• On 6 January 2023, the International Labour Organization (ILO) released the new report, Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World, providing a comprehensive review of working hours and working time arrangements and their effects on workers' work-life balance.
• It is the first-ever ILO global report on working time.

• A technical meeting on the future of work in the oil and gas industry was held in Geneva from 28 November to 2 December 2022, as decided at its 341st Session (March 2021) by the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO). 
• The meeting discussed opportunities and challenges for a just transition to a future of work that contributes to sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental dimensions.

• On 22 November 2022, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a new health policies study: Promoting Health and Well-being at Work, Policy and Practices.
• The report analyses how employers promote health and wellbeing at work in ten countries, including G7 countries and OECD countries in the Asia/Pacific region (Australia, Korea and New Zealand), including regulation, financial incentives, guidelines, and certification and award schemes.

• On 30 November 2022, Eurofound published its research report, carried out in the context of the three-year pilot project (2021–2023), ‘Role of the minimum wage in establishing the Universal Labour Guarantee’, mandated to Eurofound by the European Commission.
• It aims to understand how minimum wages, wage rates, tariffs, fees and other forms of pay could be fixed for specific jobs or professions in sectors with a high level of ‘vulnerable’ workers and ‘concealed’ self-employed by mapping national and sectoral approaches.

• ILO just released the Global Wage 2022-2023 Report, one of its flagship reports on wage trends and policies at national and global levels that looks at the global economy and labour market context and the impact that the pandemic has had on wages.
• This edition shows that, in the first half of 2022, there was the first negative global wage growth recorded since the start of the 21st Century.

• In a recently released report The Word 2022, experts from Ius Laboris alliance answer some key human resource (HR) issues, covering the proliferation of changes in the workplace and how employers can face them.
• The addressed topic are talent and attraction, the uncertain economic outlook, HR technology, and HR’s increasing role in engaging with and recognising ethical issues that are important to employees.

• The Adecco 2022 global study provides insights into the attitudes of the current workforce and offers food for thought to help organisations future-proof their talent.
• It is the third edition of the research, as it follows “Resetting Normal: Defining the New Era of Work” of 2020 and 2021, we reported here. 

• On 17 October 2022, the European Council approved the EU Directive , which aims to promote a balanced gender representation on the boards of listed companies.
• The Directive stipulates that members of the under-represented sex should hold at least 40% of non-executive board positions in listed companies by 2026.

• On 18 October 2022, the European Commission adopted its 2023 work programme, setting out targeted action to further steer the Union towards a sustainable recovery.
• The Commission aims at supporting people and businesses by reducing energy prices, securing the supplies critical for our industrial competitiveness and food security, or reinforcing our social market economy.

• A new policy brief on mental health at work, developed jointly by World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), provides a pragmatic framework for implementing the WHO guidelines on mental health at work.
• The publication is part of the wider WHO “Guidelines on mental health at work”. 

• On 3 October 2022, The International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and the World Employment Confederation (WEC) released a new report on Diverse forms of work in the platform economy.
• It outlines the regulatory context, benefits and challenges of platform work, providing detailed insights and information on how it has become an enduring feature of labour markets. 

• Randstad recently released its “Gender equality in the workplace 2022” report, based on the surveys of 6,000 workers across the construction, education, healthcare and technology sectors. 
• It aims to gain detailed insight into the status quo of UK workplaces and assess the persistence of gender discrimination.

• As we previously reported, following the proposal for a "Directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union", published on October 2020, last June, the EU Council and the European Parliament reached an agreement for adequate minimum wages in the European Union (EU), aiming to guarantee decent living standards for workers.
• On 14 September 2022, the European Parliament approved the Directive with 505 votes in favour, 92 against and 44 abstentions.

• A new paper by the International Labour Organization (ILO), Pay transparency legislation: Implications for employers’ and workers’ organizations, published on September 2022, shows that pay transparency measures can help to address the gender pay gap and reduce broader gender inequalities in the labour market.

• On 9 September 2022, OECD released its annual Employment Outlook report, Building Back More Inclusive Labour Markets, with the latest data and analysis of the impact on employment of the Covid-19 crisis and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
• It reviews the key labour market and social challenges for a more inclusive post-COVID‑19 recovery and examines the policies to address these and future challenges.

• On 5 July 2022, with 501 votes in favour, 47 against and 85 abstentions, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on mental health in the digital world of work.
• It calls on the EU institutions and the Member States to recognise the high levels of work-related mental health problems across the EU and to strongly commit to actions to prevent mental health problems, protect mental health and a healthy work-life balance and reinforce social protection rights in the workplace.

• The new Strategic Issue Paper from the World Employment Confederation (WEC) -Europe, released last August, focuses on the main factors behind the current labour shortages, a growing phenomenon and concern for employers and policymakers across Europe.
• It follows the Global Labour Shortage Briefing, published by WEC in the second quarter of 2022, that stressed how job vacancy rates continue to rise in 2022, and in many countries, the numbers are the highest that they have ever been.

• According to the latest data, absenteeism at work is a phenomenon that has been growing enormously in recent times especially after the pandemic and can have a significant impact on business.

• On 17 June 2022, EU employment and social affairs ministers presented their national targets to deliver on the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan by 2030, aiming to reach the three EU headline targets for employment, skills and poverty reduction.

