Final agreement on labour deal: what can you expect?

Following a divided opinion of the social partners on the already announced labour deal, the government reached a final agreement last Friday. The main objectives are still to create more employment and to provide more flexibility for both employees and employers. 

The final agreement contains few changes compared to the previous - yet criticized - agreement (see our e-zine of 15 February 2022). We summarize the limited changes / additions below:

Four-day working week and alternating working week:

• Since the aim of these measures is to create a better work-life balance, overtime is explicitly prohibited within this framework.

Faster information on part-time variable work schedules:

• Some exceptions to this measure are foreseen. Specifically, the already existing industry level collective agreements that stipulate a minimum period of less than three working days will remain in force until 31 December 2022 at the latest (with the exception of a limited number of collective agreements).
• The work rules must be brought into line with the new provisions by 31 December 2022.

Bottleneck professions 

• Every two years, the social partners will have to identify the bottleneck professions per industry, the causes of the shortages and the possible measures to tackle them. 
• Governments will cooperate more closely to implement these measures. 

To do: The labour deal has yet to be implemented into law. Lydian's Employment Department will follow up on this and keep you informed.