Improving Working Conditions in Social Services

2026-07-22

Despite the potential for growth and job creation, social services face major difficulties to recruit and retain enough workers. Low wages, physical and mental exhaustion due to the Covid-19 pandemic, flexible working times (shift work), psychologically demanding working conditions and understaffing are among the main reasons why workers are leaving or not applying for jobs in the sector. In this context, the challenge for social services is to improve working conditions and ensure safe and healthy workplaces in order to mitigate staff shortages and meet the growing demand for accessible, affordable and high-quality social services. The project aims to support the improvement of working conditions in social services, by: 1. Tackling the main issues affecting the sector’s working conditions and attractiveness. The project will develop proposals on some of the most important issues impacting the sector’s attractiveness. These include occupational safety and health (including physical and psychological health risks), work-life-balance, skills and training, innovation (e.g., the digital and green transition), diversity and gender perspectives, ageing, and others. 2. Further building capacity for social dialogue and social services employers’ organisations. This will be done through organising and implementing study visits and drafting a guide on how to build and manage effective employers’ organisations in social services. The study visits aim to enable social services employers to learn from each other, share their knowledge and experiences, further develop their activities and broaden their networks. Organisations who are currently in the process of developing employers’ organisations in their countries are specifically targeted. The study visits will be followed by the guide drafting. All project outputs may be used in the framework of EU sectoral social dialogue in social services.

Belgium

2026-01-15