Work/Life: international employment news update

Issue 59

Welcome to the latest edition of our international employment news update. Given the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, we wanted to direct readers to our practical resources aimed at supporting those who wish to understand and help the circumstances of Ukrainian people who want to be able to live and work. Here is the link led by our CE offices:

Find out more

Meta faces whistleblower retaliation claim

A former Facebook employee has accused Meta of whistleblower retaliation after asserting his dismissal in 2019 was because of raising concerns over a protocol which allowed employees to recover data that users had deleted.

'The Uber Files'

A consortium of journalists has reported on Uber's business affairs prompted by a whistleblower on the methods that Uber used to break into European markets. Thousands of documents which were leaked to the Guardian have given readers an insight into how Uber lobbied senior members of governments and heads of states in order to achieve its growth strategy in Europe.

Graduates crave in-person contact at work

The Times has reported that recent graduates crave human interaction at the workplace having studied at home for the duration of the lockdown. Graduate recruiters want new starters in the offices but appreciate that in order to make this happen they need to encourage more senior staff back into the office to make it worthwhile for rookies.

Bullying in the workplace hits a record high

New research shows how number of UK employment tribunal claims which relate to bullying has soared by 44% over the last 12 months. Amongst other factors working from home has been cited for the surge in bullying claims in the UK employment tribunals. Examples such as "cutting remarks" made during video calls which employees are finding difficult to address and the use of messaging apps to gossip are cited as factors which has led to a rise in bullying.

Schiphol workforce grows by 400, but many vacancies remain

The airport and the companies that operate there managed to attract about 400 more employees in the past weeks. But there are still several thousand vacancies. Staff shortages, mainly in baggage handling and security, have regularly caused massively long queues at Schiphol since the start of the May vacation. Due to the staff shortages and resulting chaos, Schiphol cut its capacity by around 13,500 passengers per day for the entire month of July.

Less bureaucratic immigration policy in Germany

Several sectors of the German economy have experienced acute staff shortages because of the Corona pandemic – these include sectors such as hospitality, nursing and the aviation industry. The German government is planning a reform of immigration law to enable it to cushion the personnel shortage as quickly and easily as possible. The aim of the reform is to make immigration less bureaucratic and enable the process of finding employment in Germany easier.

Amsterdam is 9th most popular city globally for European workers

Amsterdam came in 9th place in the global ranking of European workers’ favoured cities to work in. Over 2 million European workers named Amsterdam as one of their preferred cities to work in, according to a survey by the Intelligence Group. The most preferred jobs in Amsterdam are administration (17%), finance (10%), and IT (8%). The top 3 cities for European workers are reported to be London, New York and Paris.