Activities of Kim VAN SPARRENTAK related to 2021/2098(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Mental health in the digital world of work (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on mental health in the digital world of work
Amendments (46)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 3
Citation 3
— having regard to Articles 2, 3, 14, 15, 21, 31, 32 and 35 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 a (new)
Citation 3 a (new)
— having regard to the European Pillar of Social Rights, in particular principle 10
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 b (new)
Citation 3 b (new)
— having regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 10 a (new)
Citation 10 a (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 17 February 2022 entitled Empowering European youth: post-pandemic employment and social recovery
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 10 b (new)
Citation 10 b (new)
— having regard to the report of the European Youth Forum of 2021 entitled “Beyond Lockdown: the ‘pandemic scar’ on youth” ;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 a (new)
Citation 15 a (new)
— having regard to Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 b (new)
Citation 15 b (new)
— having regard to Directive 2000/78/EC establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 15 c (new)
Citation 15 c (new)
— having regard to Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas Eurofound found in its COVID-19 surveys that the pandemic posed many challenges for workers working remotely, with consequences in relation to the organisation of working time, well-being, and the physical work environment, all these aspects negatively affecting mental health;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B f (new)
Recital B f (new)
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B i (new)
Recital B i (new)
Bi. whereas increasingly, employers use digital tools such as apps, software and AI to manage their workers; whereas algorithmic management presents new challenges for the future of work, such as technology-enabled control and surveillance through prediction and flagging tools, remote real-time monitoring of progress and performance and time-tracking, automated behavioural nudges which can generate excessive speed and efficiency pressure for workers, track employees’ behavioural patterns, exacerbate discriminatory practices and entail significant risks for, workers’ health and safety, notably including mental health, workers’ right to privacy and human dignity13a; __________________ 13a Workplace Monitoring & Surveillance, Data & Society, Mateescu, A., Nguyen, A., Explainer: February 2019
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected the mental well-being of those facing financial uncertainty or care responsibilities, with women constituting a majority of these groups, as well as of vulnerable populations, including ethnic minorities, the LGBTI+ community, the elderly, persons with disabilities and young people; , neurodiverse people, workers in non-standard forms of work and young people; whereas mental health problems doubled amongst people aged between 15 and 24 in most countries during the pandemic; whereas young people are 30% to 80% more likely to experience depression or anxiety than adults14a; whereas suicide is the second leading cause of death for adolescents aged 15 to 19 and as consequence 3 lives per day are lost to suicide in Europe15a; __________________ 14a Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD), Supporting young people’s mental health through the COVID-19 crisis, 2021 15a UNICEF, The state of the World’s Children 2021. On my Mind: Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health, 2021
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the pandemic unleashed a steep increase in caring responsibilities in combination with working, affecting women disproportionately and widening the gender disparity in unpaid care; whereas this negatively impacted the mental health of people with care responsibilities16a; __________________ 16a EIGE, 2021 Gender Equality Index.
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C c (new)
Recital C c (new)
Cc. whereas the pandemic has significantly impacted young people’s employment and income, with many experiencing job loss and a decrease of their income, therefore negatively impacting their mental health and well- being17a; __________________ 17a https://www.youthforum.org/files/Europe an20Youth20Forum20Report20v1.2.pdf
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas workplace issues that affect mental health include job burn-out or bore-out, harassment, violence, stigma and discrimination and lack of ability to grow or be promoted; whereas one in four European workers feel work has a negative impact on their health12 ; __________________ 12 Eurofound, 6th European Working Condition Survey, 2017.
