The deployment of AI often touches on topics on which a works council has a statutory say, such as work organisation, changes to job roles, and systems that can monitor employee behaviour or performance. Whether and when consent or advice is required follows from the Works Councils Act and from the organisation's own agreements. This page describes what information a works council typically needs to form a judgement, not whether and which procedure is mandatory in your situation. For that, you should consult a lawyer or in-house counsel who can compare the legal text with your concrete plan.
A works council confronted with AI plans usually asks similar questions. What exactly are the tasks involved, and on the basis of what information was it determined that AI can (partially) take over these tasks? Who assesses the output, and what happens if that output is rejected? Does the content of the roles of the employees involved change, and does the assessment of their performance change as a result? And: is there a plan for retraining or internal redeployment, or has that not yet been worked out?
These questions are not incidental. They follow from the role the works council has by law in decisions that affect the organisation of work. A breakdown that records per task whether AI takes over the task, whether AI assists under human oversight that approves or rejects with reasons, or whether the work remains human work, gives a works council a concrete point of reference to answer these questions instead of remaining stuck in generalities.
An overview per task is more useful than a statement about the organisation as a whole. For each task, you can show: which steps are carried out, who currently does which part, and what part of the hours is actually freed up if AI takes over a step. The latter is a range, not a fixed number, because it depends on the quality of the source data, on the degree to which oversight remains necessary, and on how the task is carried out in practice.
For some tasks, this overview can already be made concrete. With can AI take over management of periodic subscription billing and with can AI take over exchanging digital invoices via e-invoicing, for example, it is possible to describe which part of the process runs automatically and which part requires oversight. A task such as keeping an audit log of financial changes can also be broken down in this way. Such examples give a works council something tangible to assess, rather than an announcement that 'AI will be deployed' without further detail.
It is also relevant for a works council to know whether the AI system used falls under the European AI Regulation and what obligations arise from this for the employer, for example regarding transparency towards employees. That framework is described on the AI regulation and your employees. In addition, the works council may ask how employees are being prepared to work with AI systems; the background to that obligation is described on AI literacy as an obligation.
If an AI application has already been purchased, set up and partly put into use before the works council hears about it, a different dynamic arises than when the works council is involved from the start. Afterwards, not only the content needs to be explained, but the course of events also needs to be justified: why was this not reported earlier, which choices are already irreversible, and how much room is there still to adjust something. This costs time, can delay the process, and can put pressure on the trust between the executive board and the works council, regardless of whether the decision was substantively correct.
Informing early, before choices are fixed, gives a works council the opportunity to ask questions while there is still room to change something. This does not mean every detail must already be finalised; it means that the direction, the tasks involved, and the assumptions behind the breakdown into the three categories are put on the table early. A task overview with ranges per task is better suited to this than a statement in round figures about the entire organisation, because it allows the works council to probe individual elements without the entire plan being called into question.
Whether and how this discussion is legally required, and within what time frame, is set out in the Works Councils Act and in the organisation's own works council agreement or regulations. This page describes the mechanism; the exact text and its application to your situation should be checked with a lawyer or with the works council's own secretariat.
A useful starting point for the discussion with the works council is an overview of tasks, divided into the three categories, with a justification per task instead of a claim. If you want a first impression before drawing up that overview, the free quickscan from ftetoai gives, in twelve questions, without an account, an indication of what part of the hours in your profile can be taken over by AI today. The full work scan, which further elaborates this per task, is still under development.
Vraag maar. Ik ken de kennisbank van deze site; wat ik niet weet, zeg ik erbij.
Answers come from this site’s knowledge base. Not tailored advice, and not a scan of your company.