The PERHOUSE seeks to improve working conditions and personal and household services through industrial relations in Central European countries.
The PERHOUSE project seeks to analyse the current characteristics and challenges related to service provision and working conditions in the personal and household services (PHS) sectors in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries
Demand for PHS has been increasing within the broader trend of de-institutionalising the care sector due to the lack of available services in integrated care and non-care services.
Understanding and strengthening the role of industrial relations would improve the working conditions in the PHS sector in CEE countries.
It would also help systematise the workplace fundamental definitions and set benchmarks for the quality of services, working conditions, and access to care and non-care services provided in home settings.
In turn, regularisation of the sector would facilitate integration into broader industrial relations structures for seeking multiplier effects on the provision of care and non-care-oriented services by public and private providers, would contribute to tackling the high share of undeclared work in the sector and to providing decent working conditions to PHS workers.
The project has a strong regional focus on CEE. It will be carried out at the EU level and in 12 countries: Poland, Estonia, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
Data will be collected via surveys and qualitative interviews both at the national and EU levels, processed in the form of research reports and policy briefs, and innovative dissemination materials, including audio-visual tools and exchanges among social partners and other EU-level and EU-level national- level stakeholders via project meetings and workshops.
The general objective is the explore industrial relations to improve the working conditions and services in the PHS sector of CEE countries.
Project Target Groups
There are three main targets groups in the project: domestic workers, social partners and service receivers.
- Domestic workers refer to self-employed or contract workers who deliver the services. The main profile of domestic workers are women and migrants. These workers will see improvements in their working conditions as a result of the potential social dialogue at European level that will be foster via the project.
- Social partners are relevant stakeholders of the sector such as professional associations that will give their views on social dialogue and current national policies in the PHS sector. These social parnters will benefit from the project’s work to collect up-to-date data on the sector in the region.
- Service receivers represent those requiring PHS, these receivers are mainly persons with disabilities, children and older persons. Service receivers will benefit from a higher service quality as a result of the establishment of service quality standards during the social dialogue.
Outputs
- Working paper on conceptualization of PHS sector in CEE this paperwill help to establish a framework on the PHS sector in CEE.
- EU stakeholder views study and policy brief will provide an analysis of stakehlder views on PHS and conditions of the sector.
- National case studies and policy brief in 6 CEE countries which will providea state of play of the PHS sector (policies, working conditions, demand, etc).
- Comparative Report and policy brief this report will provide ananalysis comparing the industrial relations in the 12 CEE.
- Documentary presenting the comparative analysis of the 12 CEEs.
- Country leaflets with information in the national language on the state of play of PHS sector at national level.
Activities and events
- National policy workshops toreceive inputs and comments to add to the study.
- Final PERHOUSE Conference to present the final analysis on the PHS sector in 12 countries.
Duration
The total duration of the project is 24 months, starting from August 2022 until August 2024.
Partners
- Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI)
- Foundation MK 2025, Macedonia
- University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (UL)
- University of Tartu, Estonia (UT)
- Marie Curie Sklodowska University, Poland (UMCS)
- European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities, Belgium (EASPD)
- Charles University, Czechia (CU)
Additionally, the project counts with different associated partners:
- Uni-Europa Association (UNI)
- European Federation of Food, Agriculture, and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT)
- European Federation for Services to Individuals (EFSI)
- Institut Syndical Europeen (ETUI)
- European Federation for Family Employment (EFFE)
