WoCo II - Participation in individual staff measures and personnel planning

Rights and influence of the works council in personnel decisions

A company's personnel decisions are a key area of activity for the works council. Whether hiring new employees, transfers, reorganisations or dismissals - the works council has far-reaching participation rights. In addition, personnel planning involves long-term strategic considerations that have a direct impact on the workforce. In this training, we provide practical information on how works councils can effectively utilise their right to participate in individual personnel measures and strategic personnel planning and how the individual employment relationship of employees is linked to the collective participation rights of the committee.

Principles of co-determination for individual personnel measures

The Works Constitution Act (WCA) provides for comprehensive participation rights of the works council in individual personnel measures. These include in particular:

• Recruitment: Influence on selection procedures and staffing decisions
• Transfers and reorganisations: Co-determination in the event of changes to the area of activity
• Dismissals: Rights of the works council in dismissal proceedings

This training uses case studies and practical exercises to develop concrete procedures for enforcing co-determination rights. It will also highlight how the individual rights of employees are linked to the collective co-determination rights of the works council.

Personnel planning – strategies for the future

In addition to the individual measures, personnel planning also plays an important role. This involves the forward-looking organisation of:

• Personnel requirements planning: influencing recruitment strategies
• Personnel development measures: Design of further training and qualification programmes
• Working time and employment models: flexibilisation and job security

The aim of this training is to provide works council members with the necessary knowledge and tools to take a proactive role in personnel planning and to understand its significance for the individual employment relationship and for the workforce as a whole.

Training and advice for successful works council work

This training is aimed at works council members who wish to deepen their knowledge of personnel matters and apply it in practice.

The training focusses on the following topics:

• Rights and obligations of the works council in personnel decisions
• Co-determination in hiring, transfers and dismissals
• Classification and regrouping issues
• Participation in strategic personnel planning and development
• Participation rights in retraining and further training measures
• Practical case handling and enforcement strategies

Detailed Training Contents

Individual staff measures

• Overview of the legal standards in the Works Constitution Act
• Definition of recruitment, transfer, classification and reclassification (Sec. 99 WCA)
• Provisional personnel measures (Sec. 100 WCA)
• Enforcement options of the works council (Sec. 101 WCA)
• Procedure and deadlines

Terminations and Dismissals

• Types of employment relationships and types of termination – grounds for dismissals
• Involvement of the works council in ordinary and extraordinary dismissals
• Procedural issues and compliance with deadlines
• The works council's objection to dismissals and its legal consequences (Sec. 102 WCA)

Personnel planning

• From recruitment to resource planning: elements of personnel planning
• Personnel planning as part of corporate planning
• Involvement of the works council in the determination of general Assessment principles (Sec. 94 WCA)
• Guidelines on personnel selection (Sec. 95 WCA)
• Crisis scenario: risk analysis as the basis for personnel measures
• Identification of training needs and participation in training programmes (Sec. 96 - 98 WCA)
• How to promote and safeguard employment (Sec. 92a WCA)