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Tackling mental ill-health of the working-age population is becoming a key issue for labour market and social policies in OECD countries. OECD governments increasingly recognise that policy has a major role to play in keeping people with mental ill-health in employment or bringing those outside of the labour market back to it, and in preventing mental illness. This report on Norway is the fourth in a series of reports looking at how the broader education, health, social and labour market policy challenges identified in ‘Sick on the job?: myths and realities about mental health and work’ (OECD, 2012) are being tackled in a number of OECD countries. It concludes that Norway faces a unique situation whereby a generous welfare system stimulates large-scale labour market exclusion and significant socioeconomic inequalities of people with a mental disorder, and hindering better outcomes of its employment and vocational rehabilitation programs.

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Apprenticeships are a key pathway for young people making the transition from education to employment, with almost 200,000 apprentices working in Australia. Despite the importance of apprenticeships, almost half of young people who commence an apprenticeship will not finish it. One of the reasons for this is the impact of apprenticeships on a young person's mental health. Apprentices can face challenging working conditions, poor pay, and bullying. This policy paper will examine how the mental health and wellbeing of apprentices can best be supported. The paper has been informed through stakeholder engagement and existing scientific literature.

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Each year the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) compiles a yearbook to provide a snapshot of the changes to employment, work and living conditions in Europe as explored in the agency's research activities over the course of the previous year. The research feeds into a number of key national and EU policy areas with the aim of informing the development of better social, employment and work-related policies that will lead to a strong social Europe focusing on jobs and skills for the future. Show less

Impaired mental wellbeing affects the productivity of people at work. Xero commissioned New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) to investigative the direct return on investment (ROI) from workplace wellbeing initiatives. The research aims to answer the following research questions: (1) How is mental health, wellbeing and resilience at work defined? (2) What is the effect of mental wellbeing on productivity at work? (3) What is the per-person economic cost of mental health challenges at work? (4) What is the ROI from workplace wellbeing initiatives? The results showed that the return on investment from supporting people's mental wellbeing and productivity at work was overwhelmingly positive. Other findings showed the return varies because people and interventions are all different. Organisational approaches tend to be more cost effective on a per employee due to economies of scale, but also because they are proactive in maintaining mental wellbeing. Employee assistance programs that respond to impaired wellbeing also offer a good return on investment.

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The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the largest international survey asking teachers and school leaders about their working conditions and learning environments, and provides a barometer of the profession every five years. Results from the 2018 cycle explore and examine the various dimensions of teacher and school leader professionalism across education systems. In Australia, a nationally representative sample of 4,000 teachers and principals from 200 lower secondary schools was randomly selected to participate in the study. Findings from TALIS 2018 in Australia are reported in two volumes. The first volume, 'Teachers and school leaders as lifelong learners', published in November 2019, explored teaching practices, the changing contexts for teaching and the knowledge and skills dimensions of professionalism for teachers and school leaders. The second volume, 'Teachers and school leaders as valued professionals', published in August 2020, explores the prestige and standing of the profession, the security, flexibility and reward structures of teaching and school leadership careers, the extent of professional collaboration and collegial relations within schools, and the degree of autonomy and leadership that teachers and school leaders have in their jobs. The primary focus of these reports is the responses from lower-secondary teachers and school leaders. Data for primary teachers, where available and appropriate, is also included.

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With work a key vector of [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 transmission, this report examines why it is critical that occupational health and safety [OHS] measures take centre stage in mitigation policies. Workers in sectors declared essential by state authorities have been mandated to continue working in physical settings during the [COVID-19] pandemic. Several such sectors involve many face‑to‑face contacts with colleagues and clients, meaning that workers face a higher risk of exposure to COVID‑19. Unregulated safety measures, a lack of personal protective equipment and crowded settings further increase the risk in these sectors.

Persisting inequalities are exacerbated by the pandemic, as low‑wage workers, workers from ethnic minorities, migrant workers and women are overrepresented in these sectors. They also face intersecting factors, including precarious contracts, job insecurity, inadequate paid sick leave, a lack of bargaining power and low socioeconomic status. The risks faced by (recent) migrants are compounded by the fact that their residence permits, access to healthcare and housing may be mediated by their employers. Studies show that there is also a gender dimension to the OSH implications of the pandemic, with women facing a higher exposure to the disease, a higher care burden and an increased risk of domestic violence.

