Information & Consultation - What process should I follow when implementing an agreement? - Sept'06
This month the Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Act, 2006 took effect for undertakings employing 150 or more employees. Since September 4th, the landscape for employee communication in Ireland has changed dramatically. For the first time under Irish legislation, employers will be required, upon receipt of a request from 10% of their workforce, to negotiate an agreement as regards the provision of information and the undertaking of consultation with their staff. Failure to formulate an agreement that is explicitly approved by employees can result in the cumbersome standard rules being applied.
Many Irish employers are currently in the process of negotiating and putting in place Information & Consultation Agreements. However, many others are waiting for a request from their staff to enter into negotiations. In this months HR e-ssentials, we have put together a map of the process to be followed upon receipt of a request from staff. This is based on the experience we have built up in the last number of months working with organisations in this area.
Graphite's process map shows in detail how an employer should progress if they receive a written request from their employees requesting the implementation of an Information and Consultation agreement. It identifies the phased implementation dates of the legislation applying to undertakings of different sizes, the stages the process typically progresses through and what happens where an organisation ignores a request from employees to initiate negotiations.
