Overview
UniCredit has ended remote working as a default arrangement, removing it for senior managers with immediate effect on 4 November and, according to Italian unions, for essentially all staff from January 2027. The bank’s memo says remote work “is not an automatic right for anyone”. At its German subsidiary only managers are affected, because other staff are covered by a works agreement, which is the clearest illustration this week of why it matters whether your remote days are a perk or a contractual term (Reuters). Read more: UniCredit’s new rules.
The office-attendance push continued in the Netherlands, where ABN AMRO staff walked out on 5 November over the bank’s attempt to write 50% office attendance into the collective agreement for about 18,000 employees, the third large Dutch employer to formalise attendance in a fortnight. In Germany, a Bitkom survey found 56% of firms have cut remote working since the pandemic, even though 63% say it makes hiring harder without it.
In Spain, the Ministry of Labour has proposed a 2027 minimum wage of €1,286 a month in 14 payments, a 5.3% rise, with comments closing on 16 November. It remains a draft until it is published in the BOE.
EU-Level Policy & Regulation
- Eurostat: the self-employed are more than twice as likely to work from home. In 2025, 18.9% of the EU’s self-employed usually worked from home, against 7.3% of employees (Eurostat). Read more.
- The Platform Work Directive must be transposed by 2 December 2026. Greece published its bill this week (see below).
Country Updates
Spain
- Draft 2027 minimum wage of €1,286 a month (14 payments, €18,004 a year), up 5.3%, out for comment until 16 November. A Royal Decree does not need parliament, so it can be approved before the 29 November election (Ministerio de Trabajo). Read more.
United Kingdom
- London Tube drivers will strike eight times between 26 November and 25 February over Transport for London’s voluntary four-day week, a 34-hour roster that RMT says means longer shifts (RMT). Read more.
Ireland
- Salary ranges in job adverts, and a ban on pay-history questions, are planned in legislation to transpose the Pay Transparency Directive “as soon as possible in 2027” (TheJournal.ie). Read more.
- The WRC ordered Abbott Ireland to pay €25,000 to a scientist with endometriosis dismissed during probation two weeks after occupational health recommended two remote days a week (The Irish Times). Read more.
Netherlands
- ABN AMRO staff held a four-hour walkout over pay and a 50% office-attendance rule; talks resume on 19 November (IamExpat). A survey of 3,000 workers for FNV and Nieuwsuur found more than half could not easily return to the office full time (DutchNews). Read more.
Greece
- The bill on AI at work and platform workers is out for consultation until 19 November. It requires human oversight of significant algorithmic decisions and introduces a presumption of employment for platform workers (Newsit). Read more.
Sweden
- SverigeID, a state e-ID for registered residents without BankID, opens on 1 December, with no Swedish bank account needed (The Local Sweden). Read more.
Other EEA
- Austria scraps its tax-free home-office allowance, and the self-employed workplace allowances, from 1 January 2027 (BGBl. I Nr. 62/2026). Read more.
- Poland’s shorter-working-week pilot: 80% of the 78 participating employers want to continue; testing ends in December (Portal Samorządowy/PAP). Read more.
- Italy: UniCredit’s new attendance rules (see Overview).
Corporate Watch
- UniCredit ends default remote working; unions threaten action (Reuters).
- ABN AMRO seeks 50% attendance through its collective agreement.
- Germany: 39% of firms have reduced remote working since its peak and 17% have abolished it; 35% plan further cuts (Bitkom). Read more.
AI Search & GEO Developments
- Google must give UK publishers AI click data from 3 December under a CMA conduct requirement, and said on 2 November it had “nothing to announce yet” (Search Engine Journal). Read more.
Research & Data
- Eurostat 2025 working-from-home data by professional status (updated 30 October): 22.7% of self-employed people without employees usually work from home.
- Spanish research in Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy finds that districts with more hybrid work have wider, less concentrated job-home networks, while established employment centres keep their advantage (Springer).
What to watch next week
- 16 November: comments close on Spain’s draft 2027 minimum wage
- 19 November: ABN AMRO collective-agreement talks resume; Greek consultation on AI at work closes
- 26 November: first London Tube strike over the four-day week
- 2 December: Platform Work Directive transposition deadline
- 3 December: Google’s UK AI click-data requirement takes effect
Last week’s digest: Week 45.