Agreement individualises working time decisions at IBM
Foilsithe: 27 January 1999
On 15 December 1998, the computer producer IBM Informationssysteme GmbH and the German White-Collar Workers' Union (Deutsche Angestelltengewerkschaft, DAG) signed a company collective agreement [1] which increases working time flexibility for the company and time sovereignty for the employees, by abolishing core working hours and individualising working time decisions. The collective agreement is valid until 31 December 2001.[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/efemiredictionary/company-agreement-4
In December 1998 in Germany, IBM Informationssysteme GmbH and the DAG trade union concluded a company collective agreement which individualises the working time decisions of employees.
On 15 December 1998, the computer producer IBM Informationssysteme GmbH and the German White-Collar Workers' Union (Deutsche Angestelltengewerkschaft, DAG) signed a company collective agreement which increases working time flexibility for the company and time sovereignty for the employees, by abolishing core working hours and individualising working time decisions. The collective agreement is valid until 31 December 2001.
The agreement stipulates that all employees may individually decide when to work, within a so-called "time window" between 06.00 and 20.00, Monday to Friday. Furthermore, on top of a 38-hour working week, a further three hours' working time may be agreed on an individual and voluntary basis, being compensated for by extra monthly pay and extra days off within a 12-month period. For all employees who do not work according to such a "38 3" hours system, overtime working within the "time window" is excluded.
In addition, all employees may work fewer than 38 hours on a voluntary basis, permanently or for an agreed period. In case of an agreed period, the employee has the guarantee of returning to the previous full-time job. If such a reduction is agreed in order to secure the particular job, the employee receives compensation for the period of working time reduction.
Both IBM and DAG consider the agreement as pointing the way to the future of working time regulation. Klaus Kuhnle, managing personnel director and labour director of IBM Deutschland GmbH, stated that by abolishing core working hours and moving towards individual responsibility in working time, IBM was entering new and unknown territory. Control would be replaced by trust. Furthermore, the provisions would meet the business and especially customer requirements of a service company. According to Uwe Gudowius of DAG, the agreement implements the current demands for working time flexibility and the limitation of overtime in the national talks under the federal-level "employment alliance" (DE9812286N).
Molann Eurofound an foilsiúchán seo a lua ar an mbealach seo a leanas.
Eurofound (1999), Agreement individualises working time decisions at IBM, article.