These patterns of inequality play a significant role in a health crisis, determining who is at greater risk of becoming infected, and whether or not they will have access to healthcare and self‑isolation. Besides recognising COVID‑19 as an occupational disease and providing adequate protection to workers across sectors, it is important for OSH measures to go beyond workplace exposure to the disease and to include the various factors increasing exposure because of work. Policy recommendations include better representation of workers at all levels of employment, sector‑specific OSH measures, broader EU‑wide policies and infrastructures, improved job security and sick leave policies, disaggregated data collection and inclusive messaging.

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Direct care workers provide much of the hands-on, long-term care received by older adults and people with disabilities in the U.S. Despite being a lifeline for the people they serve and their families, direct care workers are among the lowest paid workers in the country. They often work with minimal benefits, little access to training, and few opportunities for advancement. Improving the job quality for the professionals in this field should be a goal of all policymakers seeking to strengthen economic opportunities for the working poor. State governments are uniquely positioned to tackle this issue and promote such policies. This new report examines opportunities and levers for states to enhance the wages, benefits, and other conditions affecting jobs in the direct care workforce. These policies can benefit direct care workers and their families, as well as enhance the quality of care provided older adults and people with disabilities across the country.

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This report argues that the world now stands on the cusp of a technological revolution in artificial intelligence and robotics that may prove as transformative for economic growth and human potential as were electrification, mass production, and electronic telecommunications in their eras. New and emerging technologies will raise aggregate economic output and boost the wealth of nations. Will these developments enable people to attain higher living standards, better working conditions, greater economic security, and improved health and longevity? The answers to these questions are not predetermined. They depend upon the institutions, investments, and policies that we deploy to harness the opportunities and confront the challenges posed by this new era. How can we move beyond unhelpful prognostications about the supposed end of work and toward insights that will enable policymakers, businesses, and people to better navigate the disruptions that are coming and underway? What lessons should we take from previous epochs of rapid technological change? How is it different this time? And how can we strengthen institutions, make investments, and forge policies to ensure that the labor market of the 21st century enables workers to contribute and succeed?

The MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future was convened in the spring of 2018. Its goals are to understand the relationships between emerging technologies and work, and to explore strategies to enable a future of shared prosperity. To help answer these questions, and to provide a framework for the Task Force's efforts over the next year, this report examines several aspects of the interaction between work and technology.

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This report examines four scenarios of social partner cooperation in the hairdressing sector, aimed at improving the quality of work and employment. The scenarios are based on trends that reveal high impact and high uncertainty qualities, such as the re-evaluation of the sector as a craft sector, technological change, the effects of climate change, and the polarisation of the sector due to the dominance of shopping malls. These scenarios, which were developed on the basis of desk research, interviews with national social partners and focus groups of the sectoral social partners, are then mapped onto the four main quality of work indicators, as defined by [European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions] Eurofound (career and employment security, skills development, reconciliation of working and non-working life, and health and well-being), in order to formulate policy pointers for how the social partners could develop strategies to improve the quality of work and employment in the future.

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This report sets out to map and analyse legislation and collective bargaining on telework in the 27 [European Union] Member States and Norway. It highlights the main cross-country differences and similarities regarding telework legislation and recent changes to these regulations. It also examines the current situation regarding collective bargaining on telework. The analysis highlights many of the drawbacks and challenges of telework, focusing on provisions relating to access to telework, flexible working time, continuous availability/connectivity, isolation, occupational and health risk prevention and the costs incurred by the employee while working remotely. With [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 having been an accelerator for regulating telework both in legislation and through collective bargaining, the report sheds light on how the future of telework could be regulated at national and EU level to improve working conditions and the well-being of workers.

Key findings include: (1) Telework is here to stay. Monitoring developments in Member States must remain a priority for policymakers, particularly on issues such as different types of telework arrangements, the organisation of working time, the right to disconnect, the right to request telework, the relationship between telework and gender equality, work–life balance and psychosocial risks. If teleworkers across the EU are to be protected equally, shared standards will also be necessary; (2) There is no one size fits all approach to regulating telework as remote working requires different combinations of regulation, policies and work culture. Social dialogue can play a critical role in implementing telework regulations to protect employees and create positive outcomes for both employers and workers; (3) A significant number of collective agreements on telework were introduced during the pandemic at company and sectoral levels, particularly in sectors with existing arrangements, such as in financial services, manufacturing and information and communications. New agreements were developed in the public services and administration, education, and health and social work activities sectors, highlighting how telework is fast becoming an established way of work organisation across the EU; and (4) The number of countries that have included the right to telework in national legislation has doubled since the beginning of the pandemic. Employees with teleworkable jobs in several countries are now entitled to request telework, including in France, Lithuania, Portugal and the Netherlands, with legislation being developed in Germany and Ireland.

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