Informing workers about the reporting arrangement abroad: what is different?
If your organization has offices in multiple EU countries, the core of the information obligation is the same everywhere: employees must know that a reporting channel exists, how to use it, and that anonymous reporting is possible. What varies is how each country implements this. The EU directive on which national laws are based sets a minimum standard. Each Member State fills in the details, which particularly affects the language of the information, the way you distribute it, and sometimes which authority you must also mention.
The first and most visible difference is language. Information about the reporting channel must be understandable to the employee who reads it. In practice, this means you must provide the procedure, the information kit and the reporting page in the language or languages used at that office, not only in the Dutch or English of head office. For an installation company with a branch in Poland or Romania, this is more than a detail: employees who do not understand the information are in practice not informed.
Form and channel vary by country
Some countries set requirements for the form in which you inform, for example through a fixed section of the staff manual, a mandatory notice upon hiring, or a visible place on the intranet. Other countries leave the form free and only check whether the information was actually demonstrably provided. This latter point is important to remember: in almost every country, it is not only that you informed, but also whether you can prove it. A presentation that was once given is harder to demonstrate than a fixed document with a date and a confirmation of receipt.
The role of employee representation also varies. In the Netherlands, approval from the works council is a fixed part of the process before you inform employees. In other Member States, that role lies with a trade union, a staff representation with a different name, or a comparable step is largely absent. Whoever creates a communication plan for multiple countries at the same time should check for each country which employee representation body is actually competent, rather than copying the Dutch model one-to-one.
One group, multiple local obligations
For a group with offices in different EU countries, this usually means the core of the message can remain the same: there is a reporting channel, this is how you use it, this is how you stay anonymous, these are the deadlines. But the packaging, the language and the proof of receipt must comply with local rules in each country. A centralized information package therefore only works well if it is supplemented per office, not if it is passed on unchanged. review the differences by country carefully in the knowledge base provides an overview by topic, so you can check for each office what exactly must be in place.
Another point on which countries differ is which external reporting option you must mention alongside the internal channel. In most Member States there is a supervisory authority or body to which an employee can also report externally, but the name and competence of that body differ. It is not up to you to bridge that difference with your own interpretation; state the correct local authority per country, and consult a lawyer familiar with local legislation if in doubt.
For those who still need to determine whether the obligation applies to each office at all, it is wise to answer that question first before rolling out the communication. check in a few questions whether the obligation applies to your situation provides a first indication for each country and each location. This way, you avoid spending time informing employees at a location where the threshold has not yet been reached, or discovering too late that it has been.
Lastly: where the information comes from and how it is maintained is just as important as the content itself. A package that does not evolve with changes in local law becomes outdated within a year. read where the information on the platform comes from shows how this timeliness is monitored.
Do you have questions about a specific situation at one of your locations? Consult a lawyer familiar with local legislation or the competent supervisory authority in that country. Would you first like an overview of what is happening at each location? Use the free quick-scan or browse the topics in the knowledge base.