Sumup employees want to form works council

After the dismissal of 150 employees in the spring, the workforce now wants to organize better. Sumup is so far accepting the effort.

According to information from Finance Forward employees of fintech Sumup want to form a works council. One employee had sent a mass email to the company's employees calling for a works council election.

The reason for the works council aspirations is a wave of redundancies in the spring of this year. Sumup had laid off 150 employees, causing an uproar among the workforce. Shortly before, in fact, the company had assured that there would be no compulsory redundancies. "We still have to work intensively on the consequences of this situation today," CEO Michael Schrezenmaier tells Finance Forward, admitting mistakes in communication. Staff also complain of lack of transparency in appraisal and feedback processes.

Sumup accepts plans to set up a works council. "The right to employee co-determination is part of German law, which has a perfectly clear raison d'être," Schrezenmaier says. Planning could begin as early as January.