To read this content please select one of the options below:

Five decades of policymaking in the EU – background and overview of the current state of employee financial participation

Jens Lowitzsch (Kelso Professorship of Comparative Law, East European Business Law and European Legal Policy, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany) (Kelso Institute Europe, Berlin, Germany)
Jasper Lüke (Kelso Institute Europe, Berlin, Germany)

Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership

ISSN: 2514-7641

Article publication date: 25 September 2024

Issue publication date: 15 November 2024

26

Abstract

Purpose

Opinions drafted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), and reports and studies by the European Parliament and 2014 and 2018 Resolutions on employee financial participation (EFP) emphasised the growing importance of EFP, particularly with respect to small and medium-sized enterprises. Against this background, the commission included the promotion of employee share ownership in its Action Plan to reform European company law and corporate governance and embarked on the 2013/14 Pilot Project. Based on the most recent data on the scope and impact of various EFP schemes in EU companies and the legal and regulatory changes in individual Member States, the aim of this article is to provide an overview of policymaking and the main trends of the dynamics of EFP over the last three decades.

Design/methodology/approach

We give an overview (1) of the analysis of the most recent rounds of different large-scale cross-country surveys (2015 European Working Conditions Survey, 2021 CRANET [Cranfield Network on International Human Resource Management], 2019 European Company Survey [ECS]) and (2) of the EU policy documents and legislative acts over the last three decades. We provide a tabular overview of the status quo in all 29 countries under consideration as of January 2024 to provide the reader with an Alta vista summary view of all forms of EFP practised.

Findings

The European Commission’s interest in EFP has grown substantially since the publication of the first PEPPER Report in 1991 and the Council Recommendation on EFP of 27 July 1992. Since then, the European Union has not only extended from 12 Members States to currently 27 but has also faced many complex and urgent challenges. Financial and other crises have endangered prosperity and cohesion on the continent and both, the financial crisis of 2008/09, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic 2020/21 have left their marks on “Social Europe”.

Originality/value

The European Commission’s interest in EFP has grown substantially since the publication of the first PEPPER (Promotion of Employee Participation in Profits and Enterprise Results) Report in 1991 and the Council Recommendation on EFP on 27 July 1992. Since then, the European Union has not only extended from 12 Members States to currently 27 but has also faced many complex and urgent challenges. Financial and other crises have endangered prosperity and cohesion on the continent and both, the financial crisis of 2008/09, and the COVID-19 pandemic 2020/21 have left their marks on “Social Europe”.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

All articles submitted in this Special Issue based on work from the PEPPER project, a series of reports since the 1990ies. The latest work has been co-funded by the European Commission DG MARKT under Contract MARKT/2013/0191F2/ST/OP (both the collection of the country data of the 29 Country Profiles and the online dissemination tool “Virtual Centre for Employee Financial Participation”, see https://kelso-institute-europe.de/tools/compare-countries/) and by the Kelso Institute Europe (editing and updating all 29 Country Profiles in 2024).

Citation

Lowitzsch, J. and Lüke, J. (2024), "Five decades of policymaking in the EU – background and overview of the current state of employee financial participation", Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 99-123. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPEO-06-2024-0006

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles