In their General Assembly on 13th February, the Social Employers welcomed two new members and formally agreed to create the Social Employers Observatory. On 14th February, the Social Employers and EPSU held a Thematic Seminar on “Recruitment and Retention in Social Services: Improving the sector’s attractiveness”.
Breaking News
- On the 13th February, the Federation of European Social Employers held its General Assembly and welcomed two new members: COPAS from Luxembourg and FONSS from Romania. The Social Employers now have 22 members in 15 European countries and expect to further grow in the months to come.
- The Social Employers also formally agreed to create the Social Employers Observatory; a one-stop-shop for research, data collection, exchanging practices on crucial issues for the sector at EU level.
- On the 14th February, the Federation of European Social Employers and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) held a Thematic Seminar on "Recruitment and Retention in Social Services: Improving the sector’s attractiveness". Supported by experts from research institutes & practical examples, the Seminar brought together over 50 Employers and Trade Union representatives from across Europe to jointly identify challenges and opportunities and further discuss joint work that could be achieved at European level.
The Social Employers welcome new members
In their first General Assembly of 2019, the Federation of European Social Employers welcomed two new members: the Confédération des Organismes Prestataires d’Aides et de Soins (COPAS) from Luxembourg and the Federation of Non-Governmental Organisations providing Social Services (FONSS) from Romania. The Social Employers now have a total of 22 members from 15 European countries, who are active as employers in the field of social care and support for the elderly, for persons with disabilities & children; as well as services for other vulnerable or disadvantaged persons.
Welcoming the new members, Thomas Bignal, Director of the Social Employers stated “COPAS and FONSS are a valuable addition to our membership bringing in equally important yet different experiences for employers in the field of social services across Europe. Having brought in new members from additional countries we had yet to cover shows our ability to represent the sector’s employers from across Europe, in all their diversity.”
The Social Employers create an Observatory
The General Assembly also agreed to create the Social Employers Observatory, which will collect and produce data and research, as well as facilitate the exchange of promising practices in four main areas: workforce, funding, quality of services and innovation.
On the creation of the Social Employers Observatory, its newly appointed Chair, Sylvain Renouvel, stated that “there is a significant lack of data and research on issues affecting social services employers’ at European level. Our Observatory will help employers & policy-makers at all levels to have a better understanding of practices & standards across Europe”.
Discussions on Recruitment & Retention between the Social Employers and EPSU
On Thursday 14th February, the Social Employers and the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) co-organised a Thematic Seminar on “Recruitment and Retention in Social Services: Improving the sector’s attractiveness”.
The day started with an intervention by Dr. Lina Salanauskaite, Senior Expert at the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), providing statistical information about gender imbalances in social care. This was followed by practical examples on recruitment and retention in social services from COPAS (Luxembourg), ActiZ (the Netherlands), SNAECSO (France), Sene Cura (Czech Republic) and FP CGIL (Italy). The participants engaged in the process of jointly identifying challenges related to recruitment and retention, as well as the building blocks for what both organisations could jointly develop together in the future.
Concluding the day for the Social Employers, Gregor Tomschizek, President, said "Changing family patterns, more women in employment and an ageing society all increase the demand for social services. This means a huge increase in job creation needs. For social services systems to react and adapt to such trends, employers and unions need to work together towards fair and sustainable solutions. The sector’s social and economic importance also needs to be recognised and valued across Europe, in particular to secure the right funding. If we don’t take action today, our generation will feel the impact in the future.”
Both the Social Employers and EPSU have already agreed to follow-up bilaterally by developing a joint paper on recruitment and retention in social services. This paper will serve as a basis for a future workplan between the two organisations.
Supporting Documents
- Agenda
- Presentations
- Social Employers Position Paper on Job Creation
- A PDF of the Press Release is available here.
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For more information, please contact:
Thomas Bignal
Director
thomas.bignal(at)socialemployers.eu
+32 2 233 77 23
Alina Pavicevac
Project & Policy Officer
alina.pavicevac(at)socialemployers.eu
+32 2 233 77 23
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