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E b (new)
Recital E b (new)
Eb. whereas persons with a history of mental ill health are among those facing the greatest barriers accessing the labour market and therefore are often afraid to disclose these issues with their employer or colleagues; whereas these people are more than average unemployed and lack the support needed to access and retain employment;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas the costs of mental ill health are estimated at more than 4 % of GDP across all EU Member States; whereas the cost of work-related depression has been estimated at EUR 620 billion a year, resulting in EUR 240 billion lost economic output13 ; whereas the prevention-related budgets across all EU Member States remain low at 3% of total health expenditure21a; __________________ 13 Opinion of the Expert Panel on Effective Ways of Investing in Health (EXPH): ‘Supporting mental health of health workforce and other essential workers‘, 2021. 21a Eurostat, available at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/product s-eurostat-news/-/ddn-20210118-1
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F c (new)
Recital F c (new)
Fc. whereas inaccessible digital environments can cause distress, frustration and further fatigue for many workers with disabilities having a negative impact on their mental health, and the obligation of providing reasonable accommodation also applies in digital workplaces;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F h (new)
Recital F h (new)
Fh. whereas there is a risk of certain workers being coerced into working remotely on a permanent basis, particularly older workers and workers with disabilities, as a way of avoiding making workplaces accessible; whereas these categories are already at increased risk of social exclusion and the mental health problems that come from being cut off from the community around them; whereas it must therefore be ensured that remote working is a choice and not an obligation;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F j (new)
Recital F j (new)
Fj. whereas in 2020, 11% of individuals between 55 and 64 have never used the internet; whereas the pandemic and telework context has put under particular stress workers who lack basic digital skills22a; __________________ 22a Eurostat
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis have caused a huge strain on the well-being of EU citizens, with higher rates of stress, anxiety and depression; , particularly among young people23a; __________________ 23a Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD), Supporting young people’s mental health through the COVID-19 crisis, 2021
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Stresses that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the transition from education to work, and can therefore cause high levels of stress, anxiety and uncertainty for young people at the beginning of their careers, also likely to worsen their employment prospects and feed into their mental health and wellbeing issues in a vicious cycle; calls for strengthened mental health support, including from public employment services, to address the wellbeing of unemployed persons;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for the EU institutions and Member States to recognise the high levels of mental health issueproblems across the EU and commit to actions regulating and implementing a world of work which protects workers’ mental health and social protection rights;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls that the pandemic demonstrated the need for coordinated EU- level action to respond to health emergencies, revealing shortcomings in foresight, including in preparedness and response tools and adequate funding; calls on the Commission and the Member States to include mental health impacts in their health crisis and pandemic emergency response and preparedness work;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. ApplaudsStands in awe of the frontline staff who sacrificed their own well-being to perform life-saving work during the pandemic; calls for Member States to ensure that they have immediate access to adequate mental health resources; stresses that essential workers, including in the health and care sectors, victim support services, education and food retail, are for a large majority women, facing greater work-related mental health risk, and stresses the particular concern for these vastly growing sectors suffering from staff shortages24a; calls for Member States to improve their salaries and working conditions and career prospects, address staff shortages and ensure that they have immediate access to adequate, accessible, available and quality mental health resources; __________________ 24a EIGE, Gender-Equality Index (2021), p. 35
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recognises that employment can provide individuals with purpose and a sense of identity, as well as financial security and independence; emphasises the positive relationship between good mental health and work productivity;14 __________________ 14 OSHWiki, Mental Health at Workerformance as well as extended working lives; emphasises the fact that improving mental health at work has many positive outcomes for individuals, employers, societies at large as well as public budgets; calls for the obligation for employers to set targets and defining relevant indicators to reduce work-related stress in consultation with workers via trade unions and workers’ health and safety representatives;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Recalls that proactive approaches to digitalisation, such as flexible work hours and establishing employeeworker assistance programmes, can help to mitigate work- related stress; notes that artificial intelligence systems may provide further options for this, when workers and their trade unions are duly informed and consulted;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Stresses the need to protect workers against exploitation by employers in the use of AI and algorithmic management, including prediction and flagging tools to predict employees behaviour and identify or deter rule- breaking or fraud by workers, real-time monitoring of progress and performance and time tracking software, automated behavioural nudges; calls for a ban on surveillance of workers; calls on the Commission and Member States to present a proposal to ensure appropriate protection of workers’ rights and well- being, including mental health, and fundamental rights, such as non- discrimination, privacy, human dignity in an increasingly digitalised workplace;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 d (new)
