The world of work is being reorganised in ways that require a fresh reading of employment relations. Long-standing assumptions about permanent jobs, vertical managerial authority and linear careers are being displaced by arrangements that are more negotiated, networked, flexible and sometimes uncertain. Technological change, global economic integration, demographic movements and changing worker aspirations together shape this transition. The theme invites papers that examine how relations between employers, workers, collectives and the state are being remade, and what these shifts mean for the future of work.

Automation, artificial intelligence and platform-based systems are changing the workplace not only by altering tasks, skills and organisational processes, but also by changing the distribution of control. These technologies may improve efficiency, raise productivity and enable new modes of collaboration, yet they also create concerns around displacement, algorithmic supervision, data collection and the balance of power between management and labour. Papers may therefore ask how technology affects authority, autonomy, accountability and trust within employment relations.

Employment models are also diversifying. Gig work, hybrid work, remote arrangements and project-based contracting disturb older distinctions between employee and self-employed, workplace and home, regular and contingent, and formal and informal. These arrangements may offer independence and flexibility to some workers, but they also raise difficult questions about security, organisational loyalty, collective representation, social protection and regulatory coverage. The theme welcomes analysis of the institutional responses needed when work is spread across firms, platforms, contractors and dispersed workplaces.

A further concern is worker voice and agency. In many settings, especially in developed economies but increasingly elsewhere, workers seek meaningful participation in decisions, fair treatment, recognition of well-being and protection against discrimination. Collective action, advocacy networks, diversity and inclusion claims, and demands for transparency are reshaping workplace norms. Organisations are expected to respond through credible engagement, accountability and negotiated fairness rather than only through managerial discretion.

Employment relations are equally shaped by wider social and global forces. Migration, mobility, cultural diversity, ageing, youth aspirations, geopolitical uncertainty and economic volatility influence labour policy and organisational strategy. The challenge is to reconcile competitiveness with inclusion, innovation with security, and enterprise performance with justice, sustainability and global governance. Papers may draw on comparative, sector-specific or regionally grounded evidence to explain how these pressures interact across different institutional settings.

Prospective paper writers may focus on rules, institutions, power, voice, bargaining, regulation, workplace practices and the changing relationship between employers and workers in the context of changing labour markets. Informality may be discussed where it affects employment relations. Some indicative sub-themes for prospective paper contributors may include:

• Technology and the future of work: Automation, artificial intelligence, digital platforms and their effects on job structures, authority, control and employment relations.
• Changing employment models: Gig work, hybrid arrangements, remote work, flexible schedules, project-based contracts and their implications for job security and regulation..
• Worker voice and agency: Collective action, advocacy platforms, diversity and inclusion, participation indecisions and the negotiation of fairness..
• Trade unions in the modern landscape: Changing roles, organising strategies, membership bases and methods of representation..
• Labour relations in the informal economy: Changing frameworks of employment relations, lessons from collective bargaining practices and emerging needs in non-standard work settings..
• Employee autonomy and organisational outcomes: Links between wages, incentives, productivity, workplace discretion and organizational performance..
• Implications for the state: Policy directions concerning economic markets, labour policies, enforcement and institutional coordination..
• Interface between conventional unions and new institutions: Relations among trade unions, labour cooperatives, labour NGOs, worker centres and other collective actors..
• Global and social dimensions: Demographic change, migration, cultural diversity and the connections between employment relations, sustainability and justice..
• Labour law and regulation: Adaptation of legal frameworks to new employment realities and protection of vulnerable workers..
• Workplace well-being: Mental health, work-life balance and organisational responsibility for holistic employee welfare..
• Power and surveillance: Digital monitoring, data systems and their consequences for trust, autonomy and accountability..
• Collective bargaining in transition: The evolution of unions, worker associations and bargaining practices in fragmented labour markets..
• Gender and equity in employment: Inequalities in pay, representation, care responsibilities and workplace opportunities..
• Global supply chains and employment relations: Influence of international production networks on labour standards, practices andrepresentation..
• Sustainability and work: Integration of environmental responsibility, green transitions and just transition frameworks into employment relations and organisational strategies..
• Skills and lifelong learning: Reskilling, upskilling and learning systems needed in the digital era..
• Occupational health and safety: Emerging risks and protective arrangements in new sectors and changing workplaces..
• Public policy innovation: Policy approaches for decent work and inclusive employment relations in changing labour markets..
• Migration and transnational labour regimes: Mobility, cross-border labour arrangements and their implications for representation and protection..
• Labour codes and simplification of labour laws in India: Implications of labour codes for industrial relations, wages, working conditions, industrial development and worker welfare..

Submissions may use theoretical, empirical, comparative, sectoral or regional approaches. They may also examine collective bargaining, union strategies, remote and flexible work, care economies, migration, social protection systems, labour-market reforms, digital-era skills, green transitions, occupational health and safety, and public policy innovations for decent work and inclusive employment relations.

The guidelines on the conference themes are suggestive only. The prospective paper writers may contribute on other relevant subthemes as well. Apart from contributions on India, papers relating to other regions and countries are also welcome. Papers can be from different theoretical perspectives, as can be the use of different empirical methodologies (e.g. quantitative, qualitative, case-oriented or mixed). Submission of original work that contributes to the advancement of existing knowledge and debates on the topic are encouraged.