Employment Models of Platform Companies in Norway: A Distinctive Approach?

The past decade has seen an increase in ‘platform companies’ functioning as the intermediary between workers and customers.The way these companies structure the labour process has significant implications for working conditions. In this article, we ask: In what ways does platform work in Norway differ from standard employment relationships? And do different employment strategies of platform companies put workers in precarious situations? The article builds on qualitative interviews with CEOs of platform companies in Norway, and aims to contribute to the literature by formulating a typology of the employment models of platform companies emerging in the Nordic countries. The platforms’ employment models are compared to the standard employment relationship and precariousness. Finally, the article suggests that institutions matter for why some platform companies adopt elements of the standard employment relationships as they appear in the Nordic labour market models, and discusses the implications of this

Hiring of Flexible and Fixed-term Workers in Five Norwegian and Swedish Industries

Analyzing how and why employers use fixed-term contracts or alternative forms of flexible, shortterm labor in five labor-intensive industries in Norway and Sweden, the main research question in this article is how employer hiring of temporary labor is affected by differences in national employment regulations and industries. Regarding employer motives, we find strong and similar inter-industry differences across the two countries, while the share of fixed-term employees is generally higher in Sweden than in Norway where regulations are stricter. Further, employers’ hiring of fixed-term labor is contingent on their access to alternative sources of flexible labor when faced with shifting demand, need for substitutes, or complex shift plans. The mix of fixed-term labor, agency workers, and use of extra part-time work also varies across industries, depending on the pattern of production, work organization, and workforce gender profile

Social partners going digital: using digital tools and adapting social dialogue processes

Aquesta publicació s'elabora a partir de les contribucions de cadascú dels membres nacionals que integren la Network of Eufound Correspondent. Pel cas d'Espanya la contribució ha estat realitzada per l'Alejandro GodinoDigital transformation is changing the world of work. This report looks at how social partners - the actors involved in the regulation of employment relationships - are increasingly adopting technological solutions to improve the services that they provide to their members and facilitate collective bargaining processes. Technological tools offer social partners the opportunity to enhance consultation, engage with their members through digitised processes, improve services and increase networking activities, as well as addressing the issue of membership decline. The findings of this report show that the extent to which the social partners use digital technologies varies greatly across the EU Member States, Norway and the United Kingdom. Provisions in collective agreements on several aspects of digitalisation have been identified in about half of the countries. Through these provisions, social partners encourage their members to boost training on digital skills, ensure fair and safe working conditions and take account of data protection and employee monitoring practices. The European social partners' autonomous framework agreement on digitalisation has provided inspiration to national-level organisations, and follow-up actions in this regard have the potential to greatly benefit their members

Social partners going digital: using digital tools and adapting social dialogue processes

La xarxa de corresponsals d'Eurofound ha contribuït a aquest informe i en concret l'Alejandro Godino com així s'expressa a l'Annex 3: Network of Eurofound CorrespondentsDigital transformation is changing the world of work. This report looks at how social partners - the actors involved in the regulation of employment relationships - are increasingly adopting technological solutions to improve the services that they provide to their members and facilitate collective bargaining processes. Technological tools offer social partners the opportunity to enhance consultation, engage with their members through digitised processes, improve services and increase networking activities, as well as addressing the issue of membership decline. The findings of this report show that the extent to which the social partners use digital technologies varies greatly across the EU Member States, Norway and the United Kingdom. Provisions in collective agreements on several aspects of digitalisation have been identified in about half of the countries. Through these provisions, social partners encourage their members to boost training on digital skills, ensure fair and safe working conditions and take account of data protection and employee monitoring practices. The European social partners' autonomous framework agreement on digitalisation has provided inspiration to national-level organisations, and follow-up actions in this regard have the potential to greatly benefit their members

Exploring New Intermediaries in the Labour Market

New labour market intermediaries, such as those using digital platforms, are challenging not only temporary help agencies but also traditional employer–employee relationships. A new conceptual scheme is proposed to distinguish between three functions: a) allocating the work; b) entering into a contract with the worker; and c) managing and organizing the work.By using this scheme in a study of 11 intermediaries of knowledge-intensive work in Norway, we found that self-service platforms are insufficient and must be supplemented with active client involvement during several stages of the allocation process. Such active involvement is driven by the complexity of the assignments and the client’s uncertainty about job requirements. Regarding management of the work, our findings contrast both with the common perception of independent contractors’ work as self-directed and with the idea that an intermediary can use algorithms to manage work. In reality, the contractor's work is managed in very different ways.Our paper outlines several approaches that combine some or all of the three functions and adds to the literature by describing new forms of triangular work arrangements.Les nouveaux intermédiaires du marché du travail, comme ceux utilisant les plateformes numériques, remettent en question non seulement les agences de placement temporaire, mais aussi les relations traditionnelles entre employeur et employé. Un nouveau schéma conceptuel est proposé pour distinguer trois fonctions : a) répartir le travail ; b) conclure un contrat avec le travailleur; et c) gérer et organiser le travail.En utilisant ce schéma dans une étude portant sur 11 intermédiaires des travailleurs du savoir en Norvège, nous avons constaté que les plateformes en libre-service sont insuffisantes et doivent être complétées par l’implication active du client à plusieurs étapes du processus de répartition. Cette implication active est motivée autant par la complexité des affectations que par l'incertitude du client quant aux exigences du poste. En ce qui concerne la gestion du travail, nos résultats contrastent avec la perception courante du travail des entrepreneurs indépendants comme étant autodirigé, ainsi qu’avec l’idée qu’un intermédiaire puisse utiliser des algorithmes pour gérer le travail. En réalité, le travail de l'entrepreneur est géré de plusieurs manières très différentes.En somme, nous décrivons plusieurs approches qui combinent tout ou partie de ces trois fonctions. De plus, nous enrichissions la littérature en décrivant de nouvelles modalités de travail triangulaires

Nordic labour markets and the sharing economy : – Report from a pilot project

This report presents a preliminary knowledge status about implications of the sharing economy for labour markets and employment relations in the Nordic countries. It also reviews how the Nordic countries and their social partners approach the sharing economy and issues relating, amongst other, to its legality, regulation, taxation, and terms of competition. There is so far scant supply of statistics, data and research in this field. The employment potentials and consequences of the sharing economy will, amongst other, depend on the governments’ and the organized actors’ responses to these challenges. Currently, all the actors seem to be in a phase of knowledge gathering and deliberation of possible policy options, cautiously avoiding taking steps that might obstruct the development of the sharing economy

The knowledge-intensive platform economy in the Nordic countries

Digital labour platforms represent new ways of organising labour and novelopportunities. The Nordic region is recognised for being at the forefront of technology, but digital platforms are currently used to a limited extent. Nordic Innovation and the five national Federations of Professional Associations have commissioned Economics Norway, the Research foundation Fafo and asupporting panel of Nordic experts to study opportunities and barriers for Nordic countries to take advantage of benefits created by the platform economy. The analysis has a specific focus on the platform economy in theknowledge-intensive labour market