JHL’s report reveals: Increasing digitalisation will revolutionise working life
The services and functions provided by society must be thoroughly reformed in order for these services and functions to make use of the benefits of digitalisation to the full. This is shown by Trade Union JHL’s recent digitalisation report.
Digitalisation can only be implemented fairly if employee experiences of its impacts are understood and listened to. Meanwhile, it must be remembered that digitalisation cannot replace all work.
On Thursday 25 May, JHL published its third future trend report. The report deals with digitalisation. It examines the wide-reaching impacts of digitalisation to various areas of society, the occupational sectors represented by JHL, and to the operation of trade unions.
– Digitalisation has been under way for decades, and the rate of its development is increasing. It changes societies, organisations, people’s daily lives and work in a significant manner. Many changes will also be felt by Trade Union JHL members in their work, Special Advisor Anna Korpikoski explains. She coordinates the research work at the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL.
— It must be remembered that digitalisation cannot replace all work. In particular, this goes for many sectors represented by JHL, such as the social welfare and health care sector and the pedagogy and education sector, JHL President Päivi Niemi-Laine states.
Implementing digitalisation well and fairly requires that both employers and employees update their competence. Furthermore, one must aim to prepare for the challenges and risks related to digitalisation and adopting new technology. Various parties must be involved in procurement and monitoring.
– What does it mean if the employees do not get a sufficient onboarding to a new technology or app that has to do with their work? Or if nobody listens to the personnel’s opinion on the technology used?
Well-functioning digitalisation makes it easier to work
When digitalisation works well, it can bring great benefits and ease to working life and individual job profiles.
If implemented badly, it may increase workload or cause concern about whether a person’s work tasks will continue to exist if they can be automated in the future, Korpikoski explains.
– The report gives us a strong starting point for constructing a situational picture from JHL’s perspective and making the union’s role clearer in our society that’s becoming more and more digitalised.
JHL’s digitalisation report emphasises that challenges and possibilities related to new technology should be taken into account in society, working life in general, and in the union’s occupational sectors.
– When we understand better how digitalisation affects the daily life of our members, we can in the future protect member interests even better and offer guidelines to ensure that working life rights are realised and working conditions further developed, President Niemi-Laine states.
The report was conducted by Aula Research by commission of JHL. In addition to written sources, expert interviews representing different perspectives have been made use of in the report.
JHL’s work on future trends is a multi-year project during which large development trends are looked into from the union’s perspective. The previous reports dealt with climate change and demographic change. The reports are a starting point for the union for processing the selected themes in a consistent manner in its contents and functions. The work related to future trends strengthens for its part JHL’s abilities to function in a changing society where working life is developing in the middle of constant pressures for change.