Suchergebnisse

The free movement of services, one of the four fundamental freedoms of the European Union's (EU) internal market, allows companies to post their employees to other EU Member States. In Slovenia, the concept of cross-border posting became relevant after the country joined the EU in 2004. The number of posted workers in Slovenia has been growing steadily since then and is among the highest in the EU. An increase in posting has also been observed in the EU as well. One of the main reasons for the rapid increase in the number of workers posted to wealthier EU countries is the accession of ten new Member States in 2004, with significant differences in living standards between the `new´ and `old´ Member States. Focusing on Slovenia, an important reason for Slovenia's high numbers of posted workers is also its proximity to the countries of the former Yugoslavia and the strong migrant flows from these countries to the EU via Slovenian companies. As a result, the number of workers posted from Slovenia to other EU Member States has been one of the highest in the EU over the past decade.

This book focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on changing labour
markets and accelerating digitalisation of the workplace in Central and Eastern
Europe. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted workplaces substantially. As the
lockdowns or stay-at-home measures entered into force, a large proportion of the
workforce was instructed to stay home and continue to work remotely if their
functions made it possible. This policy accelerated the introduction of many digital
solutions, requiring the establishment of new patterns of work, and new institutional
logic guiding daily activity for both organisations and individuals. In a relatively
short time, remote working has become a kind of commonly accepted new
institution with its own new logic, structures, rules, and behaviours (Jacks, 2021).
The trends contributing to a shift towards more flexible, digital working patterns
were emerging before the pandemic (over the last decade) in response to
societal developments, the increasing participation of women, and greater global
competition. In 2020, the combined health and economic shocks have only deepened
the concerns about technology-driven displacement of jobs, growing income
inequality, and rising societal discord towards globalisation.

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the way people operate in all fields of their
activity – individual, social, economic, cultural, civic, to name the most essential
spheres. One of the crucial changes to the rules existing within pre-pandemic
societies was the modification of the work environment and principles (Ralph
et al., 2020; Masood et al., 2022). The patterns developed within the gig economy,
which are based on the idea of flexibility and the use of technological communication
platforms, proved to be the most common response to the change (Diab-
Bahman & Al-Enzi, 2020).
When it comes to specific problems that were highlighted by the pandemic, the
issue of labour pricing occurred to be of concern. The development of online communication
tools created new opportunities to provide services and share results of
one's work via the Internet. It is worth noting that even before the COVID-19,
the issue of work valuation was crucial for some groups, for example, for artists.
The token became an important way of work monetisation both for them and the
new services providers. More and more one hears about artists converting their
artworks (the results of their work) into non-fungible tokens (NFT tokens). But
will only celebrities (artists, actors, and influencers) use this tool in the future? This
question occurred to be an extremely relevant matter in a (post)pandemic world. It
seems that NFT gig tokens are an answer to the challenges occurring on the labour
market, related to the popularisation of the employment model in the gig economy
and the issue of valuing work offered by gig workers.