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8d. Emphasises that the use of technology and artificial at the work place should never be used to the detriment of the mental health and well-being of workers; Notes that deployment of artificial intelligence at work must not lead to excessive monitoring in name of productivity nor result in workers’ surveillance;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 e (new)
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8e. Notes that there is a wide digital gender gap in specialist skills and employment in the ICT sector, where only 18% are women and 82% men25a; whereas it is vital for technology systems to be designed in an inclusive way, to avoid discrimination, mental health issues or harm caused by a non-inclusive design; urges the Commission and Member States to work together to close the digital gender gap of women in STEM, and look into providing incentives for ICT organisations to hire a diverse workforce; __________________ 25a European Commission, Women in Digital Scoreboard 2020
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers as it provides flexibility and alleviates work-related issues; stresses however, that women continue to be disproportionately affectedtake up the bulk of caring duties which continues to have a negative impact on pay, personal development, career progression and pension entitlements, which needs to be addressed; Encourage the Member States to go beyond the provisions of the Directive; invites Member States to improve the number of days granted for carers’ leave and provide remuneration to informal carers taking leaves;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes that the shift to teleworking during the pandemic and the flexibility it provided to employeeworkers could improve work- life balance; encourages companies to provide clear and transparent rules on teleworking arrangement when the right framework is in place ensuring that remote working is a choice and not an obligation with the close involvement of workers and trade unions; acknowledges that an excessive amount of remote work can negatively affect workers’ health as a result of increased working hours, over-connection and feelings of loneliness, making it also harder for the employer or co-workers to catch early signals that someone is struggling with poor mental health; calls on the Commission to propose a legislative framework with a view to establishing minimum requirements for telework across the Union to be developed in consultation with Member States and the European social partners, with full respect for national labour market models; calls on the Commission and the Member States to pay particular attention to persons with mental or physical disabilities; stresses that the working conditions of teleworkers are equivalent to those working on-site and that specific measures need to be taken to follow up and support the wellbeing of remote workers;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Considers the right to disconnect essential to ensuring the mental well-being of employees; reiterates its calls on the Commission to propose legislation requiring line manag in particular for female workers, who are more likely to combine work with caring responsibilities, and workers in non-standard forms of work such as platform work; recalls its request for the Commission to include the right to disconnect in the strategic framework for occupational safety and health and, explicitly, to develop new psychosocial measures as part of the framework; calls on the Commission to propose, in consultation with the social partners, a directive on minimum standards and conditions to ensure that all workers are able to exercise effectively their right to disconnect and to regulate the use of existing and new digital tools for work purposes in line with its resolution of 21 January 2021; reiterates its calls on the Commission to propose legislation requiring employers to set minimum requirements for remote working;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Notes, however, that teleworking is not yet available to all workers due to insufficient digital skills levels and that the increased use of home-based telework during the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the pre-existing digital divides across EU-countries and across population groups within countries; stresses the importance of fighting against the digital divide in Europe and the necessity of retraining in order to ensure a sufficient level of digital skills for all workers; calls for more targeted investments into the provision of digital skills, in particular to groups which are more digitally excluded, such as persons with low socio-economic status, low educational background, older persons and persons living in rural and remote areas;
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Stresses that the provision of accessibility and reasonable accommodation is applicable in work- related digital environments and, therefore, employers should put in place measures to adapt and ensure fair and equal working conditions for persons with disabilities, including those with mental health issues, including the compliance with relevant digital accessibility standards derived from Directive (EU) 2019/882, as well as the provision of reasonable accommodation to accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities and prevent any mental health problem among the workers;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Is concerned about the disconnect between current policy on mental health and attitudes in the workplace creating stigma; emphasises that due to stigma and discrimination, employees often feelare unable to discuss mental health issues; recognises that employees who return after mental health leave are often poorly accommodated; calls for workplaces to develop or provide clear information about, their in- house mental health support services or access to external services;15 __________________ 15 WTW, 2021 Employee Experience Survey
