Increasingly, SBI Formaat collaborates with Dutch companies and NGO’s that work internationally, and that establish staff representation bodies locally overseas as well as at the global level.
- We help to shape employee representation at national and international level
- We provide expert advice for agreements on employee representation
- We train employees’ representative bodies to improve the dialogue with management
- We have experts on Health and Safety of employees, teambuilding, finance for employees’ representatives, data privacy at work, meeting and negotiating skills and may more
SBI Formaat contributes to employee participation in Qatar
Perhaps you have read in the news about the efforts being made in Qatar to improve working conditions. There is still a long way to go, but the government and companies are taking more and more steps, one of which is setting up Joint Committees, the Qatari form of company level employee participation. There are now about 20 of these Qatari works councils, but it is expected that dozens more will be set up in the next few years. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) supports Qatar. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also offered assistance to the pioneering Joint Committees. As the Dutch have 70 years of experience with employee participation in the works council, an exchange could be useful.
And here comes SBI Formaat! In cooperation with the Dutch Social and Economic Council (SER), we have set up a training project for Joint Committees. With inspiration from the Dutch Works Council Act and experience from the many Dutch works councils we work with, we helped employees’ and employers’ representatives to develop an internal procedure for information and consultation. Eventually, a model procedure has been set up, which is now recommended by the Qatari Ministry of Social Affairs ADSLA to newly established Joint Committees. All in all, a great result of this project.
Maayke in Japan – first works council in Japan?
In 2015 I visited Japan physically, but in 2020 I frequently travelled to Japan online. An international school asked for support from SBI Formaat in constructing and developing a works council. An employee of this school had worked in the Netherlands for a substantial period of time, and was charmed of the Dutch way of working. The term “polderen” [the mindset of jointly maintaining dikes] may not be easy to translate, but what he liked was the Dutch way of roping in different stakeholders into coalitions, ready to meet each other half-way, while working on concrete goals.
Taking into consideration the local customs and laws, we built a solid ground for this emerging works council. The Head of School and the members of the works council all worked together, with help from HR and other stakeholders like the “sharoshi” – a type of legal consultant specific to Japan.
The result: firm groundwork, a covenant that fits, stakeholders facing the same direction. As far as I know, they established the first works council in Japan!
“Hire a Dutch company, and the Hollanders will save you”, I quote directly from one of our meetings.
So there we are! Centuries of cooperation between Japan and the Netherlands, brought both parties a long way…
Employment, decent work for all and social protection
SBI Format contributes to SDG’s goals. Growth, work and opportunities for everyone.
SBI Formaat were incredibly helpful in advising Canon when we were writing our new European Works Council agreement. Their level of knowledge and expertise, and capability to handle the complexities that arose during the process, is excellent.
– Laura Wyatt, Canon Europe
Helping you out
We look forward to helping you reflect whether your organisation wants to establish staff representation bodies overseas and/or at global level. And we look forward to guiding you and your stakeholders through a consultative process that identifies and agrees a model that optimally fits your values and circumstances.
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