for disabled children or adults. The project covers several European countries and are supported by experts and national correspondents from empirica's ENIR network..

The results of the project have been published on the European Foundation's website, see http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/populationandsociety/workingcaring/search.php