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Participation at work

Participation at work refers to the involvement of employees in management decision-making in the workplace by means other than information and consultation, either in relation to wider company issues (workplace social dialogue) or in their immediate job (task discretion).  

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EU context

According to Council Directive 2001/86/EC supplementing the European Company Statute with regard to the involvement of employees, participation is the influence of the body representative of the employees and/or the employee representatives in the affairs of a company through 1) the right to elect or appoint some of the members of the company’s supervisory or administrative organ, or 2) the right to recommend and/or oppose the appointment of some or all of the members of the company’s supervisory or administrative organ (Article 2(k)). This definition of participation is repeated in Council Directive 2003/72/EC of 22 July 2003 supplementing the Statute for a European Cooperative Society with regard to the involvement of employees.

 

European Industrial Relations Dictionary 

Eurofound expert(s)

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Gijs van Houten is a senior research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He has specific expertise in cross-national survey methodology and the analysis of workplace...

Senior research manager,
Employment research unit
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Franz Eiffe is a research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. He is involved in projects on sustainable work, quantitative analyses and upward convergence in the EU, as...

Research manager,
Working life research unit
Publications results (58)

The aims of this project are to explore recent experiences in the practice of information and consultation (I&C) at national level, building on the findings of the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO) 2011 report entitled Information and consultation practice across Europe five years

30 May 2013

This report analyses data from Eurofound’s European Company Survey of 2009 to examine the incidence of performance-related pay (PRP) in European establishments and what determines it, with a specific focus on the role of employment relations. Larger establishments, those in foreign ownership, in the

16 October 2012

Around one third (34%) of workplaces with 10 or more employees have a trade union or works council body in place. Considerable variation exists between countries: the rate is above 55% in Denmark, Sweden and Finland but below 20% in countries such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal. Substantial

25 July 2012

The report provides an overview of the literature on innovative work practices and starts with an inventory of the many practices have been identified as innovative. The analytical part of the paper is based on Eurofound’s own European Company Survey (ECS). The dataset covers 27,160 establishments

09 February 2012

Across Europe, diverse forms of employee representation structures have developed, providing workers with differing opportunities to voice their interests and to be consulted by their employers directly, at their workplaces, on matters such as economic and human resources developments, working

20 November 2011

Strabag is a multinational building and construction company. It operates in three areas: building construction and civil engineering; road construction; and tunnelling and services, in more than 500 locations worldwide. In 2009, Strabag SE had 75,500 employees, of which more than 80% worked in

20 October 2011

Fresenius was one of the first German companies with a two-tier corporate governance structure to become a European company in July 2007. The actors involved in the negotiation process worked under the impression to accomplish pioneer work. Both the management and the employee side representatives

20 October 2011

The Hager Group is a family-run company based in the German Saarland with approximately 10,000 employees worldwide. The company offers a complete range of systems, solutions and services for energy distribution in buildings, including security solutions as well as electrical installations supplies

20 October 2011

Elcoteq is a global contract manufacturer of electronic equipment headquartered in Luxembourg. While the origins of the company are in Finland where Elcoteq was founded in 1984, the established production sites in European as well as non-European countries. Until 2008 the European centre of the

20 October 2011

GfK, the German-based market research company, transformed itself into an SE in 2009. Management saw the change as reflecting GfK’s international perspectives and structure, although it also had the side effect of avoiding a major change in the composition of the supervisory board. The

23 May 2011

Online resources results (200)

EU-Level: Recasting the information and consultation directives?

The European Commission has indicated the possibility of its reviewing and simplifying the existing directives on information and consultation. The European-level social partners have been consulted and have given their responses. Plans, however, appear to at least be on hold.

Norway: Nordic model not used to its full potential at company level

The Nordic model, a term used partly to describe the system of cooperation between workers and employers, is considered a success. However, according to data gathered by Fafo, the Norwegian research institute, the scope of cooperation between Norwegian social partners at company level varies and

Luxembourg: Reform of employee representation in companies

On 1 January 2016, implementation began of a law radically reforming social dialogue in Luxembourg. By 2018, this law will have abolished joint committees, which are currently mandatory for all companies employing 150 employees or more. The powers of these committees will transfer to staff

Netherlands: Legislation to enhance works councils' rights

Legislation regarding worker participation in the Netherlands gives a boost to works councils rights in 2015.

United Kingdom: Report identifies key levers for improving workplace productivity

Amid the extensive debate about the UK’s relatively poor productivity record, a recent report from Acas identifies seven key factors for improving workplace productivity: well-designed work; skilled managers; effective conflict management; clarity about rights and responsibilities; fairness

UK: Unions unhappy at European court ruling on collective redundancy case

Trade unions in the UK have expressed disappointment at a ruling clarifying the EU directive on collective redundancies. However, employers’ groups welcomed the decision by the European Court of Justice which confirms that, under EU law, redundancy consultation obligations can be triggered on an

France: Companies establish single database for works councils' consultations

The Employment Safeguarding Act requires companies to establish such a database to store information of an economic and social nature.

Denmark: Evaluation of new rules on local social dialogue on the working environment

In July 2014, the Danish Working Environment Authority published the findings of an evaluation of rules on the organisation of local social dialogue (AMO) about the working environment introduced in 2010. More businesses are now working strategically with working environment issues, though not all

Netherlands: Merger Code revision considered

The Netherlands’ Social and Economic Council (SER) established a commission in February 2014 to investigate whether it should revise rules that cover the merger or takeover of companies and unions’ rights to information and consultation during these processes. The commission is expected to give its


Blogs results (5)
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As we leave behind the lockdowns and business disruptions of COVID-19 and enter a ‘new normal’, it is time to talk about how workplaces might be transformed to drive innovation. Some may baulk at this suggestion, as we continue to grapple with the pandemic fallout, but crises have always been a

28 June 2021
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COVID-19 has shown that some things can hit us out of the blue. The pandemic sent a shockwave through businesses all over the world and has brought massive changes to work organisation, internal communication and day-to-day operations for many companies. Doubtless, the depth of the pandemic’s impact

21 June 2021
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The COVID-19 pandemic compelled governments to take exceptional measures to monitor and control the spread of the Coronavirus. Among them was the introduction in most EU Member States of tracking apps to gather data on citizens who have contracted the virus and to trace their contacts, a measure

13 January 2021
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According to the dictionary, an organisation is an organised group of people with a particular purpose. To achieve this purpose, tasks are divided between the members of the group, and the task of some of those people is to manage the others. Interestingly, whereas most tasks are allocated based on

27 November 2020
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Motivated workers have higher levels of engagement, better health and are able to work longer. Improving motivation at work is therefore a key component in meeting the challenges of Europe’s ageing workforce and improving the EU’s long-term competitiveness on a global scale. This means that

20 March 2019
Data results (2)
24 October 2023
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