2024 COEH Building Bridges Conference: Traditional and Alternative Employment in Contemporary Work

Topic: Traditional and Alternative Employment in Contemporary Work:
Who Takes Responsibility for Workers’ Well-being?

This presentation by Cristina Banks and Edward Yelin from the California Labor Lab examines the evolving landscape of employment and its implications for worker well-being. The authors focus on the shift from traditional to alternative employment arrangements and the resulting diffusion of responsibility for workers' welfare.

Key points:

1. An overview of NIOSH's Total Worker Health® (TWH) approach, which integrates health protection and promotion to advance worker well-being.
2. Discussion of emerging working conditions, including task-based (gig) work, project-based employment, and contingent forms of employment.
3. Analysis of how alternative work arrangements can increase worker exposure to health risks and reduce access to traditional protections.
4. Examination of the erosion of the "20th Century Firewall" of worker protections in the context of alternative employment.
5. Introduction to the California Labor Lab's research projects addressing these issues, including studies on the health impact of emergent working conditions, inequality in the service sector, and specific industry case studies.
6. Overview of the Lab's outreach efforts, including knowledge dissemination, stakeholder engagement, and educational programming.

The presentation highlights the need for a more holistic, systems-based approach to worker health that addresses the challenges posed by contemporary work arrangements. It emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary research and collaboration in developing effective strategies to protect and promote worker well-being in the changing landscape of employment.