A kind of magic? Empirical insights into the contested relation between Occupational Safety and Health and Algorithmic Management
Speaker: Tiago Vieira (EUI)
For years, the impact of algorithmic management on occupational health has remained under heated discussion; however, to date, evidence to reach conclusions is scarce. This study aims to shed light on this debate by adopting a non-deterministic approach, which considers the impact of technology within the framework of broader non-technological occupational health determinants. Using data from the 2022 Flash Eurobarometer OSH Pulse Survey, which includes over 27,000 respondents from 29 European countries, this article assesses the impact of digital performance monitoring, automated work attribution, and biological indicators monitoring. The findings reveal that algorithmic management tools have a nuanced impact, sometimes reducing non-technological OSH risks, while in other cases, exacerbating them. Although these tools have the potential to improve safety, their effectiveness is highly context-dependent. Importantly, when other risks are absent, algorithmic management tools show either no impact or detrimental outcomes. The study concludes that addressing traditional OSH challenges should remain a priority, advocating for a balanced approach that integrates technological without losing sight broader workplace improvements and sources of risk to workers.
Return-to-work rehabilitation as a social investment
Speakers: Daniel Brüggmann (German Pension Insurance/German Social Insurance European Representation)
Medical rehabilitation on behalf of the German Pension Insurance (GPI) aims to ensure the long-term participation of chronically ill or disabled people in the labour market. Given the high cost of these services, it is crucial to systematically evaluate their benefits for the insured and the social security system. Solid evidence of their effectiveness would underline the importance of social investment in return-to-work rehabilitation interventions. The project aims to develop a simple and annually reproducible indicator that quantifies the economic benefits of rehabilitation in Germany. This robust indicator is to be introduced into the European discussion on measuring the output of social investments in the context of the IWGSI framework.
The analyses will be based on routine data from the GPI. Quasi-experimental propensity score matching will be used to test the effectiveness of medical rehabilitation. In addition, subgroup analyses (e.g., according to duration of sickness benefits prior to rehabilitation) will be carried out to obtain more differentiated results. As a social investment, the impact of rehabilitation would ideally be quantified from a societal perspective. However, due to the limitations of pension insurance data, the impact can only be quantified from a social security perspective. Thus, the choice of outcome measures is based on the benefits (e.g., income from employment and contributions to transfer payments) and additional costs (e.g., costs of the rehabilitation service and receipt of sickness, unemployment, and disability benefits) to social security institutions. To examine short- and long-term effects, outcomes will be assessed one, two and five years after the end of rehabilitation. Based on these analyses, it will be possible to calculate the return on investment (ROI) of return-to-work rehabilitation for the social security system. The aim of the presentation is to present and discuss the research design in more detail.
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