Developments and prospects of profit-sharing and employee share ownership in Europe

Abstract

The main objective of this contribution is to provide an account of the development during the 1990s of what has been called PEPPER. PEPPER is an acronym used by the European Commission that stands for Promotion of Employee Participation in Profit and Enterprise Results (including equity). This paper is based on a review of available international research and publications and interviews with country-experts. It makes an attempt to present a systematic overview of existing forms of employee financial participation and the preconditions for its existence. Special attention is given to the policies of governments of the EU Member States and the views of social partners that support or hinder the development of financial participation in Europe.

L'objectif principal de cette contribution est de fournir un compte-rendu du développement, pendant les années 90, de ce qui s'est appelé PEPPER. PEPPER est un acronyme employé par la Commission européenne signifiant Promotion de la participation des salariés aux bénéfices et aux résultats de l'entreprise (y compris la participation au capital). Cet article est basé sur un examen des recherches, et des publications et entrevues internationales disponibles et réalisées avec des experts nationaux. Il tente de présenter un aperçu systématique des formes existantes de la participation financière des salariés et des conditions préalables à son existence. L'article se penche tout particulièrement sur les politiques gouvernementales des Etats membres de l'UE et les points de vue des partenaires sociaux qui appuient ou freinent le développement de la participation financière en Europe.

Hauptziel dieses Beitrags ist es, über die Entwicklung von PEPPER in den 90er Jahren zu berichten. Die von der Europäischen Kommission verwendete Abkürzung PEPPER steht für Förderung der Gewinn- und Betriebsergebnisbeteiligung (einschlieβlich Kapitalbeteiligung). Der Beitrag befasst sich mit vorliegenden internationalen Forschungsarbeiten und Publikationen sowie mit Gesprächen mit Länderexperten. In dem Papier wird der Versuch unternommen, einen systematischen Überblick über bestehende Formen der finanziellen Beteiligung von Arbeitnehmern und deren Vorbedingungen zu liefern. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf Regierungsmaβnahmen der EU-Mitgliedstaaten und auf Ansichten der Sozial-partner gelegt, welche die Entwicklung der finanziellen Beteiligung in Europa unterstützen bzw. behindern.

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