Social Innovation of Work and Employment

Workplace innovation and social innovation: an introduction

“…In total, spokespersons of nine different organisations were interviewed, including employer organisations, trade unions, environmental organisations and sectoral funds providing vocational training (Pauwels et al, 2012a). In the second phase, in-depth case studies were carried out in three construction companies, selected on their promoting the construction of energy-efficient or passive houses (Van Peteghem et al, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c. The three cases were suggested by the stakeholders interviewed in the first research phase (amongst others representatives from two different employer organisations) in response to our question: "which construction companies are active on the market of passive houses, as the most advanced form of energy-efficient constructions?".…”

“…Examples are 'innovative workplaces ' (e.g., OECD, 2010a' (e.g., OECD, , 2010band sometimes EESC, 2011) and 'sustainable work systems' or 'sustainable work' which concepts are still used by the Swedish part of the STSD-family (Docherty et al, 2002). And, as can be expected, in national programs and initiatives (Totterdill et al, 2009;Pot et al, 2012b) concepts in the country's language are being used. 'Workplace innovation' is also being used in the USA, Canada and Australia besides concepts such as 'high involvement workplaces' and 'relational coordination' (Gittell et al, 2010).…”

“…There is lots of evidence for the credibility of this promise, already in the nineties as described, but also from recent research (Ramstad, 2009;Gittell et al, 2010;Pot et al, 2012aPot et al, , 2012bTotterdill et al, 2012aTotterdill et al, , 2012bOeij et al, 2015). The next question is "how can be understood that workplace innovation works?…”

“…In March 2011, the European Commission's DG Enterprise & Industry organised a workshop on workplace innovation within the launch of its Social Innovation Europe initiative Pot et al, 2012a). This launch reflected a growing recognition that innovation, central to the EUs 2020 economic strategy, has a clear social dimension.…”

“…Workplace partnership is also about dealing with power relations and different interests. That is why employers' associations and trade unions as well as government agencies are involved in most workplace innovation initiatives and programs (Totterdill et al, 2009;Pot et al, 2012b). Sometimes the government is leading (e.g., Finland, Germany), sometimes the social partners are leading (e.g., UK, Netherlands).…”