Participation without the hallway
The Works Councils Act has existed for decades, but the foundation has always remained the same: the Works Council represents employees and thinks along about policies that affect them. What has fundamentally shifted is the workplace itself. Hybrid working is no longer a temporary measure, but the new normal. The Social and Economic Council advises giving employees more say over their work location and advocates for assessments of reasonableness and fairness in requests to work from home.1
That sounds like progress. But it also exposes a vulnerability. Because how do you represent a constituency that you no longer see every day?
The invisible distance
In a hybrid setting, the informal contact moments that a Works Council traditionally relies on disappear. Signals about work pressure, dissatisfaction, or uncertainty reach the council later, or not at all. There is also the risk of proximity bias: employees who are more often in the office unconsciously have more access to the Works Council and management. Remote workers fall out of sight, not out of unwillingness, but out of habit.
At the same time, the Works Council has strong rights precisely in this context. When implementing hybrid work policies, home working arrangements, and systems that monitor presence or performance, the Works Council has approval rights.2 The powers are there, but it can be a challenge for Works Councils to effectively and strategically utilize these powers.
From waiting to seeking
A Works Council that wants to remain relevant in a hybrid organization must proactively seek out its constituency instead of waiting for people to stop by. This requires new habits:
- Digital office hours
- Short pulse checks
- Continuous visibility and active participation on internal platforms
- Physical moments when the Works Council is easily accessible
It also requires a different, supportive attitude from the organization. Participation only works if employees know that the Works Council exists, what the Works Council does, and how they can reach the council. In a hybrid setting, that visibility is no longer a given.
The Works Council as a mirror of the organization
How an organization deals with its Works Council says a lot about how it deals with its people. Is participation a formality, or a conversation that matters? Especially now that the workplace is changing, that is a question every organization should ask itself.
Written by: Tom de Zeeuw, Head of HR Benelux & Germany at Manutan
