The purpose of this report is to present a state-of-the-art overview of the impact and opportunities of digitalisation in the labour market and, in particular, how social dialogue and collective bargaining address some trends caused by this phenomenon (e.g. teleworking and the development of digital skills).
The report also includes an in-depth analysis of the Italian case, with a focus on SMEs in the metal sector (including both manufacturing and digital companies). The research needed to achieve this objective was carried out using mixed methods, namely desk research, semi-structured interviews, expert consultations. The following paragraphs give a brief overview of the main findings of the research carried out.
As regards the differences between SMEs and larger companies in the use of digital technologies and workers’ digital skills, different reasons can be identified:
- increasing the costs of digital technologies;
- commercial uncertainty about data security;
- lack of risk orientation by management;
- low awareness of the benefits of digital technologies or lack of “self-efficiency”, i.e. trust of SME owner and employees in their productive use