Three tips to prepare for the 2024 social elections

The legal reference period for the staff census for the 2024 social elections has yet to be determined. If the rules on this point remain unchanged, and the social elections actually take place in May 2024, the reference period for staff will run from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023.

Staff fluctuations from 1 October 2022 will therefore normally have an impact on your staff count for the staff thresholds.

Don’t wait until 2023 before making an initial assessment of where you stand, and be aware that recruitment, layoffs, reliance on temps and students, admitting apprentices and other staff movements may later on affect whether or not you need to hold social elections in 2024.

You’ll have to actively engage in preparing and organising the 2024 social elections in both 2023 and 2024. Therefore, bear in mind that you’ll have to factor this into your 2023 and 2024 budgets.

You’ll also need to plan realistically in terms of manpower: how much staff will be available to coordinate the 2024 social elections and from when? Do you have enough expertise in-house to go through the social election process, or would you like to call in guidance or assistance?

What does your organisation chart look like? Who will belong to managerial staff (and so unable to take part in the social elections as candidates or voters), and who to the executives? Will you have the same Technical Business Unit(s) (TBUs) as in the previous social elections? As an employer, you’ll have to take a position on this once the social election process is underway.

There are also practical questions you need to be prepared for. Should provisions be made for polling stations? Would you like to use e-voting or postal voting?

Anticipating such questions and making timely decisions in this regard means you can be ready from the outset next year.