Court lets Booking require staff to be in office 40% of the time
The Amsterdam district court has ruled that Booking may make its employees work from the office for 40% of their working time, despite the objection of its works council.
The Amsterdam district court ruled on Wednesday that Booking may require employees to be in the office 40% of their working time. Booking went to court because its works council (ondernemingsraad) had not agreed to the policy.
The company has 7,000 employees in the Netherlands. It wanted them at the Amsterdam head office at least two days a week, for a full working week, to encourage contact between colleagues.
Booking said it is important that colleagues can meet at work, especially when they are in the same team.
The court accepted Booking's argument that meeting in the office can contribute to "connection, training, development and effective cooperation between teams and team members". In its words, mandatory attendance is "a reasonable means" to achieve that, "also because encouraging employees has not worked so far".
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OR (ondernemingsraad)
A works council: a body elected by employees to represent them in a company or organisation. The employer must ask its advice or consent on important decisions, such as reorganisations and rules on working hours.