News brief

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
Malta: implementation of the EU directive on transparent and predictable working conditions
On 01 October 2022, Malta’s Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Regulations 2022 came into force. This text transposes the European Directive 2019/1152, and establishes an...
27 October 2022
Global Framework Agreement: Carrefour commits to fighting sexual orientation and gender-based discrimination
The global union federation UNI Global Union, and French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation Carrefour have announced a second renewal of their global framework agreement on the...
26 October 2022
“It is important to involve the elected representatives of the Economic and Social Committee (Works Councils) and the staff on climate issues”, Arnauld Héry, HR Director of Dekra France
Arnauld Héry joined Dekra France (4,600 employees) in 2021 as head of training, following a long career at McDonalds, notably as European head of training and subsequently as head of...
25 October 2022
Great Britain: Pregnant women and new parents will soon have greater protections from employment terminations
On 21 October the UK government announced it was backing the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill. Introduced as a private members bill by Labour MP Dan Jarvis, the...
25 October 2022
Planet Labor becomes “mind RH”
Dear Planet Labor reader, For more than 15 years, Planet Labor has been providing a daily news feed – in French and English – covering the international industrial relations and human...
24 October 2022
United Kingdom: sexual harassment bill backed by EHRC
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), the independent body tasked by the UK government with ensuring equality nationwide, urged the executive branch on 20 October to back the Worker...
24 October 2022
Romania: law transposes EU directives on transparent working conditions and work-life balance
Romania has adopted a new law to transpose the 2019 EU directives on transparent and predictable working conditions (see article n°10999) and on work-life balance for parents and carers (see...
24 October 2022
Finland: government tables reform ahead of European presumption of salaried status for false self-employed
A government bill, presented to the Finnish parliament on 13 October, aims to clarify the distinction between employees and self-employed workers. If adopted, a general interpretation of the...
21 October 2022
Romania: bill presented to allow both parents to take parental leave simultaneously
Romanian member of parliament Cristina Rizea, from the pro-European opposition party REPER (Renewing Romania’s European Project), this week presented a bill to parliament that would allow...
21 October 2022
Slovakia: introduction of a 14-day paid paternity leave entitlement
An amendment to Slovakia’s Labour Code provides for two weeks of paid leave (14 calendar days) for new fathers, which can be extended in cases where the child/children or mother are...
20 October 2022
EU: nearly half of workers feel more stressed since Covid-19 pandemic (survey results)
More than four in 10 European Union (EU) workers (44%) say their stress at work has risen since the pandemic, according to an OSH Pulse survey of EU Member States plus Iceland and Norway...
20 October 2022
Denmark: labour and employment bills presented to Parliament
On 04 October Denmark’s government presented its legislative program for the new 2022/2023 parliamentary year. In it are several proposals from the Ministry of Employment, including the...
20 October 2022
EU: CJEU ruling – company transformation into an SE European Company structure does not permit a reduction in trade union representation on the corporate’s governing boards
On 18 October the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled in favour of the German metals and service industry trade unions IG Metall and ver.di, respectively. As part of SAP’s...
19 October 2022
Great Britain: an online guidance service for companies to facilitate the employment of those living with disability
On 17 October the government announced the launch of an online platform providing guidance for employers to help them support and encourage the employment of people with illnesses or disabilities...
19 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
Italy: Enel signs agreement to manage the effects of AI on work
An agreement signed at the end of July by the electricity company Enel (31,000 employees) and the unions Filctem-Cgil, Flaei-Cisl, and Uiltec is pioneering in the Italian energy sector. It aims to...
7 September 2026
2
Italy: artificial Intelligence on the menu of Barilla’s new company agreement
Prior consultation with trade unions on innovations related to artificial intelligence, strengthened training, and progress on parenthood: these are the main new features of the agreement signed...
2 September 2026
3
France: Bayer puts female health and inclusive parenthood at the centre of its equality policy
In a new agreement on gender equality highlighted by mind RH, Bayer commits to strengthening its parenthood policy. Furthermore, the company is anticipating pay transparency and introducing...
25 September 2026
4
France: final document on the work of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference
After six months of discussions between French social partners, the guarantors of the Labour, Employment and Pensions Conference submitted the conclusions of the discussions to the Prime Minister...
17 September 2026
5
Germany: working time dispute between Mercedes and the IG Metall Union
The news. At the beginning of September, Mercedes-Benz asked employee representatives and the IG Metall union to agree to an increase in the weekly working time from 35 to 40 hours, without any...
16 September 2026
6
Germany: major day of union action in the automotive industry ahead of collective bargaining
A few weeks before the start of collective bargaining in the German metalworking sector, the IG Metall trade union mobilised nearly 175,000 workers across more than 200 industrial sites on 21...
22 September 2026