The works council (OR) has co-determination rights over an employee satisfaction survey (MTO) under Article 27 of the Works Councils Act (WOR). This means that as an HR professional, you cannot simply roll out the survey without formal approval from the works council. The meaning of an MTO goes beyond a simple questionnaire: it is a personnel monitoring system within the meaning of the law, and is therefore subject to co-determination. In this article, we answer the most frequently asked questions about the role of the works council, from co-determination rights to the follow-up on results.<\/p>\n
Yes, the works council has co-determination rights over an MTO. An employee satisfaction survey falls under the WOR as a regulation for personnel monitoring systems or a regulation in the area of working conditions and wellbeing. Without the consent of the works council, you may not carry out the survey. This applies both to a one-off annual MTO and to a continuous listening system.<\/p>\n
The co-determination right is designed to protect employees: an MTO collects sensitive information about perceptions, engagement, and wellbeing. The works council assesses whether the design of the survey is sound, whether anonymity is guaranteed, and whether outcomes cannot be traced back to individuals. This is not an obstacle, but a quality check that increases employee trust in the survey.<\/p>\n
In practice, this means you submit a consent request to the works council, including a description of the purpose, the questionnaire, the method of data collection, and the way in which results will be reported. The works council then has six weeks to respond, unless you agree on a shorter timeframe.<\/p>\n
During the execution of an MTO, the works council has the right to inspect the survey design, the questionnaire, and the reporting structure. The works council may verify whether anonymity is genuinely guaranteed and whether no reports are produced at a level of detail at which individual employees can be identified. That right does not end when consent is granted.<\/p>\n
In practice, this translates into a number of concrete rights:<\/p>\n
GDPR compliance is closely connected to this. Make sure your organisation is transparent about who has access to the raw data and how long it is retained. This is not only a legal obligation \u2014 it also strengthens employee support for the survey.<\/p>\n
Before the start of an MTO, you record at least four things in a written agreement with the works council: the purpose of the survey, the design and questionnaire, the reporting structure including minimum group size, and the way in which results will be fed back to employees. Without these agreements, the foundation for a careful and trusted survey is missing.<\/p>\n
Good preparation generally follows these steps:<\/p>\n
By confirming these agreements in writing, you avoid disputes afterwards and send employees a clear signal that their input is taken seriously.<\/p>\n
You involve the works council in the follow-up on MTO results by giving it timely insight into the aggregated outcomes and by jointly determining which themes deserve organisation-wide attention. The works council is not an executor of improvement actions, but it is a dialogue partner that helps ensure results actually lead to policy.<\/p>\n
In practice, this works best when you structure the follow-up. Share the main results with the works council first, before communicating them more broadly. This allows the works council to inform its constituents and gives it a meaningful role in the process. Then discuss together which themes will be addressed at the organisational level and which will be handled at the team level by line managers.<\/p>\n