IT ticketing and the German works council: what to discuss

Why the works council is involved

Under section 87(1)(6) of the German Works Constitution Act (BetrVG), the works council has a say when technical devices designed to monitor employee behaviour or performance are introduced and used. For the Federal Labour Court, it is enough that a system is objectively suitable for monitoring (decision of 13 December 2016, 1 ABR 7/15). Whether the employer intends to monitor does not matter. Your adviser should assess the particular system.

A ticketing system records who took on, answered and resolved a ticket, and when. Reports per person can be built from that data. That makes it a typical subject for the works council, even if nobody plans to use it for performance assessment. Discuss that capability openly.

Prepare a data overview

Prepare a simple overview. It is the basis of every discussion.

Requester: name, email, department, device
Request: text, attachments, screen recordings
Handling: assignment, replies, notes, timestamps
Reports: volume, resolution times, deadlines,
         satisfaction and workload per IT staff member
Access: roles [employee / IT / admin]
Retention: [agreed periods]
Providers: [hosting, payments, AI if used]
Audit log: who changed what and when

Questions the works council will ask

• Which reports exist per person, and who can see them?
• Are figures per person used for performance reviews?
• How long are tickets and logs kept?
• Is there an AI, and what does it get to see?
• Can the supplier read content?
• What happens to the data when someone leaves the company?

What a works agreement can cover

Many companies record the answers in a works agreement (Betriebsvereinbarung). Typical points are:

1. Purpose: handling IT requests, not monitoring performance.
2. Reporting: which reports are allowed, for example team-level only, and which are not.
3. Access: who can see which data.
4. Retention: deletion periods for tickets, attachments and logs.
5. Changes: new features, such as AI, are discussed beforehand.
6. Oversight: the works council may inspect the settings.

Whether an agreement is needed and how it should be worded is something to settle with your legal adviser.

Make the discussion concrete

• Come early. Before contracts are signed.
• Show the system. A trial login explains more than any slide.
• Be specific. “There is a workload report per admin, visible to admins” rather than “There are reports”. Say exactly which report is visible to which role.
• Give up what you do not need. If you do not need figures per person, say so and write it down.

Invite a works council member to try the system themselves during the trial, as a requester and looking at the reports. Anyone who has seen what a report shows and what it does not show discusses things more concretely. Note questions that come up during the trial and answer them in writing.

Typical concerns and possible answers:

“This measures who is fastest.”

Decide which reports exist for the team and which per person. If you do not want a league table, write that down.

“My requests are stored forever.”

Set retention periods, for example anonymise resolved tickets after two years.

“The supplier reads along.”

Ask who at the supplier has access and how that is logged.

“The AI analyses everything.”

Clarify whether there are AI functions, what they see and whether they can be switched off.

Include data protection

If you have a data protection officer, involve them alongside the works council. They will also want to review data processing agreements, retention periods and the record of processing activities. The same data overview helps both discussions, and a joint meeting is often the simplest way to settle questions.

Many small companies have no works council. The questions in this guide are still useful, because they create transparency: who sees what, what is analysed and how long data is kept. A short note to all employees before launch builds trust and heads off the rumour that IT now wants to monitor everyone. Data protection obligations apply whether or not you have a works council.

In Austria and Switzerland, different rules apply to involving employees in monitoring measures and data systems. The questions above are a good start there too, but a local specialist has to assess the legal position, rather than applying the German rules automatically.

A realistic timetable, and AI functions

Allow several weeks for the discussions with the works council and data protection, depending on how often they meet. Plan them alongside the trial rather than after it. If you come early, you lose no time. If you come late, you delay the rollout.

AI functions in a ticketing system, such as summaries or suggested replies, are a separate topic for the works council. Clarify which data goes to whom, whether personal details are removed beforehand and whether individual functions can be switched off.

What the software should offer

Look for configurable retention periods, a log of changes, roles, a supplier that accesses content only after your approval, and AI functions you do not have to use. 404desk has retention periods, an audit log and roles. Support only reads along after your approval, and AI is an add-on you do not have to book. See privacy and hosting.