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EFES NEWSLETTER - APRIL 2021
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JUST
RELEASED
The
new "Annual Economic Survey of Employee Share Ownership
in European Countries" is just released
More information
in
partnership with
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New
progression
The
new Annual Economic Survey of Employee Share Ownership
in 2020 reveals a new progression towards employee share
ownership in Europe last year, even during this new
crisis.
The
upward trend in the number of employee shareholders
continues, with 7.1 million people in large companies
(fig 1). If we add one million employee shareholders
in SMEs, the total number in Europe reaches 8.1 million.
Together they held 310 billion Euro in May 2020, down
from 350 billion a year earlier. This was the first
shock of the pandemic crisis. Since then, however, many
perspectives have changed and at the beginning of 2021,
European employees hold 420 billion Euro in shares in
their companies, a record figure never reached before.
The development of employee share ownership has continued
in large European companies in 2020.
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More
and more of them are organizing employee share plans.
In 2020, 94% of all large European companies had employee
share ownership, on which 88% had employee share plans
of all kinds, while 53% had "broad-based"
plans for all employees, and 60% had stock option plans.
Finally, 29% of all large European companies launched
new employee share plans, a proportion that tends to
increase from year to year.
The
pandemic crisis is far from being the first crisis experienced
by European employee share ownership. For the more than
50 years that employee share plans have been tested
in large European companies, crises of all kinds have
occurred repeatedly. Each time, the scenario of malicious
interpretations and warnings is the same: "we told
you so", "it's far too risky", "this
time it's done, employee share ownership is dead".
Yet the facts are there: For more than 50 years, European
employee share ownership has not ceased to confound
the naysayers. The more employee ownership spreads,
the more it is supported.
Yet
employee share ownership is in danger within Europe.
It is becoming less and less democratic.
The fall in the democratisation rate of employee share
ownership has been dramatic over the last ten years
(fig 2), and this affects all European countries, with
the notable exception of the UK. This fall is mainly
linked to the relocation trend of large European companies.
In the context of rapid relocation and lack of tax harmony,
it is increasingly difficult for companies to export
their employee share plans outside their home country.
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Press
review
We have a selection of 38 remarkable articles
in 7 countries in March 2021: Canada, Cameroon, Germany, France,
Poland, UK, USA.
Canada:
SCP has launched a campaign to bring more robust ESOP legislation
to Canada.
Cameroon: New employee share plan for Vinci.
Germany: Double-double for tax incentives.
France: Employee ownership for insects. New employee
share plan for Saint-Gobain, first plan for Faurecia. The
third takeover FCPE in the history of France.
Poland: Prime Minister Mazowiecki's promises have yet
to be fulfilled.
UK: Every day a new SME is transferred to an Employee
Ownership Trust. Co-operative Development Scotland launches
podcasts to show how co-ops and EO models can help in the
recovery from Covid-19.
USA: Employee ownership can be the new capitalism.
Scaling up employee ownership is key to an equitable economic
recovery.
The full press review is available
on:
http://www.efesonline.org/PRESS
REVIEW/2021/March.htm
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A
political roadmap for employee ownership in Europe
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