Disruption caused by the advance of tech has been a source of concern and opportunity for both employers and employees
Ivailo Kalfin is the executive director of the Eurofound Foundation, which was established in 1975 to improve the living and working conditions of workers in the European Union. As such, he is well placed to comment on the impact of technology on work.
His research-led organisation focuses on changes in the labour marketplace and usually this change can be slow and incremental. Of course, with the lockdown, changes were sped up. The increased and widespread use of video calls is just one example of new changes happening very quickly.
“There are three elements by which we measure this change. Automation is first, where machinery assists the worker. Then there is digitisation, where part or all the worker’s tasks are replaced with machinery. Finally, there is a state where the machine is at the heart of the process and workers are doing tasks managed by the computer,” says Kalfin.