Arrangements for employee representation at board level in the 28 EU countries plus Norway can be divided into three groups. There is a group of ten countries where there is no board level representation and a further group of six, where board level representation is limited to state-owned or privatised companies. However, the biggest group of 13 states provides for employees to be represented on the boards of private companies, once they have reached a certain size. These thresholds vary greatly as do other elements of the national arrangements.
Employee representatives at board level
[please refer also to the national chapters of the 'National Industrial Relations' section on this website for further information on BLER]
A majority of the 28 states of the EU plus Norway provide for employee representation at board level, although in some this is limited to companies owned in whole or part by the state or privatised companies.
There are only ten countries without legislation or other agreed arrangements providing for board level representation. These are Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and the United Kingdom. This does not mean that there are absolutely no employee representatives at board level in these countries. However, these are individual rather than generalised arrangements.
There are a further six countries, where board level representation is limited to some state-owned or municipally-owned companies. These are the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Poland (where companies in the process of being privatised are also covered), Portugal and Spain.
This leaves 13 countries, the largest group, where employee representation at board level extends to private companies. The countries in this group are: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden. The thresholds for representation range from 25 employees in Sweden to 1,000 in France.
As well as the thresholds, there are differences in the proportion of board seats taken by employee representatives, ranging from one in 12, in large private sector companies in France, and one out of an undefined number in Croatia, to a half, in some companies in Germany and Slovenia.
These arrangements can also vary, depending on whether the companies are privately or publicly owned.
In some countries, such as Austria, Germany and Slovakia the employee representatives take their seats on the supervisory board. In others, as in Norway or Sweden, where there is a single-tier board structure, they sit on the board of directors. In a third group, which includes Croatia, France and Slovenia, companies have a choice of structures. Here, employee representatives sit on the supervisory board where it exists; otherwise they sit on the board of directors. In Finland, representation can be at the supervisory board level, in a single-tier board or at operating level.
These differences are examined at greater length is the country sections, as well as other variations. These include the limits on the powers of employee members (in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, for example, they cannot deal with collective bargaining issues), and the arrangements for their appointments (in the Netherlands neither employees nor those who bargain with the company are eligible, while the German rules specifically provide for the election of external union officials in the case of larger companies).
The main changes in the recent past have been the introduction of obligatory employee board level representation in large private sector companies in France (2013), and the removal of this obligation in the Czech Republic (2014).
|
Country |
Type of companies covered |
Extent of representation |
|
Austria |
From 300 employees (limited companies); no employee threshold for public limited companies |
A third of supervisory board |
|
Belgium |
No general board level representation, but a very small number of publicly-owned companies have employee representatives at board level. |
|
|
Bulgaria |
No board level representation but employees have some right to be heard at shareholders’ general meetings |
|
|
Croatia |
From 200 employees (limited companies); no employee threshold for public limited companies |
One member of the board |
|
Cyprus |
No statutory board level representation |
|
|
Czech Republic |
State-owned companies and currently private companies from 50 employees. However, the obligation for private companies will end in January 2014 |
A third of supervisory board (can be increased to half voluntarily) |
|
Denmark |
From 35 employees |
Between two members and one third of board |
|
Estonia |
No board level representation |
|
|
Finland |
From 150 employees |
Defined by agreement, otherwise, a fifth of members of board or other decision making body |
|
France |
Private companies with 1,000 or more employees in France (5,000 worldwide), plus state-owned companies. |
At least one or two board members in private companies with 1,000 or more employees in France (or 5,000 or more worldwide); a third of board in state-owned companies |
|
Germany |
From 500 employees |
A third of supervisory board in companies with more than 500; half in companies with more than 2,000; special arrangements including management board member in coal, iron and steel companies |
|
Greece |
State-owned companies |
One board member |
|
Hungary |
From 200 employees |
A third of members on supervisory board (fewer rights in single tier board system) |
|
Ireland |
State-owned companies |
A third of board (less in some smaller companies) |
|
Italy |
No board level representation |
|
|
Latvia |
No board level representation |
|
|
Lithuania |
No board level representation |
|
|
Luxembourg |
From 1,000 employees or with state involvement |
A third of board in companies with 1,000 plus employees, up to a third in others |
|
Malta |
No board level representation other than in companies owned by the union or Labour Party |
|
|
Netherlands |
From 100 employees |
Up to a third of the board |
|
Norway |
From 30 employees |
One director in companies with 30 to 50 employees; one third of the seats in companies with more than 50, with the possibility of an extra seat in companies with more than 200 |
|
Poland |
State-owned companies and companies in the process of being privatised |
A workers’ council has substantial powers in state-owned companies; in companies in the process of being privatised, employees have between 40% and about a third of seats on supervisory board and a seat on management board |
|
Portugal |
State-owned companies |
Right to be present in constitution and in legislation but rarely realised and only have consultative role |
|
Romania |
No board level representation but unions can be invited to meetings of the board to discuss specific issues |
|
|
Slovakia |
State-owned companies and private sector companies from 50 employees |
Half supervisory board in state-owned companies; a third in private sector (can be increased to half voluntarily) |
|
Slovenia |
Companies with supervisory board; and companies with single tier board from 50 employees |
Between a third and a half of seats in companies with supervisory board plus management board member if more than 500 employees; around a third in companies with single tier board |
|
Spain |
Some state-owned companies |
Two board members |
|
Sweden |
From 25 employees |
Around a third of single tier board |
|
United Kingdom |
No board level representation |
|
Features:
MAP: Board-level representation in the European Economic Area
TABLE: Worker board-level participation in the 31 European Economic Area countries
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An overview of situation in the area of BLER in Europe in 2013 is available in the below tables:
BLER in Europe_comparative table 01072013 EN_fin2
BLER in Europe_comparative table 01072013 DE_fin2
BLER in Europe_comparative table 01072013 FR-fin2
Fulton 2015 IR update L. Fulton (2015) Worker representation in Europe. Labour Research Department and ETUI (online publication). Produced with the assistance of the SEEurope Network
L. Fulton (2015) Worker representation in Europe. Labour Research Department and ETUI. Produced with the assistance of the SEEurope Network, online publication available at http://www.worker-participation.eu/National-Industrial-Relations.