In addition to duties and areas of responsibility, employees have one thing above all: rights. Whether and how they are used can sometimes determine successful cooperation. That is why it is important to use one's rights as an individual and as a collective workforce and to include one's own interests.
In many offices, hybrid work is the number one topic of conversation. Here, too, it is worthwhile to take part in the discussion and express your wishes.
We explain how this can be done and which aspects are important for employees in Hybrid Work.
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Where are my concerns and ideas heard?
The law provides a central body for employees of a company: the works council. The works council represents the interests of the workforce within the company and is intended to ensure that employees do not have to face the authority of the employer as individuals.
However, the works council does not only have the function of a "mouthpiece, because it has some important rights in relation to the organisation of the company. One example: with its right to be heard, the works council is involved in cases of dismissal and should thus protect against unjustified dismissals.
In order for the works council to be involved in hybrid work, a company agreement is used. This is a binding agreement between the employer and the works council that applies to all employees. Since hybrid work interferes with the daily organisation of work, the works council has a right to be involved. In this way, the voices of the workforce are heard collectively.
Hybrid work: The opportunity for self-determined work
Because life in today's society is becoming more and more flexible and varied, many employees feel restricted by the pure presence office.
One solution is hybrid work. Hybrid work means flexible working at several locations, whether on-site in the office or at home. In contrast to traditional face-to-face working, hybrid work enables individuals to organise their working day in a self-determined way.
Important weekly meetings on Mondays and Thursdays? No problem, I'll just drive to the office. On Tuesdays, the children are back from school early? Then I'd better work from home. This flexibility is very much appreciated by employees.
For hybrid work to succeed, the active participation of the workforce is essential. The digital organisation of the hybrid model can also be exploited by employers for negative purposes. To prevent this, the works council must enforce important aspects.
Which topics require special attention
Although hybrid work is much more flexible than face-to-face work, it also needs to be organised more thoroughly. For a successful introduction, specialised software is therefore often used to simplify the organisation.
However, where digital data is collected, opportunities for monitoring and control also open up. With the constant feeling of being suspected of fraud, hybrid work quickly loses its appeal. The work model thrives on the relationship of trust between employer and employee in the home office. The works council must therefore ensure that the software is not misused for such purposes. Hybrid work can only succeed if the daily logging of the workplace is not used for surveillance.
In general, the works council should represent the interests of all employees. This includes those who prefer to do their work quietly and independently and do not want to participate in the daily social exchange. Since their own workplace in hybrid work has to be booked daily, these employees are forced to reveal their own organisation to the whole company. Here, too, the works council must intervene and request countermeasures. An optional anonymisation of one's own postings would be a good idea here.
These are the advantages desk.ly offers employees
We develop our desk sharing software desk.ly with a special focus on the interests of the end users. The detailed evaluations we offer to management are therefore anonymised and cannot be traced back to individual persons. In this way, we manage the balancing act between the demand for analysed data and employee protection.
Our desk.ly mobile app also makes it easy for employees to put together their workplaces. User-friendliness is also primarily an employee topic.
In daily use of desk.ly, each person can decide for themselves whether their name should be shown for bookings or not. This optional anonymity is particularly appealing to introverted members of the workforce.
If the topic of hybrid work comes up in the company, we will be happy to answer all your questions! Of course, we also offer a free expert discussion for the works council.
We, at desk.ly, wish you a successful introduction of hybrid work!