AI in the workplace, our new study for the European Parliament
Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini contributed to the study Digitalisation, artificial intelligence and algorithmic management in the workplace: Shaping the future of work, now available on the website of the European Parliament Think Tank.
Commissioned by the European Parliament’s Directorate for Impact Assessment and Foresight (DG EPRS), the study was prepared as background material to support Members and staff of the European Parliament in their work. In particular, the study supports the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) in preparing a legislative own-initiative report on digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic management (AM) in the workplace.
The research team for FGB included Barbara De Micheli and Giancarlo Dente, Coordinators of FGB’s Social Justice and Policy Evaluation & Human Capital Areas respectively, together with Michele Faioli, Professor of Labour Law at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and member of FGB's Scientific Committee, and Alessandro Smilari, Officer at FGB’s Social Justice Area. The team worked in collaboration with Ela Omersa, Sophie Patras, Martina Ravaglia, Sophie Vancauwenbergh (Milieu) and Mikkel Barslund, Ilse Tobback (KU Leuven).
The publication examines how AI and algorithmic management technologies are being deployed across European workplaces. Once mainly associated with platform work, algorithmic management is now spreading to traditional sectors across the EU, transforming managerial practices and core functions such as task allocation, monitoring, and performance evaluation.
Through case studies in the logistics, healthcare, telecoms, automotive and manufacturing sectors, the report identifies significant gaps in worker protection and regulatory oversight.
In the medium term, the study finds that algorithmic management could bring both productivity opportunities and challenges for employment relations, working conditions and workers’ wellbeing. It highlights key regulatory gaps in the use of these technologies and explores how EU legislation could address them to ensure the responsible use of algorithmic management in the workplace.
The publication also offers policy recommendations for a responsible use of AI and AM, including:
- adopting a recommendation;
- amending existing legislation; and
- developing a new legislative instrument to regulate algorithmic management.
According to the authors, action at EU level would help ensure equal protection for all workers, improve working conditions, and safeguard fundamental rights. For companies, a common set of rules would enhance the level playing field and increase legal certainty.
