Employee/Industrial Relations
ER/IR Network Webinar: European Works Council Reform in Action: The New Directive
Wednesday 20 May, 12.00 – 13.00 BST
European Works Councils are entering a period of renewed relevance. Changes to the EU Directive, alongside the longer-term effects of Brexit, are reshaping how multinational organisations approach employee consultation across borders. While the legal framework is evolving, the practical implications remain uneven and, in many cases, poorly understood.
For UK-headquartered organisations in particular, the picture is complex. EWCs remain governed by national law where they are based, yet the UK is no longer part of the EU system that is driving reform. This creates a degree of uncertainty and, more importantly, choice. Some organisations may align with emerging European standards, while others may take a more limited approach.
At the same time, expectations around consultation are shifting. The direction of travel points towards earlier, more substantive engagement with employee representatives, even if many organisations continue to operate within established procedural models. The result is a landscape in which legal change, strategic judgement and organisational culture intersect.
Themes we will explore
- The implications of recent changes to the EWC Directive, including the removal of longstanding exemptions and strengthened consultation requirements
- How EWCs operate in practice, including the role of national legal frameworks and the influence of different employee groups
- The strategic choices facing UK-based organisations in a post-Brexit environment
- Procedural compliance versus more substantive, ongoing dialogue with employee representatives
- The practical challenges of transnational consultation, including timing, coordination and decision-making
- How leading organisations are approaching EWCs today, with examples and emerging patterns
What participants will take away
- A more informed view of how employee voice and consultation are evolving across Europe
- A clear understanding of what is changing and what it means in practice
- Insight into how different organisations are responding, including areas of uncertainty and divergence
- A framework for thinking about EWCs as part of a broader employee relations strategy
- Practical considerations for reviewing existing arrangements and preparing for future developments.
We are opening this ER/IR event to a limited number of non-members; register now to secure your spot.
Who is this event for?
- HR and ER Leaders
- Legal Advisors
- Anyone managing Employee Relations or navigating Industrial Relations disputes
Speakers
Nick Dalton
Speaker, Author and Advocate & ER/IR Network Lead, CRF
Nick is a consultant, speaker, author, and advocate. Until end of 2020, he was Executive Vice President H.R. at Unilever.
After graduating with a degree in Politics and Economics from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and spending a year as a student politician (sabbatical secretary of the student Union), he joined Unilever in 1986. His first role was in Hull, UK, as an employee relations manager in a Bird’s Eye Walls
factory. He later became personnel manager for a bigger site covering Hull and Grimsby, where he managed large scale restructuring that became an ACAS case study of best practice.
After 15 years working in Bird’s Eye in various locations, he went off to Rotterdam, the Netherlands to work in Unilever’s ice cream and frozen food business in Europe. His role there was to scale and regionalise the business. Then he went to Switzerland to establish what is called the Unilever supply chain company, first on a European level than on a global level. Before becoming EVP HR for Business
Transformation, Nick was EVP HR for Europe and the Global Markets, having day to day responsibility for Unilever’s HR partnering globally.
The last 35 + years, has seen him covering all areas of H.R. ranging from introducing new HR information systems, recruitment, designing new reward systems for sales forces, working with marketing teams to speed up innovation times, through to setting up new Companies and troubleshooting industrial relations ‘crises’ across the globe.
His passion is for change management, Organisational development and industrial/ employee relations. He describes his ‘purpose’ as ‘ bringing creativity from conflict’. He is an H.R, professional because he believes that if ‘we change the workplace, we do change the world’. He has co-authored
the book HR (R) evolution, change the workplace, change the world (2019- Routledge), and has also co-authored an article for the Harvard Business Review (March/April 2022). His work on Unilever’s Future of Work programme has been captured in case studies currently used in programmes by the Harvard Business School and the London School of Economics.
Since 2020, Nick has worked as a consultant in the financial services sector, aviation sector, retail sector and software (AI development) sector, as well as for FMCG companies. Nick also speaks regularly at HR, business conferences and training events, advocating for the ‘Paradox wave’, by explaining the 7 Great Waves of people management. Starting from ‘Paternalism’ at the dawn of the industrial revolution, moving through the waves of ‘Power, Process, Profit, Purpose, Paradox and Planet’. Concepts explained fully in his co-authored book and manifesto for change –
‘H( R ) evolution, Change the workplace , change the world.’
Leonie McQuaide
Principal Associate, Eversheds Sutherland
Leonie is a Principal Associate in the Employment, Labor and Pensions Practice Group at Eversheds Sutherland. Leonie trained at Eversheds Sutherland and qualified in September 2019.
Recognised as one of the firm’s specialist labor lawyers, Leonie provides strategic advice to clients on a broad range of complex collective disputes and trade union relations matters. She has extensive experience advising on trade union recognition campaigns, including representing clients before the Central Arbitration Committee. Leonie is experienced in supporting clients through periods of industrial action, having acted on numerous interim injunction applications in the High Court.
Leonie also has substantial litigation expertise, having defended claims in respect of a variety of issues in the Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal, and Court of Appeal.
On the international front, Leonie has experience advising multinational clients on the establishment, operation, and governance of European Works Councils, including navigating complex cross-border consultation requirements and coordinating large international projects.
Leonie is also an accomplished public speaker and regularly speaks at conferences and delivers bespoke training to clients on employment/labor law.
John Whelan MBE
Director, CRF
John Whelan is a Director at Corporate Research Forum. Formerly UK HR Director of BAE Systems, the FTSE 100 defence, security, and aerospace company, John’s experience and strengths lie in business and HR Transformation, Organisation Development and Employee Relations. Prior to joining BAE, he held a variety of HR roles in engineering, technology and manufacturing businesses across the telecommunications and semi-conductor industries including Matra-Marconi Space where he was HR Director for the UK and, latterly, Group HRD.
Employee and Industrial Relations Network
The Employee Relations (ER) and Industrial Relations (IR) network builds on CRF’s 30+ year track record of enhancing knowledge, capability and effectiveness in the HR function by recognising the issues, challenges and opportunities directly related to this specialist area.
