European Policy on Workplace Innovation

Abstract

Workplace innovation is gaining profile as an emerging European policy, creating organisational performance and quality jobs. Workplace innovation is part of a broader EU economic and social policy to support organisational change in companies. How can this emergence of interest in workplace innovation, this new elan, be understood? This chapter describes the development of European policies regarding work organisation and workplace innovation over the last 20 years and its societal context. Over the years, the EU has only partly embraced the issue of workplace innovation, leaving most of the support to disparate national policies. Digitalisation and robotisation offer new opportunities for an integrated policy including EU-agendas on innovation, digitalisation, skills and occupational health.