German digital bank N26 is facing outcry from its staff over management
German digital bank N26 is grappling with discontent from some of its employees, who are trying to organize a works council to express their concerns with management.
Staff at the Berlin-headquartered fintech company are due to
hold votes on Thursday and Friday to elect a board for the works council, which
aims to represent workers in meetings with employers.
This move was met with fierce opposition from N26′s
management, with the company filing a court order to prevent their meetings
from happening. But on Thursday, the employees organizing the works council
said their elections would still take place after German labor union ver.di
offered to chair the meeting.
“Trust and confidence in the management of N26 ensuring the
wellbeing of the workforce as a whole is at an all time low,” the N26 workers
claimed in a statement on their website. “We have seen that our management is
aware of the discontent of employees.”
“The next step now is to elect the members of the Works
Council. N26 GmbH will select an electoral board on 14 August 2020 and N26
Operations GmbH will select an electoral board on 13 August 2020,” the
statement continued. “After this initial meeting the process will begin to
elect candidates to a Works Council.”
N26′s co-founders Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal
have argued for an alternative, saying they believe the traditional German
works council excludes international employees. The company claims it filed an
injunction against the employee gathering due to concerns over safety amid the
coronavirus pandemic.
“The alternative to the Works Council should have a
representation of employees who are not only based in Germany, but also all
other countries, including Brazil and the United States,” N26 told CNBC in an
emailed statement Thursday, adding this alternative should also allow for
digital voting and decision making.
“There could also be a shorter term for members of the
global employee representation board to ensure that new employees don’t have to
wait for several years until they get to elect their representatives. We
believe that this will take employee representation to the next, international
and inclusive, level.”
But, the company added: “That said, if the N26 team feels
that they want to organize the feedback culture in Germany differently via a
works council, N26 will of course respect and support this, as well as any step
in the formation of an electoral board.”
The workers argue that their right to convene the meeting
chaired by ver.di is in accordance with German law, and that attendance and
travel to the meeting should count as working time.
“The company tries to be a start-up and a grown-up bank at the
same time,” Oliver Hauser, union secretary at ver.di, told CNBC. “This has a
negative impact on the working conditions and lead non-functioning structures
and inequality among workers.”
News of the friction between N26 and its staff was first
reported by German fintech news outlet Finance Forward. Among the concerns
raised by employees was a lack of transparency when it comes to salaries and
high work pressure, according to Finance Forward.
N26 is one of Europe’s leading mobile app-based challenger
banks, having attracted millions of users and raised a total of $770 million
from investors including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Hong Kong billionaire
Li Ka-shing, Chinese tech giant Tencent and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund
GIC. Other start-ups in the so-called “neobank” space include Britain’s Monzo
and Revolut, Brazil’s Nubank and U.S.-based Chime.
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