PHSDialogue webinar brings together PHS sector employers to improve capacity building
October 18, 2024
Highlights from the PHSDialogue Webinar on Tackling Undeclared Work in Personal and Household Services
February 18, 2025
Strengthening Capacities for PHS Employers: Key Insights from the PHSDialogue Webinar
On January 9, 2025, the PHSDialogue webinar “Strengthening capacities for PHS Employers: learning from other sectors” brought together stakeholders to explore strategies for strengthening the capacities of personal and household services (PHS) employers. The event organised by EFSI and EFFE presented the draft capacity-building toolkit and highlighted lessons from other sectors.
The Capacity-Building Toolkit
Leonor Tavares, policy officer from EFSI, presented the toolkit, to be published in April 2025, aimed at addressing challenges in the PHS sector. It comprises four chapters:
- Foundations of Capacity Building: Emphasizing social dialogue as a cornerstone for sectoral growth.
- General Challenges: Highlighting limited trust among social partners and centralized governance as obstacles.
- PHS-Specific Challenges: Addressing fragmentation, small-scale actors, and minimal collective bargaining.
- Practical Tools for SEOs: Offering guidance on governance, advocacy, membership development, and communication.
Aude Boisseuil, General Delegate, EFFE, detailed strategies for good governance and advocacy, urging SEOs to unify members, increase visibility, and engage decision-makers.
Cross-Sectoral Insights
Speakers from the construction, social employers, and Hungarian industries provided valuable perspectives:
- Construction Sector (FIEC): Christine Le Forestier, Director Social Affairs, European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC) Highlighted sectoral similarities, such as workforce fragmentation and migration. Projects like DESOCO (decentralized social dialogue) and TUWIC (combating undeclared work) offered ideas applicable to PHS.
- Social Employers Federation: Sylvain Renouvel, Director, Federation of European Social Employers, presented the IWorCon project, which developed a guide on membership development and financial diversification, emphasizing advocacy and stakeholder engagement.
- Hungarian Employers Confederation: Adrienn Bálint, Director for Social Affairs, Business Hungary (MGYOSZ), shared outcomes of CORE 1 and CORE 2 projects, focused on COVID-19 resilience and adapting to a green transition.
The PHSDialogue webinar underscored the significance of cross-sectoral learning and practical tools in tackling PHS sector challenges. With the toolkit’s release in 2025, the sector is positioned for meaningful advancements.
