Led by machines

With the computer revolution, the workplace has seen a rapid introduction of digital technologies for gig work, remote work, surveillance, and algorithmic management of workers.

Some of the consequences of this transition have become clear. For instance, digital technology has facilitated a split in the labour market, with jobs increasingly ‘lousy or lovely’. But contrary to employment status and precariousness, what is less obvious are the effects of digital tech on the nature of work itself across the labour market.

It has already been shown that ubiquitous surveillance causes stress and anxiety among workers and decreases trust in the workplace. There are also emerging signs that the use of algorithmic decision-making systems is accompanied by profound shifts in workplace management, the exercise of power, and workers’ rights. This is especially visible in the platform economy but is spread widely across the economy, including in more ‘traditional’ sectors. 

Challenges of algorithmic management

This public event brought together researchers, policymakers, trade unionists and other stakeholders from the Nordic countries to discuss:

• The challenges that algorithmic management poses for safeguarding workers’ rights
• The potential threat the developments of digital technologies pose to the Nordic model
• The extent to which the tech revolution is being felt by the work force in Sweden
• The political implications of those developments at both the Swedish and European levels 

Among the speakers

• Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, MEP, European Parliament and rapporteur for a European strategy for data
• Maria Arkeby, Deputy manager, Tankesmedjan Tiden
• Elisabeth Brandt Ygeman, LO
• Jan-Erik Støstad, Secretary General, SAMAK
• Johan Sjölander, Manager, Tankesmedjan Tiden
• Gunilla Svantorp, Member of the Riksdag, Social Democratic Party Sweden
• Antti Alaja, Researcher, University of Helsinki
• Frederick Harry Pitts, Senior Lecturer in Politics and Director of Business Engagement & Innovation in the Department of Humanities & Social Science, University of Exeter
• Birte Dedden, Director for ICTS, UNI Europa
• Thorben Albrecht, Policy Director, IG Metall
• Lauri Finér, Director at Kalevi Sorsa Foundation
• Asbjørn Sonne Nørgaard, Director of the think tank Cevea
• Jenny Wrangborg, Swedish Union of Commercial Workers
• Fredrik Söderqvist, Economist, LO Sweden
• Victor Bernhardtz, Swedish Trade Union Unionen, Ombudsman för Digital Markets
• Anna Spånt Enbuske, Research Officer, Swedish Kommunal
• Bertil Rolandsson, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Work Science, Göteborgs Universitet, Institutionen för sociologi och arbetsvetenskap
• Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights responsible for improving the labour conditions of platform workers and the directive that addresses transparency and oversight of platforms’ algorithms
• Tereza Østbø Kuldova, Research Professor based at the Work Research Institute, Oslo Metropolitan University
• Anna Milanez, Economist, OECD
• Johanna Wenckebach, Director, Hugo Sinzheimer Institut for Labour
• Samuel Engblom, Former Swedish state secretary responsible for higher education, research and space policy
• Linda Larsson, Researcher, LO Sweden
• Gerard Rinse Oosterwijk, FEPS Digital Policy analyst
• Kristina Birke Daniels Director of FES Nordics

If you want to know more about this event, please contact Gerard Rinse Oosterwijk, FEPS Digital Policy Analyst (gerard.oosterwijk@feps-europe.eu) and Luis Saez Jimenez, FEPS Project Officer (luis.saez@feps-europe.eu).

The Digital Research Programme

FEPS, Tankesmedjan Tiden, Kalevi Sorsa Saatio, Tankesmien Agenda, CEVEA, Arbejderbevægelsens Erhvervsråd (ECLM), Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Nordics and Cooperation Committee of the Nordic Labour Movement (SAMAK), with the support of Nordics trade Unions, came together for a Digital Research Programme to discuss the research questions, methods and approaches of the different research strands:

1. Algorithmic management and governance (prevalence & consequences)
2. Workers’ experience at the workplace – surveys and focus groups
3. Online platforms and employment terms