German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
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Re: German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
#2If a startup refuses a worker’s council this way and someone already tries to establish it, that’s a good sign to look for employment somewhere else.
Re: German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
#3At least here in NL the Works Council is mandatory _By law_ if you have more than 50 employees. I suppose the laws in Germany are similar. and I also suppose N26 has more than 50 employeees ;)
A healthy organization should have one, in my opinion. Management being against it is an unhealthy sign.
Just so you have some context. a Works Council has the following rights:
Right to discuss: they will have a bi-yearly meeting with the employer, who will report to the employees the financial situation of the company
Right to give advise: (This is the one startups find scary). When a company wants to do an investment round or any action that has economical or organisational impact, they _must_ ask for advice from the Works Council. The employer _must_ take their advice into account. If he does not, there is a cool-down period of a month before the decisions comes into place. Within that month the employees can take the employer to court in Amsterdam to block the action. This basically means employees have the right to block investment rounds through court. The burden of proof is on the employee that this is not in interest of the company.
Right to vote: The WC has the right to vote on certain decisions regarding reduction of working hours or work conditions. Here the onus is turned around compared to the right to advise. The WC makes the decision, and the _employer_ has the right to countersue. This basically means the employees have the right to force the employer to court if they want to do a firing round. The employer's task is to prove in court that the firing round is needed by law.
Re: German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
#4I'm there. Management sent an email to all employees a week after the process was initiated about how the works council was against all their values, and they have an amazing idea for modern employee representation - one they only hired an external lawyer to present after the employees asked for a works council.
Only a couple days ago, after having the invite in their hands for 10 days did they start complaining about health and safety. Something they were never concerned with when it came to actually working (packed meeting rooms, mandating customer service agents return to work in the office).
Its a shame, because there is a lot of cool work to do here, and really talented people to work with. It seems to just be a top level management problem.
Re: German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
#5The alternative to the Works Council should have a representation of employees who are not only based in Germany, but also all other countries, including Brazil and the United States
I find it hard to believe these councils don’t have the ability to account for international employees, is this a specifically “outside the EU” issue since the examples given are in the Americas, and not any of the neighboring countries they surely have employees in?
Re: German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
#6I'm there. Management sent an email to all employees a week after the process was initiated about how the works council was against all their values, and they have an amazing idea for modern employee representation - one they only hired an external lawyer to present after the employees asked for a works council. Only a couple days ago, after having the invite in their hands for 10 days did they start complaining abou…
If you have an amazing idea for modern employee representations, you better try to implement it before people are trying to start the regular process for a workers council. If you only mention this idea after someone tries to organize the employees, don't be surprised that nobody believes you're acting in good faith.
Re: German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
#7At least here in NL the Works Council is mandatory _By law_ if you have more than 50 employees. I suppose the laws in Germany are similar. and I also suppose N26 has more than 50 employeees ;) A healthy organization should have one, in my opinion. Management being against it is an unhealthy sign. Just so you have some context. a Works Council has the following rights: Right to discuss: they will have a bi-yearly meet…
Regarding the last point, the Netherlands is very different from the US, especially at-will employment states. Once you give an employee a permanent contract, you cannot fire them except for a set of reasons defined by law.
Most interestingly compared to US, if you need to lay off people you need to lay of your employees in order of most junior to most senior (seniority in terms of time they have been with the company)
Re: German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
#8If a startup refuses a worker’s council this way and someone already tries to establish it, that’s a good sign to look for employment somewhere else.
In the article the N26 management is quoted:
"The alternative to the Works Council should have a representation of employees who are not only based in Germany, but also all other countries, including Brazil and the United States" and
"That said, if the N26 team feels that they want to organize the feedback culture in Germany differently via a works council, N26 will of course respect and support this, as well as any step in the formation of an electoral board."
The article says the initial dissent from the management was due to Covid19 concerns and inclusion of international employees. It may well be that N26 is just trying to safe face, but if we take the statements as honest, they at least give the impression that the management is not in principle against a worker's council.
Re: German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
#9The alternative to the Works Council should have a representation of employees who are not only based in Germany, but also all other countries, including Brazil and the United States I find it hard to believe these councils don’t have the ability to account for international employees, is this a specifically “outside the EU” issue since the examples given are in the Americas, and not any of the neighboring countries…
I guess, N26 can easily setup a works council in the aforementioned countries and just give them the same standing, the german one gets. Very easy, but apparently not what they want.
Re: German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
#10> N26 has filed another restraining order to prevent today's Electoral Board Selection for N26 GmbH, this time against the union ver.di. As such, IG Metall has stepped in to chair today's meeting. It will take place at the same venue, with the time delayed so people can make it.
https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1294183659583369216?s=2...