CEC meets Commissioner Schmit: managers central to making transition work

During a meeting with Commissioner Nicolas Schmit on 20 February, CEC European Managers has highlighted the strategic role the 13,6 million managers in Europe play in the green and digital transitions both in the workplace and within social dialogue. Labour markets, skills and employment policies will need to adjust to tackle increasingly complex and interrelated challenges. It’s now all about enacting a Sustainable Leadership culture able to shape a future-fit economy operating within planetary boundaries. Policy-makers, social partners and managers are responsible to deliver. 

CEC President Ludger Ramme and Secretary General Maxime Legrand welcomed the commitment shown by the European Commission in ensuring that the social dimension is mainstreamed into these transitions. “With the involvement of social partners, and in full respect of their competences and prerogatives, the social agenda of the European Commission can deliver important results to ensure that the path towards a net-zero economy is shaped innovatively and socially inclusive” said Ludger Ramme.

As highlighted in its recent report “Managers in Europe: today and tomorrow”, a decreasing number of managers manage increasingly complex challenges, including stakeholder-expectations, stress and environmental impacts. The EU should now invest in the necessary transition skills to think the green, digital and social challenges of EU labour markets together.

The ambitions of the new EU Green Deal urgently require competent personnel to find innovative and adequate solutions in a fair and environmentally responsible way. Commissioner Schmit recognised the value of an autonomous voice of managers, who act as bridge-builders between the two sides of the industry. Managers need a clear recognition at EU and member states level. Specific challenges such as gender equality in leadership or high rates of psychosocial risks require managers to be able to voice their specific concerns.