• 2012: Creation of Syndex UK and prompted by the new recast EWC Directive and new impetus from the trade union movement to increase the voice of employees in decisions that significantly affect their working lives.  Syndex UK offers a range of support services to the British and Irish trade union movements.
• 2011 : Syndex France becomes a Worker Cooperative (SCOP) – the first Chartered Accountants to claim this status under French law.
• 2010 : Establishment of Syndex in Spain and Romania
• 2009 : Opening of a Syndex office in Brussels and the introduction of the recast EWC Directive
• 2005 : Creation of a Syndex in Poland
• 2002 : Syndex extends its expertise to issues relating to health and safety and working conditions.
• 1994 : Directive on European Works Councils introduced which gradually introduced the notion of employers informing and consulting their employees at the European level. Syndex expands its range of services and competencies to this new landscape to assist European Works Councils and trade unions as well as contributing to developing social dialogue.
• 1971: A group of young militant Chartered Accountants and Economists, that carried out the first operations with French Works Councils in 1968, creates an early form of the modern Syndex, which is a member of the Order of Chartered Accountants and is specialised in providing information and advice to Works Councils.

OUR VALUES

Democracy, competency, empowerment, integrity, independence.
We have built our consultancy on the commitment to promote democracy within the company.
For 45 years now, Syndex has chosen a committed profession, placing its skills and expertise in providing a balance in negotiations and social dialogue at the service of employee representatives.

Giving employees the means of independent expression entails providing them with relevant information, objective and innovative capacity of analysis, and an appropriate learning procedure. It is by aiming at this target that Syndex has invented its business with integrity and independence.

It is these same values that drive the day-to-day running of Syndex. The company involves all its members in important reflections and decisions and in the choosing of its executives,. This is also seen in the new legal status of workers’ cooperative that it has recently adopted.

Our organisation is built our on our commitment to promote democracy within the workplace.  We practice what we preach and the workforce of Syndex elects its Management team every four years.
For over 45 years, Syndex has placed its collective skills and expertise at the disposal of the thousands of individuals across Europe who, in addition to their day job, give up their spare time to represent the interests of their work colleagues.  Our support has been a key ingredient in so many campaigns by individuals and their trade unions to improve the working lives of many ordinary people up and down the UK and Ireland and across the European Union.

Our support is often invisible, behind the scenes, where we provide material and guidance to boost worker representatives’ capacity for engaging constructively in discussions and negotiations with employers.
Unlocking and opening the door to independent expertise to support worker representatives’ internal discussions or negotiations with their employers creates an entirely new and exciting dynamic in the employer/employee relationship.   

Some employers are fearful of this change.  But these tend to be from within companies that have traditionally resisted any involvement of the workforce before making big decisions.  Typically such companies centralise power and decision making in the organisation, even fearing the participation of lower levels of management in the decision making process. Fortunately, organisations adopting this approach appear to be in decline, as more and more appreciate the associated benefits for the business overall.

Our clients demand the highest standards when they request our support and as the relationship develops, the demands placed upon us intensifies.  This process is a critical aspect of our work. Typical expert consultants deliver work and move on to the next assignment.  We don’t work like typical consultants. Ultimately we prefer longer term relationships with our clients – in fact the real benefits of this approach for workers and their unions are far more significant over time as we help them shape a new model of employment relations in the workplace.

Over time the demands and expectations of our clients increase which drive further growth in their confidence and ability to engage at a higher level over the sector, its markets, competitors, the business that employs them and, ultimately, in their ability to genuinely represent the interest of their colleagues at work.  

Clients demand that our work is delivered to clearly set objectives, using innovative strategies, our expert analyses and our services tailored through an appropriately structured support package. It is through these objectives that we pursue a business of integrity and independence.
It is these same values that drive the day-to-day operation of Syndex UK. We involve the broadest group of experts for each assignment, placing the needs of worker representatives centre stage.

International

Although our focus tends to be Europe, many multinational companies (MNCs) in which UK and other European workers are employed span the globe.  Therefore the scope of our work is only limited by the organisation of employee representatives and trade unions. 

For example our work with European Works Councils requires our Experts to work in association with companies with locations throughout Europe, but workers in many MNCs have created Global Councils through which worker representatives from outside Europe join those of the EU27 in the process of information and consultation.  Due to this expansive network we must consider the implications of change in this wider context.  Through this aspect of our work we have created partnerships across the world which we continually develop and strengthen.

Syndex UK regularly works with the federation of European Public Sector Unions (EPSU), Uni Europa, the federation for unions in the service industries and the European Metalworkers’ Federation, now part of the newly created federation IndustriAll.  These relationships are key to our work and vital to the support we are able to offer worker representatives both in and beyond Europe.

*Spain, United Kingdom, Belgium, Romania and Poland