Publications

On 16 February, a workshop organised by the Social Policy Programme of the Institute of Public Affairs took place as part of the research project "IR Smart: Industrial Relations for Smart-Workers in Smart Cities". In the morning session, the project partners presented and discussed among themselves the results of the case study research carried out in the countries included in the study and discussed further activities to be conducted as part of the project.

The afternoon session, which was broadcast on social media, included a panel discussion on the challenges posed by the proliferation of working from home in recent years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The session was opened by: IPA Social Policy Programme Director Dominik Owczarek and Dr Davide Antonioli from the University of Ferrara (project leader), while the discussion was moderated by Christophe Teissier (ASTREES, France). Speaking as panellists were: Barbara Surdykowska (legal expert of the NSZZ "Solidarność" trade union), Prof. Ilaria Mariotti from the Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and Alex Moruz from the Computer Science Department of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romania).

The panellists agreed that the countries they represented face similar challenges posed by the sudden recent popularisation of working from home. They pointed to issues such as the problem of employeer control over the employee working remotely, work-life balance, gender equality, the field of health and safety, technological exclusion, differences in the ability to work remotely between different professions and industries and the new inequalities resulting from them, as well as the impact on the environment particularly of hybrid work (i.e. work carried out alternately from home and on the premises of the employer's premises).

Some photos from th event: