Session themes - beyondwork2020

1. Health and prevention

The continuing evolution of the worlds of work is accompanied by a growing focus on health aspects. Technological change and new forms of work offer a whole range of possibilities to make work healthier. These opportunities need to be exploited, for example, by establishing new prevention strategies at companies. In this session theme, participants will discuss how to take advantage of the extensive potential of innovative tools and forms of work with regard to employee health.

2. Networks at work

The transformation of currently established work forms will create both challenges and opportunities. In particular, these will concern the increasingly complex networking of companies, processes and products. As the sessions addressing this topic will show, it takes openness to new approaches and the necessary skills to take full advantage of the many opportunities that networked collaboration offers – whether this involves crowdworking, data-based business models or the particularities of geographically dispersed and time-flexible teamworking.

3. Humans and machines

One of the major challenges of the work of the future will be ensuring that the interaction between people and machines benefits workers. Whether in industry, agriculture, nursing care, education or the service sector, robots, artificial intelligence and connected systems are increasingly taking over tasks and providing us with support. How do we ensure that the focus remains firmly on people and that we retain control as decision-makers and creative designers? The sessions in this session theme will have a focus on the ethical questions involved and also present many exciting examples of practical applications.

4. Interactive work

Whether in customer relations or health care, the use of new digital applications, machines and robots will change how we interact with other people in our work. With many companies increasing their focus on service, there will also be new fields of activity for employees. Successful examples of interactive work in the digital age will be presented within this session theme.

5. Participation and leadership

The transformation of work is also changing company cultures. Rigid, top-down management styles are increasingly giving way to participatory decision-making processes which utilisze and take account of the abilities, knowledge and needs of all employees. Digitalization also offers many new opportunities to offer direct communication channels to staff and thus involve them in key processes. Digitalization also offers many new opportunities to enable staff to act as partners for communication as well as to involve them in key processes. Discussions in this session theme will address the opportunities and challenges this involves.

6. Regional and global change

This session theme looks beyond Europe, examining a variety of issues from a global perspective, such as the importance of the human dimension and the application of ergonomics in the work processes of today and the future. Global, European and regional networking structures will also be discussed, with a focus on their different characteristics and how they interact.

7. Skills management

With the technological and structural development of the worlds of work, new areas of expertise and skills will become relevant for employees. Particularly in the face of changing demographics, it is important for skilled workers to be able to develop individually as well as build and expand their knowledge of new developments and technologies throughout their working careers. The focus of this session theme is on how companies and employees can make that happen.