The route of the project (by Anna Masiello)

The main objective of this project (June 2019 - September 2021, presented by First Cisl and funded by the European Commission), was to identify the guide-lines on which Industrial Relations in the financial sector must evolve to govern the effects of the entry into force of the MiFID II (Directive 2014/65/EU) and of the revolutionary digitization process.

Activities and workgroups

The field of investigation was divided into three macro areas: 1) corporate or-ganizational systems, linked to the adoption of new business models; 2) evolu-tion of tradievolu-tional models of employment relaevolu-tionships; 3) health risks for work-ers linked to work-related stress. The challenge was to find the right balance between organizational flexibility and the protection of workers in terms of reg-ulation and health in the process of change that will affect companies following digitalisation and the effects of the MiFID II legislation. The activities were di-vided into two main categories: scientific research and empirical research aimed at identifying good practices in the field; the first was carried out by the scientific partners, the second by the social partners (employers and trade unionists). To this end, two working groups have been set up: the first consisting of ADAPT, C.E.L.S.I. (Central European Labor Studies Institute) and F.I.O.H. (Finnish In-stitute of Occupational Health), as Co-Applicant and WAGEINDICATOR as Associate Organization, which has focused on scientific research; the second, made up of trade unionists and employers’ representatives, focused on empirical research.

Expected results

Identify, through the two lines of research, the organizational changes that are taking place in the banking sector in Europe. Through the conceptualization of these changes and the identification of their possible consequences on the

working conditions, offer the social partners in-depth material to discuss and foresee possible scenarios on how to guarantee the growth of the system’s productivity and occupational levels.

Partnership

Project leader: FIRST CISL, Italian union of workers of banks, insurance, fi-nance, collection and authority; co-presenters: CELSI, Slovakian research insti-tute on organizational models; ADAPT, the Italian research instiinsti-tute in the field of international labor law and industrial law, and FIOH, the Finnish institute that promotes occupational health. Thirteen member organizations:

• Trade unions - 10 European organizations: GPA (Austria), FESMC-UGT (Spain), UNITE (UK), UPA (Romania), FEC-FO (France), OZ PPaP (Slo-vakia), PRO (Finland), SSCG (Montenegro), APF FIRST (Italy), the Euro-pean federation UNI EUROPA.

• Scientific Institutions - WageIndicator Foundation (Netherlands), an inde-pendent non-profit foundation that compares and shares labor market infor-mation globally through surveys and desk research on wages, labor law and career.

• The Intesa Sanpaolo Group, a leading bank in Europe, and Federmanage-ment, the Federation which brings together the main non-union associations of managers in Italy.

Scientific contributions

CELSI has analyzed the evolution of the organizational models adopted by fi-nancial companies in the context of the digitization processes of the sector and the introduction of MiFID II, and - in close collaboration with ADAPT - the impact of the new organizational models on the health and stress of workers.

Countries covered by the study: Northern Area (Finland as a case study), Medi-terranean Area (Italy as a case study), Western Europe (Austria as a case study) and Eastern Europe area (Slovakia as a case study). Based on the data collected, CELSI has prepared a comparative report with respect to the four geographical areas mentioned above. ADAPT focused the study mainly on the regulation of financial advisory services provided by MiFID II, highlighting the effects on the employment relationship, working conditions and professional profiles of work-ers and on the identification of new needs for the protection of workwork-ers. It ana-lyzed the literature on the impacts on working conditions and the employment relationship of financial advisory services through desk research and exchange of information with the CELSI partner. FIOH conducted a literature survey related to the consequences of digitization and MiFID II on work tasks and the quality of work in the financial sector, focusing not only on physical or

psychosocial health risks and safety but also on new opportunities for workers to develop skills and competencies, new forms of communication and learning and new ways of working.

Structure and activities of the project Preparatory work

In the preliminary phase, the Management Committee prepared for the launch of the project by carrying out all the necessary preliminary planning activities. In this phase, the web application called Virtual àgora was built, a virtual square where all the participants virtually met during all the months of work, to gather and retrieve materials, and contribute to the discussion by interacting remotely.

16 July 2019, Madrid – Launch of the project. It was the first ‘physical’ meet-ing of the project partners and represented the most delicate moment of the entire project. During the meeting, decisions on the methodology to be followed and operational choices were shared, as well as on the tasks and responsibilities of each partner.

August 2019-January 2020 – Remote research and analysis. This phase lasted 5 months and consisted of research and analysis work by the 2 working groups (scientific partners – scientific research, social partners - empirical research). The research took place in remote mode.

6 March 2020, Bratislava – Steering Committee meeting. The day was en-tirely dedicated to examining the results of the three surveys, and good practices and agreements at the European, national and company levels. Everything was collected, examined, discussed and systematized in a single summary document.

Suspension of activities in presence. After the health emergency following a global pandemic caused by Covid19, the Steering Committee decided to request, obtaining it, an extension of the project deadline. The works then continued with remote meetings.

14 December 2020 – Online Steering Committee meeting. The meeting made it possible to plan subsequent activities. The Committee then carried out an assessment of the results achieved with respect to the stated objectives, set the next steps, establishing the objectives and agenda of the Workshop and the Training Course.

16 April 2021 – Online workshop. In this phase, the results of the two pieces of research carried out, scientific and empirical, were presented. The hypotheses of ‘Policy recommendations’ related to the first reading of the research results were also presented.

15-16 July 2021 – Online training course. The course aimed to increase the participants’ knowledge and skills on the impact of digitization and the MiFID

II directive in companies in the financial sector, in order to improve their effec-tiveness in negotiation for the protection of workers in the European banking sector. Target: Contracting experts from the main banks and insurance compa-nies of the 9 partner countries of the project.

7 September 2021 – Online Steering Committee meeting. The committee validated the results of the training course, designed the final event and approved the agenda of the European conference.

24 September 2021 – European final conference. It was held, finally in at-tendance, in Siena in the prestigious Palazzo Piccolomini. The results of the pro-ject and the possible evolutions, the website, the Policy Recommendations, the good practices collected and the dissemination tools were presented. The central event was the round table entitled “Banks as instruments of public policy, socially responsible for the protection of savings”.

25 September 2021 – Last stage of the project. The Committee defined the methods for disseminating the results in the countries that participated in the project.

All the documents produced by the project, the final results of the meetings, training courses and the European Survey, as well as the final recommendations and the Dissemination Tool are available in the Virtual àgora (agora.firstcisl.it), section MiFID II and digitalization.

2.2. Changes in the organizational models and in the labour demand