Project description
Making invisible work visible
Across Europe, unpaid labour (emotional or intellectual effort, use of personal devices, and work-related tasks outside official hours) is often invisible but shapes inequality in the labour market. Despite its impact, it has rarely been measured. Funded by the ERC, the ReSTLess project builds on previous research to bridge this gap. It creates an open database tracking unpaid labour across France, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK, capturing time, material and immaterial contributions. ReSTLess develops a practical toolkit for unions and civil society groups to raise awareness, negotiate working conditions, and reduce inequality. By linking individual unpaid efforts to macro-level labour trends, the project bridges research and policy to make invisible work visible.
Objective
In my ERC AdG (ResPectMe) I developed a survey module of unpaid labour that was implemented through nation-wide panel surveys in Sweden (Lore), France (ELIPSS), The Netherlands (LISS) & UK (NatCen). With this PoC (ReSTLess) I will harness and maximize the utility of this survey module along three dimensions: time (work hours, incl. time to maintain, prepare, travel for work), material (office spaces, smart phone, software, PCs, other infrastructures), immaterial assets (emotions, feelings, knowledge, skills, competences).
Hence the aim of this PoC is to establish a clear pathway from research (ResPectMe) to policy and innovation (ReSTLess) by instigating a ‘macro-social turn’ on labour market inequality due to unpaid labour. This will be achieved through two major deliverables:
First, the PoC will create a new Open database (OD) encompassing the cross-national harmonised three dimensions of the ResPecTMe survey module. The OD will cater to identified end-users, namely international & EU-based agencies, such as Eurofound & ILO. It will support them in developing policy recommendations by monitoring shifts in labour market inequality, based upon job quality through the OD providing information along the harmonised unpaid labour dimensions across the indicated countries. A policy & technical report will present recommendations for policy makers & policy research institutes, connecting between unpaid dimensions, their socio-demographic, occupational differences at individual level, and macro-level labour market indicators, variables for each studied country (the ‘macro-social turn’).
Second, the PoC will develop a Toolkit of unpaid labour. Based on the OD, the Toolkit will cater to EU-based social organizations end-users, such as ETUI, to train unions, workers representatives on bargaining about working time reduction, and civil society organisation SOLIDAR to empower workers by raising awareness about unpaid labour.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software
- natural sciences computer and information sciences databases
You need to log in or register to use this function
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-POC
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 Leuven
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.