The New World of Work – Theo Bodin's research group

We explore the impact of non-standard employment and algorithmic management on work environments, health, and well-being, addressing the consequences of digitization, automation, and platformization in the labor market. It is an interdisciplinary group with extensive international collaboration and a variety of methods. Other research areas include workplace interventions, work effects of alcohol use disorders, gender-based harassment and occupational injury epidemiology

WOW research group

A research group at the Unit of Occupational Medicine, IMM.

About our research

Non-standard Employment, platform work and algorithmic management

The ever-changing economic environment, technological advancements, general weakening of trade unions and changes in labor laws have led to the emergence of a variety of non-standard work arrangements. We aim to deepen the understanding of how these non-standard work arrangements affect individuals, families and communities and how these contribute to inequalities in work environment, health and well-being.

The digital revolution is also having a disruptive affect on work, through three main vectors of change: digitization, automation, and platformization. Work is being transformed through the use of technology and algorithms in various aspects of work, including management. These changes can have consequences, such as employment insecurity, compromised privacy and rest time, inadequate occupational safety and health and social protection, stress due to excessive or atypical working hours, performance monitoring and worker surveillance by algorithms and similar AI applications. We aim to develop robust evidence about the links between platformization, automation and health, and provide evidence-based interventions for promotion of mental and physical health in a digitalized labour market.

We use multiple methods including quantitative, qualitative, review and participatory research. We have extensive international collaboration and perform international comparative studies with researchers from Belgium, Spain, Chile, USA and Canada, Finland, Poland and the UK.

Visit our project websites

 

Complex Occupational Interventions

In our group some members focus on intervention and implementation research. We design, implement and evaluate organizational-level interventions at the workplace using co-creation as an approach to tailor interventions to the workplace context, ensuring end-users´ need for change and acceptance to implement the intervention.

 

Determinants, consequences and treatment of harmful alcohol consumption in working life.

Alcohol use is a major contributor to the global burden of disease and involves large economic and social costs for society.  Alcohol use disorders (AUD), the most severe form of harmful alcohol consumption, are associated with an increased risk of occupational injuries, sickness absence, and unemployment. Despite positive recommendations on pharmacological treatments for AUD, it remains to be underutilized in the Swedish healthcare context and is often combined with other psychosocial treatments.  Through register-based cohort studies we aim to (a) identify where in the workforce the main problem of harmful alcohol use occurs, (b) explore different factors through which the risk of later harmful alcohol use is established, and (c) investigate to what degree, and trough which processes, these factors contribute to an increased risk of being marginalized from the labor market.

We also investigate the effectiveness of pharmacological treatments of AUD in a “real-world” setting in terms of: (i) alcohol-related morbidity and mortality, and (ii) work disability (i.e., sickness absence, unemployment).

 

Risk factor differences for occupational injuries among immigrants and native Swedes

There is an increased immigrant population in Sweden that immigrate due to family and work-related reasons, thus larger participation of immigrants in the labour market is expected. Immigrants are over-represented in manual jobs requiring low-educational attainment, resulting in more hazardous work environments and a lack of safety training. Less is known about the relative importance of risk factors of occupational injuries among the Swedish immigrant population.

The study investigates whether there is a differential risk of occupational injuries among immigrants compared with native Swedes, the magnitude of any differences observed; and whether the risk factors studied differ among subgroups of immigrants.

Publications

All publications from group members

Funding

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 July 2023 - 30 June 2029
    Algorithms are changing the World of Work: from the tasks that consitute work to how it is organised and governed. Lack of data and knowledge about the impacts of algorithmic management (AM) on work and workers pose a societal challenge today. This deficit is particularly pronounced outside of platform work - in economic sectors where the use of AM is growing, such as logistics, including transport, storage and delivery services and the retail and hospitality industry. In both platform and non-platform work there is a lack of research about the effects of AM on the work environment and workers’ health and well-being. Therefore, the overall aim of this multi-disciplinary research program is to improve data and knowledge about algorithmic management in non-platform sectors and its effects on health, safety, and well-being, as well as develop risk-reducing tools and strategies by:Facilitating the development of a standard for measurement of algorithmic management at work and related risks for health, safety and well-being.Increasing knowledge about the effects of algorithmic management on workers’ health, safety, and well-being.Investigating the balance of interests related to the control of algorithms in different legal contexts regarding occupational health and safety (OSH).The proposed program will contribute with enhanced data and knowledge about challenges and opportunities of AM to safety, health and well-being as well as evidence-based tools and strategies to be used by stakeholders in discussions and action related to AM. The program applies multiple methods including quantitative, qualitative, literature reviews and participatory research.The program will be performed by an international and multidisciplinary team of researchers, involving experts in human-computer-interaction, cognitive ergonomics, labour economics, political science, occupational epidemiology, comparative labour law, industrial relations, work organization and psychology.
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 December 2022 - 30 November 2023
  • Economic and Social Research Council
    1 November 2022 - 31 October 2025
    Many studies nowadays focus on taking stock of the platform economy in Europe (e.g., investigating its magnitude, business models, career and job characteristics of workers, ...), surprisingly the occupational safety and health (OSH) implications of platform work have remained largely under the radar. Against this background, the proposed project aims to (i) investigate the OSH risks and regulations of platform work and (ii) provide recommendations to foster a safe and healthy occupational environment for platform workers in European countries based on the results of this study. Pursuing these aims, the project adopts a mixed-method study design organised into two work packages (WP) and involves platform workers living in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. WP1 will consist in a European mixed-method cohort of platform workers. WP1 will explore longitudinally ways in which platform work is associated with OSH-risks and poor health and the experiences of platform workers in regard to OSH of their jobs. WP2 aims to research ways for promoting changes for safer and healthier occupational environments for platform work. For doing so, WP2 will explore how do platform work managers perceive the OSH of employees/workers, what are the characteristics of platforms that maintain a healthy work environment and what are the regulatory contexts and challenges in terms of OSH posed by platform of work. Both WPs will explore similarities and differences across countries and forms of platform work, thereby contextualising the findings about health and platform work within different regulatory environments. The expected results of this project will provide new and original scientific understanding of an understudied and evolving challenge for the future world of work. Drawing on the new scientific understanding, the project will provide new guidance for policymakers, companies and trade unions to protect the health of the European workforce.
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 October 2022 - 30 September 2025
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2022 - 31 December 2024
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 January 2021 - 31 December 2023
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 July 2019 - 30 June 2025
  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    1 December 2017 - 30 November 2020

Staff and contact

Group leader

All members of the group

Visiting address

Unit of Occupational Medicine, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Solnavägen 4, Stockholm, 111635, Sweden

Postal address

Unit of Occupational Medicine, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Solnavägen 4, Stockholm, 11635, Sweden

News

Keywords:
Accidents, Occupational Alcohol-Related Disorders Employment Occupational Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Occupational Health and Environmental Health Occupational Injuries Occupational Medicine Psychosocial Intervention Sexual Harassment Work Sciences Work-Life Balance Show all
04-09-2025