News brief

EU: the text imposing gender parity thresholds corporate boards of directors definitively adopted
Relaunched during France’s 6-month presidency of the Council of the European Union in H1 2022, the directive on a better gender balance among non-executive directors of listed companies has...
23 November 2022
Belgium: special temporary unemployment scheme introduced for energy-intensive companies
A new law in Belgium, published on 16 November in the country’s official gazette, introduces a temporary unemployment scheme for energy-intensive companies to help them cope with the current...
21 November 2022
United Kingdom: minimum wage to rise sharply in 2023
The UK’s National Living Wage (NLW) – for those aged 23 and over – will increase by 9.7% from April 2023, rising from £9.50 (€10.95) per hour to £10.42...
21 November 2022
Italy: benefits in kind to be tax-free up to €3,000 in 2022
The “Aiuti-Quater” decree, adopted by Italy’s Council of Ministers on 10 November to support companies and households amid rising inflation, significantly raises the upper limit...
18 November 2022
France: final vote on the law that treats job abandonment as job resignation
On 17 November France’s Senate house voted in favour of draft legislation on emergency measures relating to the functioning of the labour market and the law is thus definitively adopted...
17 November 2022
Italy: Crédit Agricole subsidiary in Italy extends optional paternity leave
On 26 October Crédit Agricole Italia together with the FABI, First-Cisl, Fisac-Cgil, Uilca and Unisin trade unions signed an agreement that provides for additional paternity leave. Thus in...
16 November 2022
Great Britain: KFC launches a programme to encourage the hiring of younger workers who are facing employment barriers
The KFC fast food chain is aiming that by 2030 a third of its new hires will comprise younger workers facing various employment barriers. To this end, the group, which employs 27,000 people in the...
United Kingdom: Boots offers staff discounted childcare at nurseries
Boots, the UK pharmacy chain and health and beauty retailer, has unveiled a new partnership with the country’s leading nursery group Busy Bees. Under the agreement announced on 1 November...
14 November 2022
Italy: Generali turns to smart working in a bid to lower energy consumption costs
In order to manage escalating energy prices, due in particular to events in Ukraine, Italian insurer Generali (13,000 employees in Italy) will be turning to remote working arrangements as a way of...
9 November 2022
Great Britain: 50 largest unlisted companies called on to publish their leadership gender data
As announced in February 2022, the FTSE Women Leaders Review has called on the largest unlisted companies to voluntarily publish figures on their female participation rates in senior executive and...
9 November 2022
France: 2021 data show major listed companies have only just over 25% female participation on their executive bodies
On 07 November, and in partnership with the Ministry of Gender Equality, HR consulting firm ConvictionsRH unveiled the rankings for female participation on corporate executive bodies from the 120...
8 November 2022
Portugal: case law enshrines the right to rest on weekends for parents of children under 12 years of age
Portugal’s Supreme Court has ruled that a company cannot deny the right to rest on Saturdays and Sundays to an employee with children aged under 12 years. This decision follows a case...
Austria: 7.44% pay rise in metal industry
The social partners in the largest branch of Austria’s metal industry – the business organisation Metaltechnology Austria (FMTI) and the PRO-GE and GPA trade unions – have struck...
7 November 2022
United Kingdom: Marks & Spencer offers four-day week option to managers
The emblematic British retailer Marks & Spencer has unveiled a new flexible working proposition for more than 3,000 retail managers, available from January 2023. Dubbed “Worklife”...
7 November 2022
Portugal: social dialogue on the four-day working week begins in earnest
Portugal’s government has created a pilot project to implement a four-day working week and on 03 November submitted it to the social partners for consideration and dialogue. Interested...
4 November 2022
Italy: remote work practised at 91% of large companies but only “true” agile working has positive effects
In 2022, 3.6 million Italian employees practised so-called “agile working”, marking a decline of 500,000 compared to 2021, a year during which there were more lockdowns due to the...
28 October 2022
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
Catherine Chavanier (CDC Habitat): “Social dialogue on AI facilitates its deployment”
In February, CDC Habitat (10,500 employees) signed a two-year framework agreement governing social dialogue on AI. Catherine Chavanier, HR Director of the subsidiary of CDC (Caisse des dépôts et...
2
Greece: hospitality sector signs first collective agreement aligned with National Social Pact
The hospitality sector (125,000 employees), one of Greece’s largest industries after retail, signed a new two-year collective agreement on 17 March. The text, effective from 1 April 2026...
3
France: La Poste to launch negotiations for an AI agreement
Following the lead of firms such as Axa, Syensqo globally, and more recently CDC Habitat, La Poste group management will open negotiations on an AI regulation agreement during the first half of...
4
France: Club Med includes “multiculturalism” in its professional equality agreement
In December 2025, Club Med and the CFTC, Unsa, and FO trade unions signed an agreement on professional equality and working conditions. It introduces measures addressing AI, pay transparency, and...
23 March 2026
5
Germany: crisis and transformation wage agreement in the chemical sector
Following a two-day marathon negotiation in Bad Breisig (Western Germany), the social partners of the German chemical and pharmaceutical industries—the IG BCE trade union and the BAVC employers'...
27 March 2026
6
France: bioMérieux’s new disability agreement pivots towards mental health
The news. On 6 January 2026, bioMérieux—an in vitro diagnostics specialist employing 4,400 people in France—signed a new four-year agreement “relating to the employment...