Japan : Microsoft 4-day working week trial to promote ‘life choices at work’ and speed up changing attitudes
Over the course of August 2019, the 2,300 staff at Microsoft’s Japanese headquarters tried out working on a 4-day per week basis, when they worked for four consecutive days and did not work...
Great Britain : 30 major businesses commit to mental health
Thirty employers including banking names Santander Bank, Barclays Bank and Lloyds Banking Group, the Royal Mail, multinationals such as Unilever, and the advisory firm Deloitte have promised to...
Argentina: navigating HR policies within an extremely unstable economic context
Against the backdrop of instability born of an economic crisis in full swing and a political landscape undergoing profound change what challenges are facing Argentina’s human resources sector?...
24 September 2019
Renault: signs a global framework agreement on the quality of life at work for its employees
This global framework agreement, which was signed on 09 July by the French automaker Renault Group along with IndustriALL Global Union, the Secretary of the Renault Group Works Council (a global...
Italy: collective negotiations are starting to introduce the right to disconnect from work
In Italy there is a longstanding tradition of overlooking the right to disconnect from work and the right does not feature in overall labor regulation. It does however feature in the law that...
Germany: at SAP job sharing is possible at all hierarchical levels from basic employee right up to senior executive
Since the start of 2018 all senior managerial positions at Germany’s multinational software corporation SAP have in principle been available for job sharing and flexible working opportunities...
Great Britain: Is business paving the way for better mental health?
In the past few years the issue of workplace mental health has come to the fore in the UK. Mental health first aid training, manager awareness packs, even the Mental Health at Work website...
6 December 2018
Great Britain: Aviva’s parental leave for second parents program proves successful
Introduced just a year ago (c.f. article No. 10475) Aviva’s second parent parental leave program that allows all employees who become parents regardless of gender to take a fixed period of paid...
21 November 2018
Italy: ‘smart working’ is on the rise
According to the annual report published on 30 October by the Politecnico di Milano School of Management Observatory, over a year after the approval of Law 81 2017 that regulated ‘agile working’...
7 November 2018
Germany: status report on the ZEITREICH (Time-Rich) project that aims to support SMEs achieve working time solutions, which benefit both their and their employees’ interests
While Germany’s working-time debate continues apace and the country’s trade unions seek working time arrangements that include employees’ needs alongside company profits, the ZEITREICH (Time-Rich)...
17 October 2018
SAP: the 22,000 German-based employees at this software company can now work wherever they wish, in the office, at home or elsewhere
SAP Germany has a longstanding tradition of teleworking and ‘confidence-based working time’. Nonetheless the German enterprise-software giant has decided to go further and make its working...
14 March 2018
Italy: smart working gaining ground in company agreements
Italy’s major companies haven’t waited for the law of 22 May 2017 in order to try out several ‘agile working’ formulae, whereby they provide staff the option to work one or two days per week away...
20 September 2017
Germany: Microsoft Deutschland’s new ‘Smart Workspace’ head office showcases its vision for the future
Since its inauguration in October 2016, employees at the US IT giant’s subsidiary, Microsoft Deutschland’s new head office in Schwabing, north of Munich, can now get to work when they want and...
20 July 2017
Germany: SAP introduces the right to work on a part-time basis for a fixed period time
While Germany’s Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Andrea Nahles (SPD) is doing her utmost, albeit currently with little success, to introduce legislation giving workers working on a...
25 April 2017
Kering puts a global parental policy in place
On 14 December French luxury goods brand announced that as of 01 January 2017 minimum standards would be in place for maternity and adoption leave that will be fourteen weeks at 100% of basic pay...
14 December 2016
HR practices: Vincit, a company with just two managers, the CEO and the head of HR
Mikko Kuitunen and Pekka Virtanen set up Vincit (software development and IT outsourcing) in 2007 in the Finnish  town of Tampere. They dreamt of a ‘business where people were happy to go to work...
27 October 2016
Most viewed articles of the month on mind HR
What readers clicked on the most last month.
What readers clicked on the most last month.
1
EU: Commission launches consultation with social partners on quality jobs
On 4 December, the European Commission launched the first phase of consultation with social partners with a view to a European directive on jobs, which is scheduled for the end of 2026. It could...
4 December 2025
2
EDF bans alcohol on all its sites
From 1 January 2026, French energy giant EDF (180,000 employees) will prohibit alcohol consumption at all internal and external corporate events, from social gatherings to seminars. The policy...
26 November 2025
3
United Kingdom: government scraps plan to introduce ‘day one’ protection against unfair dismissal
The UK government announced on 27 November, in a statement, that it would not be introducing the right to challenge unfair dismissal (without cause) from the first day of employment in its...
3 December 2025
4
Poland: bill adopted to amend definition of psychological harassment
On 27 November, the Polish cabinet adopted a draft amendment to the labour code aimed at simplifying the definition of psychological harassment at work, or “mobbing” (Article 94 3)...
4 December 2025
5
EU: MEPs demand directive on algorithmic management
Members of the European Parliament have called for a directive on algorithmic management. Such legislation would introduce obligations for companies to inform employees, assess health and safety...
17 December 2025
6
Austria: European rules on wage transparency expected to cause a cultural shock
With the gender pay gap in Austria being the second largest in the European Union (18.3%), the Austrian government has promised to introduce a bill next spring to transpose the European directive...
27 November 2025