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Desk sharing software can be introduced with the approval of the works council if purpose, data scope and access rights are regulated transparently from the outset and the software supports data minimisation. The decision rests with the works council. A transparent set of rules creates a solid basis for it.
This article is written for project leads in IT, HR or Workplace Management who want to introduce desk sharing software and need to take the co-determination rights of the works council into account. It provides concrete review questions, criteria for a privacy-friendly selection and a process for the rollout. It does not replace legal advice.
At a glance
- Depending on the setup, the works council in Germany has a right of co-determination over technical systems that are capable of monitoring behaviour or performance (Section 87 (1) No. 6 of the German Works Constitution Act, BetrVG). Whether a desk sharing software falls under this must be assessed legally in each individual case.
- A purpose defined in writing (space and occupancy planning rather than performance monitoring) is the most important basis for the conversation.
- Software without live monitoring, without geolocation and without working time recording, with a role concept and pseudonymised, aggregated analyses makes the discussion easier.
- The works council and data protection officer should be involved before the final selection, not just before the rollout.
- With Seatti you enter the conversation well prepared: no live monitoring, pseudonymised analyses, EU data centres, ISO 27001 certification and a data processing agreement available for download.
Does the works council have to approve the introduction of desk sharing?
The project is set up, the software has been selected or shortlisted, and then the works council comes forward with questions about possible monitoring. This situation is common and is no sign of a failed project.
In Germany, under the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG), the works council has a right of co-determination over the introduction of technical systems that are capable of monitoring the behaviour or performance of employees (Section 87 (1) No. 6 BetrVG). Desk sharing software may fall under this, because bookings and presence become visible and conclusions about working behaviour may be possible. The legal assessment depends on the individual case: on the scope of the data, on the analysis options and on whether data can be attributed to individual persons.
Many companies regulate the introduction in a works agreement that sets out purpose, data categories and access rights in a binding way. In Austria and Switzerland, different rules on employee participation and co-determination apply. If your company operates sites in these countries, you should review the respective framework separately.
Involve your legal department or specialist lawyers for employment law and data protection early, and inform the works council about your plans at an early stage. The following sections show which concerns works councils typically have and which review questions you should prepare.
What worries works councils about desk sharing software, and which questions should you have prepared?
Works councils focus above all on protecting employees: from monitoring, performance pressure and data protection risks. These concerns are legitimate, and they can be addressed in a structured way. The table maps typical concerns to the questions you should clarify and to the properties the software should offer for them.
| Concern | What you should clarify | What the software should offer |
|---|---|---|
| Who can see where individual people sit? | Define which groups may see other people's bookings and at what level of detail. | Configurable visibility and roles, so that only authorised persons see real names. |
| Who has access to analyses, and at what level of detail? | Clarify who can retrieve reports, whether analyses are aggregated at team, site or day level and what purpose the metrics serve. | Role-based access rights and a documented authorisation concept for all reporting levels. |
| How long is data stored? | Define and document a clear retention period for booking and presence data. | Configurable retention periods or defined deletion deadlines. |
| Is behaviour or performance being monitored? | Limit the purpose to space utilisation and occupancy planning and record it in writing. | No performance ratings, individual productivity metrics or comparisons between individual employees. |
| Is presence monitored in real time? | Clarify whether real-time tracking is operationally necessary, and rule it out where appropriate. | No live monitoring view of individual persons. |
| Is working time recorded? | Make clear that the software is not meant to replace a time recording system and does not evaluate working hours. | No functions for recording or evaluating working time. |
| What is the data used for (purpose limitation)? | Formulate the purpose in writing: optimising occupancy, space planning and office organisation. | Focus on space and occupancy planning rather than HR evaluation, plus fair and transparent booking rules. |
Go through these points together with the works council and data protection officer and document the answers in writing. Through its say, the works council influences which data is collected and who sees it. That is not an obstacle but support for a sustainable solution that the workforce also stands behind. Open communication from the outset builds the trust this requires.
Which functions and commitments make works council approval easier?
The features a software offers should be guided by the purpose, not by the breadth of functionality. Technology and co-determination go hand in hand here: the more clearly functions, visibility and analyses are described, the easier it is to judge what you actually need.
