News brief

Denmark: new rules for parental leave
On 03 March Denmark’s Parliament adopted a bill amending the Parental Leave Act and bringing it into line with the 2019 European Work-life Balance Directive, which must be implemented in the...
15 March 2022
EU: employment ministers unblock directive to increase the number of women on boards
The proposed directive on “improving the gender balance among directors of companies listed on stock exchanges” was backed by a majority of European Union member states in the Council...
14 March 2022
France: employment and disability barometer launched to show firms’ commitment to inclusivity
The French government launched a new tool on 10 March that allows businesses in the private and public sectors to exhibit measures they are taking to foster the integration of people with...
11 March 2022
Great Britain: government launches a pilot scheme on salary transparency
On 08 March, International Women’s Day, the UK government unveiled a new pilot scheme that participating companies will be testing. The employers participating in this test, the names and...
10 March 2022
Great Britain: HR experts call on employers to support employees whose families are affected by the war in Ukraine
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the UK Professional Body for Human Resources and People Development, has called on companies to support employees with family or loved...
9 March 2022
Stellantis creates an international network of women to improve female representation in the company
On 08 March, International Women’s Day, the multinational automaker announced the launch of ‘Women of Stellantis’, an international network of women designed to support the...
9 March 2022
Ukraine: trade unions providing humanitarian aid to people in Ukraine
Ukraine’s largest trade union body, the Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU, affiliated with the International Trade Union...
United Kingdom: Aviva hands company shares to staff as a thank you
UK insurance group Aviva announced in its full-year results statement for 2021, published on 2 March, that it will give shares worth £1,000 (€1,210) to each of its employees across the...
7 March 2022
United Kingdom: business leaders call for term “chairman” to be scrapped
UK business leaders have called on the government to scrap use of the gendered word “chairman” in official documents filed with Companies House, the country’s corporate register...
4 March 2022
Great Britain: employers called on to give their views on training for 16-year-olds and over
On 02 March, the UK government opened a consultation aimed at reforming training for 16-year-olds and older who do not follow the traditional secondary and tertiary education route. The UK...
3 March 2022
Italy: DHL Express experiments with smart working
A national framework agreement signed on 23 February by DHL Express Italy and the Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl and Uiltrasporti trade unions, sets out a smart working trial period that will start...
2 March 2022
Portugal: government creates a jobs vacancy website for Ukrainian refugees
On 28 February and in a move to support Ukranian refugees, Portugal’s government launched an online jobs platform to channel company job vacancies towards them. In just one day, the...
2 March 2022
Hong Kong: refusal to get the Covid-19 vaccine may result in employment dismissal
In early February 2022, the Hong Kong government announced that it would amend the Employment Ordinance in order to prevent labour disputes arising from the new social distancing measures. The...
1 March 2022
Italy: energy group Enel to train 5,500 technicians for its network of supplier companies
Launched by Italian electricity and gas group Enel, in partnership with the training body ELIS, the “Energie per Crescere” (Energy for Growth) programme will offer five weeks of...
Norway: due diligence Transparency Act comes into force on 01 July 2022
While on 23 February the European Commission finally presented, a draft directive on due diligence, in June 2021 the Norwegian Parliament adopted a Transparency Act (Åpenhetsloven), which...
24 February 2022
India: Tata Steel augments its transgender employee base
On 21 February, Indian steel giant Tata Steel announced it has recruited 12 transgender crane operator apprentices at its Kalinganagar plant in the western state of Gujarat. The apprentices will...
23 February 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
Oliver Dietrich (IG Metall): “The advent of AI can be a means of deepening social partnership within companies”
In Germany, trade unions want to influence how AI is deployed in companies. Oliver Dietrich is an AI project manager at the regional office of the IG Metall trade union in North Rhine-Westphalia...
2
EU: social partners split over competitiveness and action on job quality
The European Trade Union Confederation and BusinessEurope have published their response to the consultation document on the European Commission's upcoming EU quality jobs initiative. The two...
4 February 2026
3
Germany: collective bargaining negotiations begin in chemical industry
Collective bargaining talks in Germany’s chemical and pharmaceutical industries are due to open this week, covering nearly 580,000 employees across around 1,700 companies. With the sector facing...
3 February 2026
4
Italy: new generational renewal agreement penned at UniCredit
The agreement signed on 30 December by UniCredit, Italy’s second-largest banking group, with the Fabi, First-Cisl, Fisac-Cgil, Uilca and Unisin trade unions aims to continue generational...
5
France: social partner talks extend far beyond contractual terminations
After a false start on 3 December, French social partners resumed talks on 7 January 2026 on potential changes to the unemployment insurance agreement, including the rules governing compensation...
12 January 2026
6
EU: banking sector social partners commit to combating violence and harassment
On 15 January, the trade union federation UNI Europa Finance and three employers’ associations in the banking sector signed a joint statement on preventing violence and harassment in the...