It’s Time to Prepare for the German Works Council Elections

Hello. I’m Alan Wild and welcome to the Wild side podcast Managing employee relations in global and millennial times … 10 minutes, or so, at a time.  I’ve written and spoken in recent times about two things relating to employee representation in Europe and other what I call “rights-based” employee relations systems around the world.  I return to the subject today because the German national works council elections will be held early in 2026 … and whoever wins those elections in your company will be in place for the next four years.  If you don’t like what you have today, now is the time to do something about it. If you’re happy with what you have, now is the time to invest in stability.

More of all that in a moment …  … as you know, I’m Alan Wild, senior adviser on global employee relations for the HR policy Association … the leading voice of CHRO’s today. 

Let me get the jargon out of the way first.  Rights based employee relations systems are where trade union and employee representatives hold positions of power and influence in the workplace not through majority support but by statute. Two simple examples make the case. In the US trade unions typically achieve recognition rights by securing majority workplace support in a bargaining unit. Trade union membership hovers just below 10% and collective bargaining coverage in the private sector is 7%. In France trade unions have a statutory right to representation in works councils and for collective bargaining irrespective of membership numbers. With around 7% membership nationally and just 3% in private sector companies some 98% of French workers are covered by union negotiations. Put succinctly these very different approaches to statutory representation matter … a lot. 

Two key issues mean that it matters who sits across the table from you more today than it ever has;

The first is activist capture … where motivated employee activists secure powerful and influential seats around the table with the support of a small proportion of the workforce. Once elected, the German works council enjoys joint decision rights on important business decisions whether or not they act in the genuine influence of the workforce.  They can realistically only be challenged at the next works council election after a four-year term.  True representivity matters.

The second thing … and my last podcast was all about this … is that change today is based more on rapid, incremental moves and less on major well-defined and longer term projects. Of course, changes like the 30,000 job losses in VW will rightly go through long and complex consultation processes but the very same complex rules apply also to incremental workplace changes delivered day to day, and increasingly using artificial intelligence or learning algorithms.  Activists seeking to disrupt the business, whatever their reason, have an extremely powerful weapon. 

A recent trend that makes this a bigger issue is the increase in the establishment of works councils in companies and operations that have not experienced them before. In the last two years dissatisfaction with company pay awards versus inflation, return to office instructions and job losses in Tech and Corporate Office staff have led to the establishment of new and “first time” works councils. In many companies this has not gone well.  On the employee representative side, people have been elected that are unfamiliar with the role and responsibilities of works councillors. A German HR leader pointed out that these newbies have respect for the “balance of interests” principle that facilitates both employee involvement and business success On the company side, business leaders with similarly little experience of managing works councils struggled with the requirements of consultation and codetermination. Responsible discussion has been replaced by “blocking and tackling” tactics more familiar in the NFL.

Let’s get back to those works council - or Betriebsrat - elections in Germany.  The works council elections are held in all companies at the same time at the level of the legal entity. You will probably have multiple elections.  The next election will be between 1 March and 31May 2026.  If a works council has been formed since the last elections in 2022, a new vote will still take place.  

First some quick facts.   Companies with five or more employees can establish a works council at the request of three employees.  The threshold of the three-person request applies no matter how large the company … as SAP found out. The size of the council varies by employee numbers … with 100 employees there are 5 representatives; 101 employees – 7 reps; and up to a maximum of 35 members.  At the threshold of 200 employees the works council chair is a full-time appointment.  Unlike in countries like France, Spain or Italy, trade union members get no special rights to stand for election in Germany. Any employee can seek election.   Prior to the election the interested employees will form “slates” of candidates with similar interests.  The active trade union(s) will build slates of candidates, but any other group has an equal right to stand. In fact less than a half of German works councillors today are union members. The entire workforce is entitled to vote and they cast their vote for a “slate” rather than an individual candidate. Depending on the proportion of the vote achieved by the slate, works councillors and their deputies are drawn from the list starting at the top. So, if the union Verdi achieves 50% of the vote in an election for a works council of 20, they take 10 seats and the first 10 names on their slate are appointed. The election is managed and supervised by an election committee of employees. 

Health warning incoming …  I’ve just described a complex process in 30 seconds … if you are involved in an election take expert advice.

The works council elections are important!  They establish the works council you will have to deal with for the next four years.   You have a massive interest in the outcome so this is not time for a company to watch and wait.  American companies will be familiar with their role in contested trade union elections … now is the time to forget almost all you have learned.   Unlike the US, a company cannot suggest to employees how they should cast their vote. There are many things that they can do.  A company can both encourage people to participate in the election as candidates and to vote for the people they consider most likely to represent their interests.  There is no electoral quorum and high participation matters.  At the extreme if there is only one slate … or a very low turnout comprising those who favour a particular slate .. that group will occupy all the seats. 

Practically, your company is likely to be in one of three positions. This may be the first works council election in the legal entity.  If so, you need to work to assure that the works council is representative of the workforce and gives employees a real choice.  For example, if you have a large salesforce, it is helpful if they are represented by seats on the works council. Otherwise, you will have sales issues, including incentives, being discussed by people with no knowledge or experience. The same applies to tech or back of office staff. Take this seriously … to repeat … you can’t afford to be a spectator. Ask the tech companies that today have new and awkward works councils whether they would have behaved differently at election time.

Two, if you have an existing works council that works well, you still have an interest in the election … that is to assure that positive and constructive relationships continue. Your role may be as simple as ensuring the existing members do not become too complacent.

Finally, the rubber hits the road where you are not happy that your workforce truly represents the interest of your workers in a constructive way.  Before going down this road let me say that there are awkward works councils that do represent employee interests in the face of companies not behaving well.  The objective here is to have a representative works council not a collection of sycophants.  It is often the case however that a disruptive works council is not representative of the views of the workforce and were elected by a minority interest group in a low election turnout.  Remember, to be disruptive to business a works council does not need to call for a strike or protest requiring employee support. They can be spectacularly obstructive by simply performing their role in a negative way and by slowing or blocking business initiatives.  If this is the case in your company … now is the time to start work … and to repeat myself get proper advice.  

The hard work here is in the detail but let me set out a few broad brush activities for success.

1. Let your employees know that the works council is an important body representing them and their views are important … so vote. Don’t leave that to the unions or activist slate members.
2. Make sure managers don’t suggest that works council membership is a career damaging or anti company move.  You need good people on the works council and it can actually provide an experience for people that helps build a career.
3. Look for pockets of the workforce that have been less likely to vote and put your efforts there.  I’m thinking nightshift, weekend workers, part timers, corporate staffs, migrant workers, sales people … you get the point.  Their interests matter too
4. You can support the efforts of less well organized slates to market themselves … That is providing you offer the same support to all slates.  Remember some slates will already be well prepared and financed.

Finally … and most importantly for the HR or ER leader. This is NOT your election to drive. It belongs to the line managers who will benefit … or not … from the outcome and they need to engage actively in a supportive way.  Sending in teams of US style persuaders is not the European way.

This podcast covers the election for works councilors in Germany in broad strokes.  The principles … though not the detail … matter wherever country you are in and I’m happy to chat about other parts of Europe and the world. 

If you want to learn more about what we do, participate in one of our formal programs or have a question on an issue we have, or have not yet, covered … you can get me on awild@chro.org or on Linked In. 

I’m Alan Wild, and you’ve been listening to a walk on the wild side.