The influence of collective employment relations on work accommodation: case studies in Estonia, Hungary and Poland

Abstract

Work accommodations are generally understood to refer to individual solutions for older and disabled employees that have been tailored to their specific situation within a workplace. This article, however, argues that there is potential for collective employment relations to motivate and enable social partners to develop a role in implementing reasonable accommodations and supporting older and disabled employees in the labour market. Focusing on industrial relations and work accommodation systems in Estonia, Poland and Hungary, the potential role that social partners could play in creating more inclusive workplaces is explored. This is done by reference to the findings from an action research project that brought together social partners to discuss ways in which practices in providing work accommodations could help better to integrate underutilised sources of labour in these three countries. The industrial relations regimes in the three countries have potentially enabling characteristics that could facilitate work accommodations. Current knowledge of the work accommodation process and the integration of this issue into the collective employment relations agenda, however, needs further improvement.

Work accommodations and sustainable working: The role of social partners and industrial relations in the employment of disabled and older people in Estonia, Hungary and Poland

“…Trade union participants in workshops had not been actively involved in negotiating workplace accommodations and neither regarded them as a matter for equal opportunities or a topic for collective bargaining (Masso et al, 2019a). The categorization of accommodations as health and safety matters is largely responsible for this, resulting in their medicalization and privatization as confidential matters between an employer and employee.…”

“…The prerogative to determine how a job is conceptualized and performed has traditionally rested with the employer, but the duty on employers to make work accommodations, if properly implemented, can disrupt this both symbolically and practically. It is no coincidence, therefore, that when we reviewed the literature on industrial relations and workplace accommodations (Masso et al, 2019a) to stimulate social partner discussions in our workshops, we found that positive outcomes were most likely to be associated with a trade union presence in a workplace and representation (Bacon and Hoque, 2012;Foster and Fosh, 2010;Van Laden et al, 2015;Williams-Whitt, 2007).…”

“…Groups representing disabled and older people attended workshops in Estonia and Hungary, but not Poland, although they were consulted in advance. Elsewhere we have outlined more fully the purposes and outcomes of the action research approach (Masso et al, 2019a), which had three key objectives: to educate social partners about the potential benefits of work accommodations for disabled and older people, to engage them in discussions about their potential role in improving accommodations, and to co-produce solutions for future action. Below secondary and primary data used to compile country case study material not previously referred to are drawn on.…”

“…In our three participant countries, Estonia, Hungary and Poland, work accommodations to facilitate the employment of disabled or older people are generally categorized as health and safety, rather than equal opportunity matters. This, is problematic, not least because the mechanisms that drive, shape and determine the way work is structured and organized are the concern of employment relations actors (Foster and Fosh, 2010;Masso et al, 2019a). Accommodations are also regulated by EU and national anti-discrimination employment laws, and this mis-categorization conceals their social and political character.…”

“…From workshop discussions, we found the formal role played by social partners in work accommodations, particularly at the level of the workplace, had been limited. We analyse in depth reasons why collective bargaining around accommodations has not developed in these countries and make international comparisons with different systems of industrial relations in Masso et al (2019a). In Hungary and Poland, national social dialogue bodies have had some debate on work accommodations but they have largely focused on health and safety concerns.…”