Thu
14
May
Seminars and Conferences
Job Quality in a Turbulent Era: Understanding, Measuring and Improving Job Quality in a Changing World of Work | #Theseus Colloquium
The Theseus Research Center at Politecnico di Torino is organizing a new event in the Theseus Colloquia seminar series. The seminar Job Quality in a Turbulent Era: Understanding, Measuring and Improving Job Quality in a Changing World of Work will take place on Thursday, 14 May 2026, from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm.
The introduction will be delivered by Stefano Sacchi, Vice Rector for Society, Public Engagement, Community, and Rector’s Program Implementation.
Abstract
Work is being reshaped by overlapping shocks including digitalization, AI and algorithmic management, platform-based business models, climate transition pressures, and demographic change. In this turbulent era, job quality matters more than ever. Existing frameworks were built for stable, standard employment and are poorly placed to capture recent trends. Platform labour makes this visible: algorithmic management can intensify control and impact working conditions, working time becomes fragmented and unpredictable, and risks for working conditions and social security are shifted from the employer to the worker. Drawing on findings from the edited volume Job Quality in a Turbulent Era (Piasna and Leschke), this talk shows how job-quality measurement can be updated in several directions: adding new aspects of work and employment conditions, incorporating interactions between job quality dimensions, capturing individual vulnerabilities, adapting job quality frameworks to fragmented careers and multiple jobholding, and considering normative criteria beyond individual well-being.
The aim is to provide practical insights and tools to enable more effective analysis and policymaking, alongside a renewed agenda for improving job quality in the face of evolving labour market realities. A key finding is that design choices in algorithms and interfaces do matter for sustainable work.
Biography
Janine Leschke is professor at Copenhagen Business School, Department of Management, Society and Communication. Her research examines job quality, non-standard employment, labour market segmentation and inequality, including a focus on migrant workers, with recent work on AI, algorithmic management and platform work. She was previously a senior researcher at the European Trade Union Institute and a researcher at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. She served as Editor of the Journal of European Social Policy (2018–2024) and is currently Co-chair of the European Network for Social Policy Analysis (ESPAnet).
The introduction will be delivered by Stefano Sacchi, Vice Rector for Society, Public Engagement, Community, and Rector’s Program Implementation.
Abstract
Work is being reshaped by overlapping shocks including digitalization, AI and algorithmic management, platform-based business models, climate transition pressures, and demographic change. In this turbulent era, job quality matters more than ever. Existing frameworks were built for stable, standard employment and are poorly placed to capture recent trends. Platform labour makes this visible: algorithmic management can intensify control and impact working conditions, working time becomes fragmented and unpredictable, and risks for working conditions and social security are shifted from the employer to the worker. Drawing on findings from the edited volume Job Quality in a Turbulent Era (Piasna and Leschke), this talk shows how job-quality measurement can be updated in several directions: adding new aspects of work and employment conditions, incorporating interactions between job quality dimensions, capturing individual vulnerabilities, adapting job quality frameworks to fragmented careers and multiple jobholding, and considering normative criteria beyond individual well-being.
The aim is to provide practical insights and tools to enable more effective analysis and policymaking, alongside a renewed agenda for improving job quality in the face of evolving labour market realities. A key finding is that design choices in algorithms and interfaces do matter for sustainable work.
Biography
Janine Leschke is professor at Copenhagen Business School, Department of Management, Society and Communication. Her research examines job quality, non-standard employment, labour market segmentation and inequality, including a focus on migrant workers, with recent work on AI, algorithmic management and platform work. She was previously a senior researcher at the European Trade Union Institute and a researcher at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. She served as Editor of the Journal of European Social Policy (2018–2024) and is currently Co-chair of the European Network for Social Policy Analysis (ESPAnet).