Digital transformation, automation and the use of artificial intelligence are currently changing numerous business models. For human resources departments, this means: jobs disappear and new ones are created – often with completely different skills requirements. Many companies are responding with large-scale transformation programs, retraining and reskilling initiatives – most recently at Ergo, for example. Instead of redundancies for operational reasons, the insurer will, among other things, have a reskilling academy to help out.
Such transformation agreements usually involve months of negotiations between employers and employee representatives. When jobs are lost and new ones are created at the same time, it is not just about different conflicting interests, but also about complying with legal obligations. It is a balancing of employee demands and business decisions.
The following questions arise: When are employers allowed to require employees to do new activities? When do you have to offer further training and implement reskilling? Do employees have to undertake this further training? For this purpose, we spoke to the labor lawyer Alexander von Chrzanowski, a specialist lawyer for labor and IT law at the Rödl law firm.
