Executive Summary

The chapter presents and discusses the results of a research supported by the European Commission (DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion) concerning the implementation of occupational welfare schemes across Europe by means of social dialogue. Information was collected through the review of secondary sources, a first-hand examination of collective agreements, and in-depth study of companies located in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden. The research adopted a broad conceptualization of occupational welfare, encompassing measures consisting in cash benefits, services or benefits in kind as well as changes in work organisation. In so doing, occupational welfare appears as a field of intervention that provides new opportunities for social dialogue and collective bargaining to implement juridical-organizational regulations consistent with a high-road approach to competitiveness and thus capable of meeting both the organization requirements for greater competitiveness and the individuals’ needs related to the quality of working life and work-life balance opportunities. The research results contribute to advance the understanding of the implementation of occupational welfare practices in different European industrial relations systems. In all the cases under examination occupational welfare operates at best as a compensation for workers’ acceptance of the company requirements for greater flexibility and productivity, rather than as a part of a win-win negotiation strategy aimed at changing the work organization so that to meet jointly the long-term competitive organizational aims and the individuals’ needs. In light of that, the chapter concludes by highlighting some conditions necessary to direct occupational welfare programmes towards and high-road pathway.