The Social Employers: digitalisation & social dialogue Thomas Bignal, Director EASPD Conference: Technology & digitalisation in Social Care Thomas.bignal@socialemployers.eu Barcelona, 4-5. October 2018

The Social Employers: Who are we? We are the voice for Social Services Employers at EU level We bring together Employer organisations in Social Services, primarily in care and support services for older people, persons with disabilities & children and other excluded or disadvantaged persons.

Social Services as an important employer Social services employers are also Europe’s biggest job creators with Over 10 million staff, 2 million new jobs created since 2008 Expected to grow significantly in response to the increase in demand and despite digitalisation

Source: Ian Stewart, Deloitte, Technology and people: The great job-creating machine (UK, 2015)

Digitalisation: opportunities for Social Employers? Improvement of old & creation of new services Optimised workflows and work processes Recruitment & improving the attractiveness of the sector Increasing competitiveness Better managed workload Empowering its workforce

Digitalisation: challenges for Social Employers? New ways of work (digital platforms, uberisation of social care) & questions for quality standards, work organisation, social security schemes. Additional training needs Funding gap Organisation of new partnerships Ethical and legal implications Equal access and opportunities across Europe Lack of research/data

Social Dialogue: what are we talking about? Social Dialogue includes “all types of negotiation, consultation or simply exchange of information between, or among, representatives of governments, employers and workers, on issues of common interest related to economic & social policy” (ILO) Social Dialogue is one of the pillars of our liberal democracies and has contributed significantly to shaping our social welfare models in Europe. Albeit organised differently across Europe, Social Dialogue has proved to be an important mechanism through which to improve both services and jobs in Social Services.

Digitalisation & Social Dialogue in Social Services Digitalisation is inevitably expanding. It is also disruptive & transforming ways in which services are being organised & provided. How can traditional social dialogue structures respond to matters which are so difficult to anticipate? Developing knowledge of specific challenges to the sector Integrating the issue in social dialogue structures (not just on an ad hoc basis) Facilitating uptake and guiding appropriate implementation of digital technologies by social services employers

European Social Dialogue The Social Employers want to set-up a sectoral social dialogue committee for social services at EU level: Allows social partners to negotiate and agree on common solutions Facilitates the exchange of good practices Commission exclusively consults the social partners on all EU policy initiatives in the field of employment and social affairs (Art. 154 TFEU) Opportunity to co-legislate EU policies (Art. 155 TFEU) Social Employers have identified digitalisation as a top priority for their EU Social Dialogue ambitions.

Thank you for your attention! Any questions? For more information on the Social Employers, see also www.socialemployers.eu Twitter @SocialEmployers