Desk sharing & the works council: what to keep in mind

For anyone planning to introduce desk sharing (or already in the middle of it), one thing becomes clear pretty quickly: the works council can’t block the decision itself, but they do have a lot of influence on how the setup is designed and implemented.

A few things that regularly come up:

• Ergonomics don’t disappear just because the desks rotate. People still need proper chairs, screens, height-adjustable tables, etc.
• Data protection matters: Clear booking rules, sensible data retention, and no unnecessary personal data.
• Hygiene & safety rules need to be defined: clean-desk policy, shared equipment guidelines, safe cabling setups.
• Booking processes: the works council often weighs in on how transparent the system is and how conflicts are handled.
• Existing agreements usually need an update. In many cases, a dedicated “desk sharing” works agreement keeps things legally clean.

Bottom line: involving the works council early and communicating openly with employees makes the rollout much smoother, and avoids headaches later on.

If you want the deep dive (incl. participation rights + what typically goes into a desk-sharing works agreement), here’s the full article "Desk sharing & works council: what to consider"