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Reminds that harassment and discrimination on multiple grounds exist in the workplace and are a frequent source of stress and disconnection from the workplace; reminds that in particular discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, sex, gender and sexual orientation, racialised perceptions, educational or socio-economic status and belonging to perceived minorities are widespread and should be addressed; considers any form of harassment in the workplace to be a serious cause for mental health issues, particularly affecting women, including new avenues for such behaviours by digitalisation of work, whereas organisations often do not have anti-harassment policy in place, nor prevention measures; deems it important to include anti-harassment policy in health and safety measures at work;
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission to propose, in consultation with the social partners, a directive on psychosocial risks and well-being at work aiming to effectively prevent psychosocial risks in the workplace; considers that occupational safety and health prevention policies should also involve employees in the identification and prevention of psychosocial riskare the responsibility of the employers but should also involve workers and trade unions in the conception and implementation of measures to identify and prevent psychosocial risks; considers the need to guarantee no repercussions for workers who raise concerns regarding psychosocial risks at the workplace; considers the need to provide adequate means for labour inspectorates, including further funding and training to ensure that they can adequately protect workers;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15b. Calls on Member States to ensure the establishment of more committees on health and safety at work in order to ensure more frequent and accurate risk assessments and to strengthen the prerogatives of existing health and safety committees by giving them rights to invoke external expertise, including independent, third-party evaluations of exposure to work-related psychosocial risks;
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Considers that it is essential for managall workers to be provided with the psychosocialraining on the prevention of work-related psychosocial risks and for managerial staff to receive specialised training required to proactively adapt to work organisation practices and foster a deep understanding of negative mental health and the workplacework-related risks causing poor mental health; encourages employers to foster a positive approach, policies and practice to good occupational mental health and well-being; underlines that social partners must play a central role in the design and implementation of both trainings and best practices to guarantee their success;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Underlines that given the lack of sufficient mental health support and policies in the workplace, employeeadequate procedures to address work- related psychosocial risks as well as insufficient mental health support, workers often have to rely on services provided by non- governmental organisations (NGOs); calls for workplaces to ensure employees have access to in-house mental health support and remedies, many of whom are chronically under- resourced and faced with additional significant human and funding strains during the pandemic; calls for workplaces to encourage mental health literacy and ensure workers have access to quality and targeted in-house mental health support and remedies or be provided access to external supports at the expense of the employer should in-house services be unavailable; calls for workplaces to execute external audits on the wellbeing and safety of their workers, as to oversee where improvements can be made;
Amendment 244 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Encourages the Commission to launch education and awareness initiatives on mental health in the workplace; urges the Commission to make 2023 the EU Year of Good Mental Health to achieve this; calls on the Commission to study the feasibility of establishing a common EU helpline number for mental health support; calls on the Commission to dedicate an adequate budget to relevant calls for proposals under its EU4Health, work programme, Erasmus+, HorizonEurope, DigitalEurope and other EU programmes;
Amendment 245 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Urges the Commission to consider adding psychosocial health and well- being indicators and targets to its revised Social Scoreboard; urges the Commission to reflect the occupational health and safety considerations in the annual European Semester cycle, as well as the monitoring of the implementation of the national Recovery and Resilience Plans of the Member States; recommends the Commission and the Member States to apply the Health Equity Impact Assessments in relation to mental health impacts of existing and planned employment and digital work policies;
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 c (new)
Paragraph 18 c (new)
18c. Reminds that employers’ responsibility for occupational health and safety continues to apply in a telework context; calls for support in the provision of ergonomic equipment, guidance on ergonomic workspaces at home and on the importance of taking regular breaks and ensuring human interaction;
Amendment 250 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Recognises that the lack of statistics on the prevalence of mental health issues within the workplace undermines the need for urgent intervention; calls for Eurostat to gather statistics disaggregated by gender, age and other relevant features which include mental ill health and its negative impacts, risk factors leading to mental ill health and the impact of poor mental health;
Amendment 258 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Points out that 64 % of young people between 18 and 34 were at risk of depression in 2021 due to lack of employment, financial and educational prospects, as well as loneliness and social isolation, with young women and young people in marginalised situations more severely affected; calls on the Commission to address the disruption in access to the labour market which has put young people at greater risk of experiencing mental health issues17 and take action to support young people in accessing and retaining adequate employment; __________________ 17 OECD, Supporting young people’s mental health through the COVID-19 crisis, 2021, and European Youth Forum, ‘Beyond Lockdown: The ‘Pandemic Scar’ on Young People’.