“Managing Employee Relations in Europe” is a three day programme designed to assist participants to better understand and manage employee relations at the European level.  This is the fifth year we have run the programme and companies that have participated to date include: American Express, Alliance Boots, Ford of Europe, Eli Lilly, Hilton Hotels, General Motors, Nissan, Toshiba, Unisys, Hewlett Packard, Cisco Systems, Textron, Intel, United Technologies, ACAS, BusinessEurope, Johnson & Johnson and General Motors Europe. Attendance at the programme has included senior HR directors, employee relations specialists and in-house employment lawyers of more than 10 nationalities.

This year we have reconfigured the programme’s content to take account of the current global crisis and the passing of the Recast European Works Council Directive;

• On the economic and financial crisis, it now examines how companies are dealing with a broad range of costs saving and restructuring questions and the likely long-term impact on labour relations in Europe. We will present detailed, up to-the-minute data on the cost and structure of social plans in key EU economies, including France, Germany, Spain, and the UK.
   
• On the “Recast Directive” the programme examines in detail how to deal with the changes for those with existing Article 6 and Article 13 agreements and for those without an EWC currently. The programme offers an ideal environment for companies to review their existing EWC agreements and plan for the future. We will offer to all participants, as part of the price for the programme, our highly rated “EWC Express” service prior to attending (value €3,000).  EWC Express provides participants with a detailed analysis of their current EWC agreement, examines the impact of the Directive on them and suggests the options open.  Based on this analysis, time will be made available during the programme for individual participants to discuss their own EWC situation with the programme leaders and to develop an action plan for managing their company’s response to the challenges posed by the Recast Directive. 

Programme Structure

Day 1: Morning

• The changing economic context – towards a new era of regulation and what that could mean for employee relations;
• Managing employee relations through the crisis – reducing headcount, cutting back on pay, changing working conditions – including a detailed analysis of the structure and costs of social plans in major EU economies. 
  
  

Day 1: Afternoon

• European Union employment law Directives, particularly those involving employee information and consultation obligations, such as collective redundancies and the transfer of undertakings;
• How the different systems of employee relations and employee representation in Europe work in practice;
• Developments in the European and global trade union movement;
   

Day 2: Morning

• Understanding the implications of the Recast EWC Directive;
• Unfolding trade union strategies for the implementation of the Recast Directive into existing and new agreements;
• Negotiating, or re-negotiating, a European Works Council agreement; 
   

Day 2: Afternoon

• EWCs in the context of mergers and acquisitions;
• Work by participants on their individual EWC situation.
   

Day 3: Morning

Sources of information on European employee relations;
The future shape of labour relations in Europe.

Programme Leaders

The programme will be led by Tom Hayes + Alan Wild, joint managing partners of BEERG and Directors of European Affairs and Global Labor Relations of the HR Policy Association respectively.

Programme Location + Costs

The programme will begin on Wednesday morning, October 21 at 0900 and finish at 1200 on the Friday, October 23. The location will be Sitges, Barcelona. The conference fee includes accommodation for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights along with all meals and refreshments. 

The programme fee is €3950. For BEERG/HR Policy members the fee is €3000. To reserve a place on the programme simply e-mail us at: tom.hayes@beerg.com .