Answered by Johan Pastarus, Mental Health Consultant at the Labour Inspectorate
The working environment representative is an employee representative for occupational health and safety matters, whose task is to highlight work environment issues and communicate them to the employer. The presence of a working environment representative is expected in companies employing ten or more people.
Among other duties, the working environment representative plays a key role in addressing psychosocial hazards. They contribute to creating a better work environment and promoting work environment-related dialogue between the employer and employees. In order to perform their duties effectively, the representative must be familiar with the occupational health and safety legislation applicable to the specific company, as well as internal working environment guidelines. These include, for example, risk assessments, crisis plans, and procedures for handling occupational accidents. Therefore, experienced employees who are familiar with the working environment and able to understand the broader context of employees’ working conditions are typically best qualified for the role of a representative.
This means that in addition to their regular work duties, the working environment representative is capable of understanding the collective and the safety of the work environment, as well as the implementation of requirements.
The representative’s role often extends to psychosocial hazards as well. The representative helps to ensure that discrimination does not go unnoticed and guides employees to internal solutions. Although the representative is not a conflict resolver, they can be a trusted employee who gathers the opinions of employees and presents them to the employer in a manner that supports reaching a resolution.
Several working environment representatives have contacted the Labour Inspectorate on the subject of psychosocial hazards, particularly concerning discrimination. A common issue is that the working environment representative ends up in a sort of ‘bureaucratic loop’’ – employees bring their concerns to them, but the employer does not respond with sufficient seriousness.
What to do in case of a conflict where the employer does not respond to the information or requests collected?
First, it is important to remember that conflict management, let alone conflict resolution, is never the role of the working environment representative. This responsibility lies with the employer and the employer’s representatives. The representative’s task is to communicate and represent employees’ opinions.
The working environment representative should always be aware of the competence of their role. For instance, in a case of workplace bullying, they may be part of a working group to find a solution or gather employees’ views on the situation, which can then be presented optimally to the employer. In such situations, the working environment representative is a trusted employee who assists the employer in communicating with the employees. This is important because a conflict is like a fire that needs to be extinguished as quickly as possible to prevent it from damaging the entire building, and the working environment representative can play a significant role in speeding up this process. As soon as a situation arises where the responsibility for finding a solution is delegated to the representative, they have the right to refuse. The role of the employees’ representative is voluntary for the person fulfilling it, and it is the employer’s role to find solutions to these issues.
However, if the representative feels that the employer still does not take the employees’ concerns seriously, they can refer the matter to the Labour Inspectorate.
