One in four workplaces in Europe use AI for employee decisions
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and algorithmic management tools permeate workplaces in Europe, labor professionals are calling on the European Union to introduce a new directive to protect workers’ rights.
A quarter of workplaces in Europe are using algorithms, or AI, to automate work decisions traditionally made by managers, according to a study conducted by Lithuanian research agency Visionary Analytics for the European Commission.
The report warns that this figure is expected to “grow rapidly over the next 10 years.”
The report said the tools are used in recruitment, assigning work tasks, guiding workers on how to complete their tasks, and supervising and evaluating workers, mainly for those working with large platforms such as Uber or Lyft.
Now it is moving into more traditional workplaces.
A joint report by the Commission and the International Labour Organization (ILO) found that the French logistics sector uses AI-enabled route planning tools to give drivers information such as road traffic and delivery locations in real time, but this could lead to “extensive monitoring and surveillance of drivers”.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) said its members are trying to negotiate collective agreements that ensure workers are aware of algorithms in their workplaces and how they affect them.
“It’s a new topic, it’s a challenging topic and many unions don’t really have the expertise or capacity to deal with it,” said Next Tea Jarc, ETUC’s confederal secretary.
Algorithms will become more ‘pervasive’ in the workplace
Algorithmic management can set an employee’s working conditions, such as the hours people work, wages, shifts and performance appraisal.
Jarc said there are cases where algorithms are also collecting data they shouldn’t, such as mental health data.
She also said platforms are tracking employees even when they’re offline.
In many cases, these workplaces are introducing new algorithms or metrics to measure employee performance “without informing unions” or workers, she added.
The commission said in its report that existing EU legislation focuses on some workplace issues affected by algorithmic management, such as work intensity, transparency and predictability, but that some gaps still remain, such as the distinction between working time and rest time.
“It’s time for these companies to understand that they can’t hide management decisions behind algorithms,” Jarc said.
Alessio Bertolini, a researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute in the UK, said algorithmic management has existed in some form since the 1990s but is experiencing a resurgence with the latest wave of AI in action.
“What we’re going to see more of in the coming years is just a more sophisticated version of algorithms that are definitely more prevalent in the workplace,” Bertolini said.
Unions don’t have the financial means to hire algorithmic experts
Figures from Uni Europa, a union representing more than 7 million workers in the European Union, say there are 23 agreements signed across Europe with some mention of algorithmic management.
Unions that successfully negotiated these agreements include Spain’s Workers’ Commission (CCOO) and the General Union of Workers (UGT), as well as the United Federation of Danish Workers (3F).
They have sought outside expertise to help them draft them and to have the budget to do so, according to Jarc.
“Most unions across the European Union do not have the same resources as the larger national unions,” Jarc said.
Even for those workers covered by a collective agreement, Jarc said enforcement is “very low” and often depends on whether employees are going to their management and asking for more information about how they can be supervised at work.
Jarc said any updated legislation on algorithmic management should give “more collective rights” to unions so that they can intervene in these disputes and enforce collective agreements that have been signed.
‘Lawmakers are falling behind’
So far in Europe, legislation addressing algorithmic management is “very limited” for those working in the gig economy for popular platforms like Uber or Amazon, Jarc and Bertolini said.
In 2024, the European Union adopted the Platform Workers Directive which states that workers “may not be dismissed based on a decision made by an algorithm or a