Event, Press Release / 20.05.2022
Bucharest, May 20, 2022 – Two days of intensive work to develop solutions for the future of work with a focus on work transition during the co-creation workshop organised by Concordia Employer’s Organisation. More than 4,000,000 jobs could be automated in Romania by 2030, using today’s technology, according to a McKinsey study. What happens to workers, how many of them benefit from support, how can we make their lives easier and to turn robots from enemies into partners?
Following the launch of the “Trends Shaping the Future of Work” report, Concordia wanted to see how ideas and challenges can be turned into solutions through an intense co-creation workshop on May 19 and 20. On the first day of the workshop, representatives of firms, trade unions, non-governmental organizations and politicians with work related experience have explored the areas of lifelong learning, reskilling, intergenerational integration and digital skills. The second day of the workshop was dedicated to the development of solutions, in mixed, multi-disciplinary teams. What would we change, how, what helps us, how can we make the future better for people, were questions that were answered in the ideas of digitalization of ANOFM, or to help the self-employed and small businesses to and manage social contributions, through a digital portal called Muncomat, or through an application that helps a person who has lost his job to cross in 10 minutes the pile of files and papers he needs to benefit from the help of unemployment and to help him find a job according to his needs.
The ideas and the projects developed by the participants received feedback directly from politicians, representatives of trade unions and employers who understood how important it is to quickly improve the capacity of the social partners to cope with the future of work and strengthen the national social dialogue.
Raluca Turcan, former Minister of Labor, says that participating in the event gave her confidence in the future “of us, of all”. “In a few years, almost everything we know today will disappear. In this context, we need to prepare the future legislative framework according to a few simple principles: making education and educational pathways more flexible; adaptability of the workforce to new trends, digitalization of work and the relationship with employers and employees; guaranteeing the rights of every employee. “
Oana Țoiu, deputy, member of the Labor Commission, shares her enthusiasm “The worrying news is that Romania has the highest percentage of jobs in the EU with risk of being automated (more than half of them in the next decade will be made without human resources, as it is already happening at fast food chains and some supermarkets). The good news is that this can mean that employees can do more enjoyable and less repetitive things BUT only if we manage to invest in their skills on time. It is one of the essential challenges of Romania’s economic competitiveness in the medium term and perhaps the least present in our TV debates. “
Petre Florin Manole, Secretary of State, and Minel Ivascu, Vice President of the NBS, were special guests who stressed the need to ensure the rights of employees and to protect the most vulnerable of workers.
The Concordia Employers’ Confederation, in partnership with the National Trade Union Bloc, will further explore the concepts developed during this workshop and propose a set of policy recommendations for improving the national legal framework and policy development in Romania, to reflect the new realities for social dialogue and professional life .
This event took place under the umbrella of WorkTransitionCEE, a project co-financed by the European Union, which brings together six representative social partners from Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, both unions and employers, to better understand the risks, challenges and opportunities in Industry 4.0 for labor transition in Central and Eastern Europe.
