briefing papers for policy makers

Briefing Paper 54
Research Institutions:
University of Bremen, Germany
Institute for Employment
Research, University of
Warwick, United Kingdom
BETA/Céreq Alsace, University
Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg,
France
Departament de Didàctica i
Organització Escolar,
University of Valencia, Spain
Technical University of Tallinn,
Estonia
University of Patras, Greece
National Observatory of VET
and Labour Market, Czech
Republic
Contact Person
Simone Kirpal
University of Bremen
ITB (Institute Technology and
Education)
Am Fallturm 1
28359 Bremen
Germany
Tel: +49-421-218.46.46
Fax: + 49-421-218.46.37
kirpal@uni-bremen.de
This project has been funded by DG-
Research under the Key Action
“Improving the Socio-Economic
Knowledge Base” of FP5
Work Identities in Europe
Context of the Research
Workers and employees in Europe are increasingly exposed to demands on
flexibility and mobility at work. They are challenged to deal with and adjust
to continuous changes in the work context generated through technological
innovations, globalised economies and organisational restructuring.
Adjusting to these changes requires specific learning and work attitudes that
enable the individual to actively engage in work processes in order to ensure
their successful integration into the labour market. Depending on the work
circumstances individuals can be identified as having specific characteristics
or work-related identities.
This project investigates the role that work-related identities play in these
forms of adjustment that workers are expected and required to make over
time. The project has aimed to better understand the role of work identities
that individuals develop through their interaction with work processes and
different contexts. The project has looked at how these processes work in a
time of change and how they influence an individual’s concept of work. This
is important, because an individual’s concept of work and how they identify
with their job, the work environment or the employer considerably
determines their work commitment. Work commitment provides the basis
for motivation, good work performance and quality of work that makes
individual and collective productivity possible and functional.
In order to represent the variety and diversity of Europe with regards to the
cultural, socio-economic and political embedding of work concepts,
occupations and vocational education and training systems the project is
being conducted in seven European countries - Czech Republic, Estonia,
France, Germany, Greece, Spain and the United Kingdom - focusing on
different occupations across five contrasting sectors - metal working
industry/engineering, health care, telecommunications/IT, tourism and timber
and furniture.
Key Conclusions
1. Three dominant modes of ‘strategic action’ of employees in forming
their work-related identities have been identified:
• In most of the occupational groups investigated there are employees with an
affiliation towards classical types of occupational identities with a high level
of identification either with the occupation, the employer, the product or the
daily work tasks. For this group of employees, changes in the working
environment present a real challenge, as they often do not have the means or
personal resources to adjust flexibly to new demands. Many of them
develop a ‘retreat’ or ‘identification’ strategy (i.e. holding on to traditional
elements of identification) with the aim of conserving as much as possible
their current work status and work tasks with little or no inclination towards
learning, professional development or changing working conditions
including employers.
• At the other extreme, there are highly dynamic and pro-active employees,
with a highly flexible type of work identity, who anticipate and internalise
the requirements for continuous adjustments and changes in the work place.
They are highly flexible and mobile, often combining a good mix of
technical and hybrid social skills, but they also use
163