Strengthening Capacities for PHS Employers: Key Insights from the PHSDialogue Webinar

On the 9^th of January 2025, the PHSDialogue webinar, “Strengthening Capacities for PHS Employers: Learning from Other Sectors,” convened key stakeholders to explore strategies for enhancing the capacities of personal and household services (PHS) employers. Organized by EFSI and EFFE, the event introduced the draft capacity-building toolkit and shared valuable lessons from other sectors.

The Capacity-Building Toolkit

Leonor Tavares, Policy Officer at EFSI, presented the toolkit—set for publication in April 2025—designed to address challenges in the PHS sector. It consists of four key chapters:

1. Foundations of Capacity Building – Emphasizing social dialogue as a cornerstone for sectoral development.
2. General Challenges – Identifying trust deficits among social partners and centralized governance as key barriers.
3. PHS-Specific Challenges – Addressing fragmentation, the prevalence of small-scale actors, and limited collective bargaining.
4. Practical Tools for SEOs – Providing guidance on governance, advocacy, membership development, and communication.

Aude Boisseuil, General Delegate at EFFE, elaborated on governance and advocacy strategies, urging sectoral employer organizations (SEOs) to strengthen member engagement, boost visibility, and enhance dialogue with policymakers.

Cross-Sectoral Insights

Experts from the construction, social employers, and Hungarian industries shared insights applicable to the PHS sector:

• Construction Sector (FIEC) – Christine Le Forestier, Director of Social Affairs at the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), highlighted sectoral similarities, including workforce fragmentation and migration challenges. Initiatives like DESOCO (decentralized social dialogue) and TUWIC (combatting undeclared work) offered transferable strategies.
• Social Employers Federation – Sylvain Renouvel, Director of the Federation of European Social Employers, introduced the IWorCon project, which developed a guide on membership growth, financial diversification, and effective advocacy.
• Hungarian Employers Confederation – Adrienn Bálint, Director for Social Affairs at Business Hungary (MGYOSZ), shared insights from the CORE 1 and CORE 2 projects, which focused on COVID-19 resilience and adapting to the green transition.

Looking Ahead

The PHSDialogue webinar underscored the value of cross-sectoral learning and practical tools in addressing PHS sector challenges. With the upcoming release of the capacity-building toolkit in 2025, the sector is poised for meaningful advancements in governance, advocacy, and employer engagement.