Arrangements for employee representation at board level in the 27 EU countries plus Norway can be divided into three groups. There is a group of 10 countries where there is no Board-level Employee Representation and a further group of six, where Board-level Employee 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.

A majority of the 27 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 10 countries without legislation or other agreed arrangements providing for Board-level Employee 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.

In a further six countries, Board-level Employee Representation is limited to some state-owned or municipally-owned companies. These are: Czechia, 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 Board-level Employee Representation 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 (e.g. in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, 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).

Key changes have been the introduction of obligatory Board-level Employee Representation in large private sector companies in France in 2013, and the removal of this obligation in the Czechia (as the Czech Republic) in 2014.

Table: Countries and Board-level Employee Representation Forms