Data protection and data minimisation. The software should only collect the data needed for desk booking and space planning, and keep master data lean. Analyses should be pseudonymised and aggregated at team, site or day level, and should not put individual persons at the centre. Anonymous booking means that employees can book desks without their name being displayed. Real names should only be visible where collaboration requires it. Stating the work location (office, home office or another place) should be voluntary and not a mandatory field.
Access and roles. Check whether visibility can be configured: which groups can see who is in the office, and in how much detail? Administrative roles, report users and regular employees should be clearly separated. Record the authorisation concept in writing and agree it with the works council and data protection officer.
Technical and organisational commitments. State explicitly in the rollout documentation that there is no live monitoring, no geolocation and no working time recording. Request a data processing agreement with a description of the technical and organisational measures, and ask where the data is processed. Data centres in the EU are an important argument for many works councils. An ISO 27001 certification demonstrates structured information security management. It does not replace a data protection assessment, but it is a good basis for the conversation with IT. Alongside data protection, the security of the processed data also plays a role here.
The central criterion remains the defined purpose: space and occupancy planning, not performance monitoring. Record it in writing and anchor it in the agreement with the works council.
The desk sharing concept: how does the introduction with the works council work step by step?
The goal is not to force approval, but to give the works council a transparent, robust basis for its decision. The process is aimed at project leads in IT, HR and Workplace Management in companies using Microsoft 365.
Step 1: Define purpose and data scope. Desk sharing is often part of modern working models and a “New Work”-oriented office organisation. Formulate the goals clearly, for example space efficiency, presence coordination and collaboration in the office. List which data is collected (bookings, presence indicators, utilisation metrics) and delimit what is not collected: working hours, performance data, movement profiles.
A sustainable concept aligns the number of desks with actual usage. A worked example for illustration: if, out of 100 employees, no more than 80 are in the office at the same time on a typical day, 80 desks may be sufficient, and the desk sharing ratio is then 0.8. How many desks your company actually needs is only revealed by the usage data.
Step 2: Involve the works council and data protection early. Before the final tool selection, arrange a meeting with the works council and data protection officer and use the review questions from the previous section as the agenda. This way, the topic is discussed early and in a structured manner with a view to co-determination and data protection.
Step 3: Prepare the documents. Compile the software's data protection documentation with a description of the data flows, the data processing agreement with the overview of technical and organisational measures, certificates such as ISO 27001 and a description of the role and authorisation concept.
Step 4: Plan a pilot phase. Start at one site or in one unit. Define what you will observe: usage patterns, employee feedback and open data protection questions. Take different ways of working and work from home into account so that the model works in everyday practice.
Step 5: Agree the rules. Record purpose, visibility, retention period and reporting in writing, for example in a works agreement. Form and content should be reviewed legally.
Step 6: Rollout and information. Plan information formats for employees, such as FAQs, short training sessions and intranet posts. If your desk sharing concept also includes rules such as a clean desk policy, meaning desks are cleared after each use, define these together with the works council and communicate them before the launch. Uniform desk equipment also makes everyday desk sharing easier, and lockable storage for personal belongings should be considered from the start.
The technical rollout of a solution like Seatti usually takes less than two weeks. The substantive agreement with the works council should be completed beforehand. Practical tips from the pilot phase and regular feedback continuously improve the rollout. Regular reviews with the works council after the launch also help to develop the rules further and to maintain trust.
How does Seatti handle these requirements?
Anyone running an office makes decisions about space and operating costs every day, usually without reliable usage data. Seatti combines Workspace Management and Office Intelligence in one system that runs natively in Microsoft 365 and shows how much space a company really needs, without live monitoring of individual persons. The question is not whether an office needs data, but which data, who sees it and what it is used for.
Data protection, data processing and hosting
Seatti is a German company and is certified to ISO 27001. Data protection is built on the principle of privacy by design (Art. 25 GDPR). As master data, Seatti stores only the user ID and email address. Further attribution data is read from your system and is neither stored at Seatti nor viewable there.
A data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR is available for download, along with a separate addendum for IP-based presence and documented technical and organisational measures. Data is processed in data centres in the EU and is encrypted with TLS 1.2 and AES-256. You can find details under Data protection at Seatti.
