European social partners anticipate future jobs in the postal sector

“The World of Work in the Postal Sector in 2030” project, completed in 2023, was a collaborative endeavor between the European social partners in the postal sector – POSTEUROP, UNI Europa Post & Logistics, and CESI. The project aimed at stimulating innovative reflection and generate foresight regarding the world of work in the postal sector in 2030. It delved into the tasks, tools, missions, and work environment of future postal employees.

The project was carried out by the Postal Sector Evolution (PSE) working group of the European Social Dialogue Committee for the Postal Sector (SDC). The SDC has worked on several EU co-funded projects since 2006, addressing the evolution of the postal sector to aid postal operators and trade unions in anticipating change and in diversifying their activities.

This project is a follow-up to the work of a previous 2019 Social Dialogue Committee for Postal services project “Trend Research for the Postal Sector in 2030”, which developed five scenarios for the transformation of the postal sector by anticipating the effects of several processes on mail and parcel delivery, on the universal service obligation, as well as on the organisation of work. Among these processes were the speed of digitalisation of production and governance; the regulation for both new and old postal operators in the European market; the evolution of e-commerce; governmental programs to mitigate climate change; the transformation of social security systems; and finally, the role of social dialogue.

The five scenarios served as the starting point for engaged discussions at the workshops that were at the heart of the project. The postal sector social partners considered it necessary to operationalise the scenarios further in view of postal jobs, and to identify crucial skills needs. Thirteen new postal characters embodied the diversity of positions and activities in the postal sector.

These characters were grouped into four families to refer to the evolving work and roles of delivery workers, in post offices, back offices, and back-office human resources employees. Some of the new jobs that the workshop participants envisaged are the services postman, the sustainability consultant, the data intelligence analyst, the data security officer, and the well-being coach.

The characters allow the postal social partners to reflect on future, evolving or disappearing occupations depending on their host scenario. Postal operators and postal trade unions can use these characters to engage discussions and enable the adaptation of their workforce and business model in an increasingly uncertain world.

The in-person workshops were kindly hosted by HP-Hrvatska pošta d.d., Österreichische Post, PostNL, and Cyprus Post. The project final conference that took place in Brussels featured interventions from Guillaume Roty, the Deputy Head of Unit at DG GROW, Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa, Botond Szebeny, Secretary General of POSTEUROP, as well as members of the social partner organisations.

The project enabled the elaboration of 13 postal characters who could exist in the five scenarios for the postal sector in 2030. The final report is available in English, French and German.