European Social Dialogue Committee for the Postal Sector

“The world of work in the postal sector in 2030”

A prospective exercise of the European social partners of the sector applied to postal job

Programme area: EC Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion DG

Status: On-going

Duration: 2021-2023

Contract number:  VS/2021/0034

Summary

The project “The world of work in the postal sector in 2030” aims to elaborate the postal characters which will exist in the 5 scenarios on the European postal sector in 2030 that the European social partners have jointly built in a former project jointly. The objective of this follow-up project is to go one step further and make these scenarios more operational. It will investigate the evolutions of jobs within the job areas considered as key for the postal sector, in particular the delivery of postal items, post offices networks and back-office operations (sorting especially). The objective is for each job area to reflect on how it will evolve in the 5 different scenarios based on a story telling around some essential functions so that the diverse possible futures can be embedded in specific persons and become more tangible.

The personification of the future is therefore the main objective of the project. More specifically, the participants will consider what could be the main tasks and missions for identified profiles in the framework of a typical working day. The specificities of the operating conditions will also be considered as well as the tools, in particular digital ones, to be used for each function. Besides the postal characters, it will also be important to consider some other key characters, especially the consumers, who will be in interaction with the postal characters. The impact of the wider economic, regulatory, social environment will be essential to depict each character’s evolutions.

The aim of the Project is therefore to better understand that all jobs will evolve in different directions, some may even disappear while other will appear depending on the different possible futures. For all these job areas, the levers of social transformation will be under close scrutiny. The objective is also to reflect on the possibilities of new jobs for instance drone drivers, providers of new services, platform workers, for each scenario as well as to consider jobs which could become obsolete. Considering that the 5 scenarios are very different from each other, this means that job areas will be considered under 5 different realities.

Some job areas may appear as particularly relevant in one scenario while in another one, they may appear much less relevant. The role of social dialogue and how its representatives, both on the employers’ and on the trade unions’ sides, will have to adapt within each scenario will also be under close scrutiny.
In view of the current context, the European social partners will also have to include the Covid-19 crisis into the reflection. This pandemic which has impacted all the economy and sectors would necessary be part of the debates as it will have a long-lasting effect.

The project will be implemented in the framework of the Social Dialogue Committee (SDC) work programme and fully fits into the objectives of the Postal Sector Evolution working group which is to monitor and anticipate the main evolutions in the sector. On the basis of the different scenarios, the European social partners will draw conclusions for their own work programme and more generally for the main stakeholders from the sector. On a wider perspective it will be in the spirit of the European Commission's Communication on “The European social dialogue, a force for innovation and change”.

Expected Results

The project will contribute to the following objectives and achieve results:

• Contribute to the wider reflection on the social dimension of Europe by analyzing the evolutions to be implemented in the postal sector in consideration of the new world of work and society of tomorrow by analyzing the impacts of the upcoming social, economic, environmental, digital and regulatory evolutions. It will contribute to the broader discussions on how social policy can support these evolutions and mitigate their negative impact, in line with the objectives of Commission’s communication on “A strong Social Europe for just transitions”;
• Reflect under which conditions the principles set in the European pillar of social rights can be effective in the different scenarios under consideration and for the different job areas;
• Take into consideration the opportunities and challenges ahead in the framework of the implementation of the “EU Green Deal” and for a Europe fit for the digital age, in line with the Commission’s work programme.

Last updated on 16 April 2024