Usage data, IP-based presence and roles
Seatti analyses usage data in pseudonymised and aggregated form. There is no live monitoring of individual persons, no geolocation and no recording of movement profiles. Anonymous booking is possible, and stating the work location is optional. Roles and permissions can be controlled granularly for multiple sites and legal entities, which helps with rules that differ from site to site.
The IP-based presence detection recognises whether a device is connected to the defined office network. It does not use GPS and does not assign presence to specific rooms. Which networks or IP ranges count as the office network can be configured per site, so the detection scope can be agreed with the works council. IP-based presence is part of Office Intelligence and is already included in the Essentials tier, with further analyses following in the higher tiers (more on this: view Seatti plans).
Do you need sensors for this?
No. Booking data and IP-based presence, combined with the existing infrastructure, provide a realistic picture of usage, and no additional hardware is needed. Sensors should also not be the focus of the discussion with the works council.
Seatti runs natively in Microsoft Teams and Outlook, and Microsoft Entra Sync takes over users, groups and access automatically. The rollout follows a clear sequence: day 1 kick-off and technical installation, week 1 admin training and configuration, week 2 user onboarding and go-live. No additional implementation costs are incurred.
Example from practice: introduction and co-determination of the works council
Welthungerhilfe shows what this can look like in practice. The non-governmental organisation did not introduce desk sharing all at once, but in stages and in close coordination with the works council. After an extended pilot phase, it rolled out desk booking with Seatti across several sites. This way, all employees were brought on board and a concept was developed together with the works council.
Every company starts from a different position, and the results differ from project to project. The best way to learn how introduction, acceptance and works council topics went in comparable companies is first hand. More than 100 companies already rely on Seatti: View all customer references
Conclusion: clarify purpose and data scope first, then select the software
Desk sharing software can be introduced with the works council if purpose, data scope and access rights are clearly regulated. The path there leads through transparency rather than technology. Start with the purpose defined in writing, prepare review questions and documents, and involve the works council and data protection before the final selection. The decision remains with the works council, and software cannot replace co-determination, but it can make it easier. Seatti is built for this: without live monitoring, without geolocation and without working time recording, with pseudonymised and aggregated analyses, data centres in the EU and ISO 27001 certification.
Invite the works council to the demo. Invite the works council and the data protection officer to a joint walkthrough. This way, visibility, roles and data protection questions can be discussed directly on the system.
Would you like to see how Seatti runs in your Microsoft 365 environment? In a 30-minute walkthrough we show how Seatti simplifies your office processes and backs your space decisions with data.
Author and sources
Author: Saskia Neuner, Chief of Staff at Seatti. As of 8 October 2026.
Sources: ISO 27001 certificate, Data protection, Customer references, IP-based presence detection, Pricing, Book a demo now
Häufig gestellte Fragen
In Germany, desk sharing software may fall under the right of co-determination for technical systems that can monitor behaviour or performance (Section 87 (1) No. 6 BetrVG). The classification depends on the individual case and should be reviewed legally. This is not legal advice. Whether the works council approves is for the body itself to decide.
A GDPR-compliant solution should offer data minimisation, a data processing agreement, data processing in the EU and documented technical and organisational measures. An ISO 27001 certification shows that structured information security management is in place. Seatti works in compliance with GDPR, processes data in the EU and is certified to ISO 27001. You can find details under Security and Seatti's ISO 27001 certificate.
Typically, this includes bookings of desks and rooms, master data such as the email address, and usage patterns for utilisation analyses. Good systems rely on pseudonymised and aggregated analyses and do not collect performance data. At Seatti, only the user ID and email address are stored as master data. Create a clear data catalogue within your company and share it with the works council and data protection officer.
The duration of the consultation depends on the starting position, the existing working relationship and the complexity of the rules, and cannot be stated in general terms. The technical rollout of a solution like Seatti usually takes less than two weeks. The substantive agreement with the works council should be completed beforehand. Enter the discussions early with clear documents and a structured list of questions.
Desk booking systems can make presence visible, but they do not have to be used to monitor individual persons. What matters is the purpose, data scope, analysis logic and access rights. Solutions without live monitoring, without geolocation and without working time recording make co-determination easier. These points can be recorded in writing, for example in a works agreement.
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