Workers' Financial Participation in the European Communily

Abstract

The present article summarizes the recent experiences in workers' financial participation in the member countries of the European Community, as contained in the PEPPER Report prepared for the Commission of the European Community in 1990-91 as part of its Action Programme for the implementation of the Social Charter. Within the category of financial participation, two broad categories of schemes were included: profit-sharing and employee share-ownership. An overview is given of the prevalent types of schemes applied in EC countries, diffusion of particular forms, characteristics concerning enterprise size and sectoral distribution, percentages of employees involved and effective benefits accruing to employees. With the notable exceptions of France and the UK, employee financial participation is for the moment not very diffused. Nevertheless, the Recommendation on employee participation in enterprise results, adopted by the Council of European Communities in July 1992, encourages member states to grant fiscal and other incentives to firms adopting financial participation schemes, which may lead to measures facilitating their further spread throughout Europe.