The Eurofound working paper Implications of AI for work, employment and social dialogue (2025) examines how artificial intelligence is transforming European workplaces, from task design to collective governance. Positioned within wider trends of automation and digitalisation, the study shows that AI’s effects depend less on technology itself than on how firms reorganise work, develop skills, and include workers in decision-making.
At the task level, AI delivers clear productivity gains—especially in writing, translation, coding, and design—yet rarely achieves full human–machine synergy. While algorithms outperform people in structured decision-making, humans add value in creative and interpersonal tasks. As a result, organisations are rebalancing responsibilities through new “triage” systems that assign work between humans and AI. Successful adoption requires complementary investments in skills, data infrastructure, and workflow redesign.
Job quality outcomes are mixed. AI can enhance autonomy and learning when used for augmentation, but risks reducing control and increasing cognitive intensity where systems replace human judgment. Physical safety often improves, yet psychosocial stress and job insecurity persist, particularly in low-skilled roles. The emerging AI production chain reflects strong polarisation—well-paid developers alongside precarious data annotators.
Employment effects remain limited overall: high-skilled, knowledge-intensive occupations see reorganisation rather than large-scale displacement, while freelance and platform workers experience sharper disruption. Across Europe, social dialogue is becoming essential to steer these changes. Countries with robust worker participation—such as Germany, Spain and Sweden—are leading efforts to embed transparency, training, and ethical safeguards in AI governance.