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EMPLOYEE
SHARE OWNERSHIP AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
15.11.2013:
Employee
Representation on Boards in Large European Companies
in 2013 - The Numbers
European
Commission's Green Paper on the EU Corporate Governance
Framework
In 2011 the European Commission launched a public
consultation organized by Commissioner Michel Barnier
(Internal Market) on the EU corporate governance
framework. For the first time in this Green Paper,
the European Commission points out employee share ownership,
as an element of corporate governance, and not just
as a question about financial participation between
employees and employers. See
all details about the consultation and the Green
Paper
Question
about employee share ownership and corporate governance
This is how the Green Paper introduced question
23 about employee share ownership and corporate
governance:
"Employees'
interest in the long-term sustainability of the
company for which they work is an element that
a corporate governance framework should take into
account. Employees' involvement in the affairs
of a company may take the form of information,
consultation and participation in the board. But
it can also relate to forms of financial involvement,
particularly to employees becoming shareholders.
Employee share ownership has a long tradition
in some European countries. Such schemes are mainly
considered as means to increase the commitment
and motivation of workers, raise productivity
and reduce social tension. But employee share
ownership also involves risks from lack of diversification:
if the company fails, employee shareholders may
lose both their job and their savings. However,
employees as investors could play an important
role to increase the proportion of long-term-oriented
shareholders.
Question: (23) Are there measures to be taken,
and is so, which ones, to promote at EU level
employee share ownership?"
Many people
answered the consultation about the EU corporate
governance
Many companies, enterprises organisations, unions,
organisations of the civil society and public authorities
answered the consultation. Question 23 about employee
share ownership and corporate governance received
252 answers from 34 countries.
All detailed answers to the consultation are available
for download here, including the
EFES' answer
Analysing
answers about employee share ownership and corporate
governance
Answers about employee share ownership are globally
positive. In fact, the global quote is positive
at 65%. All
answers to question 23 about employee share ownership
can be found here in a synthetic document.
We quote each answer from -3 to +3 (very negative
to very positive).
However,
it is sad that the question was ambiguous: Many
people answered positively, supporting the idea
that employee share ownership should be promoted by
the EU, while others gave negative answers fearing
that the EU could restrict their freedom in the
field (for example, most Swedish companies gave
the same hard negative answer even calling to
the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms).
The
first "feedback statement" from the Commission's
services express a negative conclusion: "there
is no majority to support intervention at EU level
in this field"). This statement seems hasty. In
fact, most answers are well positive (see
table). We
send a letter about this to Commissioner Michel
Barnier.
Detailed
synthesis and analyses will be soon available.
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