Board Level Employee Representation In Europe

Board Level Employee Representation in Europe analyses the role, activities and networking of board level employee representatives in sixteen European countries and their counterparts operating in companies that have adopted European status. Board level employee representation is viewed as a key element of worker participation in Europe, but there has been only limited international comparative research that establishes what board level employee representatives do and how their activities vary between countries. Based on a large-scale survey distributed to board level employee representatives (circa more than 4,000 respondents), this study identifies the personal characteristics and industrial location of board level employee representatives, what they do and how they interact with other parties within and outside of the company. This study fills in a knowledge gap at a time when policy debates are considering stakeholder models of corporate governance as a means on the way out of the crisis and the achievement of sustainable economies. The book allows direct comparisons between clusters of countries for the first time, as the same survey instrument has been employed in all the participating countries. The research findings demonstrate a large variation in what constitutes board level employee representation in practice, including the relations between board level employee representatives and parties within and external to the company, and the pattern of influence of board level employee representatives on strategic company decision-making. Aimed at practioners, researchers and policymakers alike, this book makes a vital contribution to the field, and will be the definitive work on board-level employee representation for the foreseeable future.

Board Level Employee Representation in Europe analyses the role, activities and networking of board level employee representatives in sixteen European countries and their counterparts operating in companies that have adopted European status. Board level employee representation is viewed as a key element of worker participation in Europe, but there has been only limited international comparative research that establishes what board level employee representatives do and how their activities vary between countries. Based on a large-scale survey distributed to board level employee representatives (circa more than 4,000 respondents), this study identifies the personal characteristics and industrial location of board level employee representatives, what they do and how they interact with other parties within and outside of the company. This study fills in a knowledge gap at a time when policy debates are considering stakeholder models of corporate governance as a means on the way out of the crisis and the achievement of sustainable economies. The book allows direct comparisons between clusters of countries for the first time, as the same survey instrument has been employed in all the participating countries. The research findings demonstrate a large variation in what constitutes board level employee representation in practice, including the relations between board level employee representatives and parties within and external to the company, and the pattern of influence of board level employee representatives on strategic company decision-making. Aimed at practioners, researchers and policymakers alike, this book makes a vital contribution to the field, and will be the definitive work on board-level employee representation for the foreseeable future.

It is often assumed that employee representatives exert power at the company board, but it is rarely made explicit how power is exercised and to what effect. This book, the first to assess national differences between board-level employee representatives in their exercise of influence and power, examines coordination among board-level employee representatives, trade unions, representatives from other institutions of labour representation within the company, management and other board members. Drawing on a large-scale survey distributed to board-level employee representatives, eleven expert contributors analyse for seven European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Slovenia and Sweden) how such issues and topics as the following affect the participation of employee representatives at the board: – capacity of board-level employee representatives to exercise power over long-term strategic corporate decision making; – how changed circumstances impinge on the role of employee representatives; – how coordination of workers’ interests has been established and maintained, if at all; – how board-level employee representatives are selected; – influence of board-level employee representatives on corporate restructuring; – effect of corporate codes of governance; – impact of the establishment of groups of companies; and – protections against dismissal and discrimination of board-level employee representatives. Each country chapter reviews the legislation that underpins board-level employee representation, the timeliness and quality of the information provided, and the capacity of the representatives to apply information made available, with the purpose of establishing whether the legislation tends to constrain or facilitate the exercise of in uence and power. This book takes a giant step towards answering the question of how board-level employee representatives can fulfil their roles in a manner consistent with the intentions of the policymakers who framed the legislation. Moreover, it approaches the possibility of developing pan-European legislation on board-level employee representation that would accommodate national variations. For these reasons, the book will be welcomed by European policymakers concerned with industrial relations or corporate governance, as well as by practitioners and academics in a wide swath of European legal and social studies.

For the past two decades corporate governance reform in Europe has been guided by the ‘shareholder value’ model of the firm. That model has been discredited as one of the major causes of the financial and economic crisis. In a new book published by the ETUI an alternative approach to corporate governance is presented by members of the GOODCORP network of researchers and trade unionists. This new approach, entitled the Sustainable Company, draws on both traditional ‘stakeholder’ models of the firm and newer concerns with sustainability. The main elements of the Sustainable Company and the institutions needed to support it are presented. Key themes in the book are the need for worker ‘voice’ in corporate governance and for a binding legislative framework to promote sustainability. Individual chapters deal with the issues of worker involvement, employee shareholding, sustainability-oriented remuneration, international framework agreements, NGO-trade union relationships, reforming financial regulation and carbon taxes and emissions-trading schemes.

This publication of the SEEurope Network provides a comprehensive overview of the legislation on the European company (SE – Societas Europaea) and its history and development. It assesses the overall significance and impact of the SE on the business sector and on worker involvement in Europe and provides an outlook for the future of the SE. The publication also makes specific recommendations for policymakers regarding the future revision of the SE legislation specifically as well as European company law and corporate governance generally. Key questions addressed in the book are: How has the SE been implemented in practice? How great has the uptake of the European Company by the business community been? Are there significant differences between countries and sectors? What impact has the European Company had on business practice? Has it improved company mobility and flexibility? What impact has it had on national industrial relations systems and Social Europe? To what extent has it inspired other legislative initiatives by the EU Commission? What will the likely future development of the European Company be?