• The last edition of the Staffing Executive Regulatory Outlook (SERO) presents the result of a survey to executives of staffing national federations around the world on the probability and potential impact of regulatory changes in the industry within the next six months.
• In India, Italy and Mexico, the provisions are that regulation changes for staffing industry will have an overall strong and positive impact on the sector, while Belgium, Norway, Germany and Sweden are expected to have the most negative impact.

• On 26 June 2022, G7 Leaders, at the end of their annual Summit, confirmed their commitment to addressing global challenges as growing inequity, achieving gender equality, the rising cost of living, climate change, pandemic preparedness and the need for a just transition to a sustainable and inclusive future.

• The World Employment Conference 2022 took place on 31^st May in Brussels.
• Participants got the opportunity to exchange opinion about the gap between workers' and employers' expectations, which was the announced main theme of the conference.

• From 27 May to 11 June 2022, more than 4000 Governments’, Workers’ and Employers’ delegates from 187 International Labour Organisation (ILO) Member States attended the 110^th International Labour Conference (ILC).
• The main topics addressed were occupational safety and health, apprenticeships and social and solidarity economy .

• On 7 June 2022, the European Parliament announced a new agreement for adequate minimum wages in the European Union (EU).
• The agreement provides that:

           - minimum wage should be adequate to ensure a decent standard of living;

           - workers, their representatives and trade union members can seek redress if rules are violated;

           - collective bargaining needs to be strengthened in countries where it covers fewer than 80% of workers;

           - EU rules have to respect the powers of national authorities and social partners to determine wages.

• Randstad published the Workmonitor 2022, the first full survey of 2022 that addresses issues such as job flexibility, work life balance, personal and professional growth and corporate social responsibilities (CSR) in the context of the recovery from the pandemic.
• The survey was conducted between 21 February and 13 March 2022 in more than 30 countries worldwide.

• During August 2021, the Firm interviewed board members, senior executives and younger employees (aged 25-40) from over 2000 of the world’s leading companies.
• The final report explains the current thinking of board members and senior managers and checks its alignment with the thinking of their workforce.

• On 5 April 2022, the EP decided by 403 votes in favour, 166 against and 58 abstentions to enter into negotiations with EU governments on a Commission proposal for a Pay Transparency Directive.

• In the report “Mental health and employers: The case for investment - pandemic and beyond”, published in March 2022, Deloitte analysed the effect COVID-19 had on employees' mental health, focusing on four groups: young people, key workers, people with caring responsibilities and ethnic minorities.
• It shows that investing in mental health to support the workforce is the right choice for employers, that can also make significant gains.

• The report, published on 7 March 2022 by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), provides global overview of national laws and practices regarding care policies (maternity protection, paternity, parental and other care-related leave policies).

• Most of European Member States failed to transpose the EU Whistleblowing Directive within the established deadline of December 2021.
• European Commission already sent a formal notice to 24 Members for the lack of transposition and to Sweden and Portugal for their delay in the application.

• On 22-24 February 2022 took place the Global Forum for a Human-centred Recovery, organised by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
• Renewed commitments were conveyed for a recovery that puts people first and tackles inequalities exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis.

• On 31 May 2022 will take place the World Employment Conference 2022, the annual gathering of the global HR services industry organised by the World Employment Confederation.
• “Bridging the gap. Connecting worker and employer expectations” is the theme of this edition of the Conference.

• ILO Governing Body will decide on a Resolution to include OSH in the framework of FPRW  

• The International Labour Organization (ILO) released the World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2022 (WESO 2022), providing a comprehensive assessment of how the labour market recovery has deployed across the world.
• It reports a slow and uncertain recovery, as the pandemic continues to have a significant impact on global labour markets, with different national approaches to tackle the crisis.

• On 17 December 2022, the European Commission released the report “Labour Market and Wage Developments in Europe 2021”, showing how the labour market is exiting from the deepest recession that hit the EU (European Union) since World War II.
• EU labour market has been resilient to the COVID-19 recession and members states implemented strong policy responses eased the impact on unemployment.

• ILO Governing Body will decide on a Resolution to include OSH in the framework of FPRW  

• The International Labour Organization (ILO) released the World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2022 (WESO 2022), providing a comprehensive assessment of how the labour market recovery has deployed across the world.
• It reports a slow and uncertain recovery, as the pandemic continues to have a significant impact on global labour markets, with different national approaches to tackle the crisis.

• On 17 December 2022, the European Commission released the report “Labour Market and Wage Developments in Europe 2021”, showing how the labour market is exiting from the deepest recession that hit the EU (European Union) since World War II.
• EU labour market has been resilient to the COVID-19 recession and members states implemented strong policy responses eased the impact on unemployment.

• On January 2022, IOE published a new Guidance Paper “COVID-19: WHAT EMPLOYERS NEED TO KNOW ON VACCINATION AND PREVENTION”, using as a basis presentations and discussions from an IOE conference on Covid-19 in October 2021.
• It aims to provide key guidance and practical tools on prevention and vaccination to Employers, Business Membership Organisations and companies.

• On 16 December 2021, negotiators from the European Parliament and the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU announced that they had reached a provisional agreement on the revised texts of the European social security coordination regulations.
• The agreement facilitates labour mobility within the EU and, at the same time, safeguards workers’ social rights in cross-border situations.