Rapports «PEPPER»

PEPPER I

Engagée dans le processus de préparation d'un instrument communautaire sur la promotion de la participation par les salariés aux profits et aux résultats de l'entreprise, la Commission a financé un projet de recherche visant spécifiquement à obtenir une bonne vue d'ensemble de la situation actuelle sur la participation financière des salariés dans l'UE. Il en a résulté le rapport intitulé «PEPPER I». Ce rapport (basé sur les travaux effectués de 1989 à 1991):

• a introduit une typologie des régimes de participation financière
• a passé en revue la situation des États membres à l'époque (Belgique, Danemark, Allemagne, France, Grèce, Irlande, Italie, Luxembourg, Pays-Bas, Portugal, Espagne et Royaume-Uni)
• a fait des recommandations à la Commission.

Le 'Rapport PEPPER I' est téléchargeable (en anglais - format pdf, 23 MB, 233 pages). Attention: fichier de très grande taille. Reproduit avec la permission de la Commission de l'Union européenne.

PEPPER II

En juillet 1992, le Conseil des ministres a adopté une recommandation connue sous le nom de PEPPER concernant la promotion de la participation par les salariés aux profits et aux résultats de l'entreprise. Dans la recommandation du Conseil, la Commission s'engageait à présenter un rapport au Parlement européen, au Conseil et au Comité économique et social sur l'application de la recommandation. Sur base des informations qui lui avaient été fournies par les États membres, la Commission a adopté le rapport intitulé PEPPER II en janvier 1997.

Selon l'une des principales conclusions du rapport PEPPER II, les États membres n'ont guère, voire nullement, mis sur pied des mécanismes d'échange d'informations concernant les meilleures pratiques, en dépit de l'effet positif potentiel des plans d'intéressement financier sur la productivité, la flexibilité des salaires, l'emploi et l'implication des travailleurs.

Le «Rapport PEPPER II» est téléchargeable (en anglais - format pdf, 3.29 MB, 44 pages). Reproduit avec la permission de la Commission de l'Union européenne.

In July 1992 the Council of Ministers adopted a Recommendation concerning the promotion of participation by employed persons in profits and enterprise results known as the PEPPER recommendation and largely based on the PEPPER I report. In the Council Recommendation, the Commission undertook to present a report to the European Parliament, the Council and the Economic and Social Committee on the application of the recommendation. On the basis of the information supplied to it by the Member States, the Commission adopted the so called PEPPER II report in January 1997.

One of the main conclusions of the PEPPER II report is that Member States have hardly, if at all, engaged in information exchanges regarding best practices, despite the potential positive effects of financial participation schemes on productivity, wage flexibility, employment and worker involvement.

Download the 'PEPPER II Report' (pdf file, 3.29 MB, 44 pages). Reproduced by permission of the European Commission.

The PEPPER III report extends the previous two reports to cover the new Member States and Candidate Countries (Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey) of the EU. The initial research was undertaken by a team of researchers from both old and new Member States. For each country a team of economic and legal experts investigated the nature and extent of employee participation and its future prospect. Countries were divided into four groups on a regional basis: Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic States, South Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean block (Turkey, Cyprus and Malta).

The analysis of the legislative framework has shown that there are practically very few laws specifically dedicated to employee financial participation. In both the former socialist states and the non-transition countries, the laws enabling forms of employee financial participation refer almost exclusively to employee share ownership, as there have been only a few cases of legislation on profit-sharing. More recently, however, the conditions for employee ownership have generally been more restrictive and there has been a general tendency towards the reduction of ownership by non-managerial employees.

Suggestions for future initiatives which could contribute to a more widespread diffusion of employee financial participation in the enlarged EU are being made to both the EU Member States as well as to the Commission.

Download the 'PEPPER III Report' (pdf file, 1.8 MB, 353 pages)
Promotion of Employee Participation in Profits and Enterprise Results in the New Member and Candidate Countries of the European Union (Lowitzsch, 2006).

The PEPPER IV Report summarises and updates the previous PEPPER reports. This EC project implemented benchmarking indicators developed by Eurofound in all 27 EU member and 2 candidate countries.

The Report presents conclusive evidence that the past decade has seen a significant expansion of employee financial participation in Europe. On the other hand, despite this positive trend it seems that financial participation has been extended to a significant proportion of the working population in only a handful of countries.

The Report is divided into three parts:

1. A presentation and discussion of the benchmarking project and results as well as an analysis of the fiscal framework and tax incentives in the EU 27
2. Country profiles covering the attitudes of social partners and government policies, the legal foundations for different schemes and, where available, the incentives for their application
3. A summary of the experience of employee financial participation in Western and Eastern Europe, its role in the changing world of work in the 21st century and its relevance in the context of the European integration process.

Download the 'PEPPER IV Report' (pdf file, 1.2 MB, 240 pages)
Benchmarking of Employee Participation in Profits and Enterprise Results in the Member and Candidate Countries of the European Union (Lowitzsch, Hashi, Woodward, eds. 2009).

The PEPPER V report provides an overview of the development of employee financial participation, such as employee share ownership and profit sharing, across the EU27, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America as of January 2024. Against the background of the policy development of the past 35 years, it highlights the growth of financial participation over the last decade using the most recent cross-country data available. The report provides a like-for-like comparison of all countries under consideration including 29 individual country profiles. Finally, the report highlights the complementarity of employee and consumer financial participation in the context of the 'Proximity and Social Economy industrial ecosystem' and the Energy Transition.

Download the 'PEPPER V Report' (pdf file, 6 MB, 357 pages)
Benchmarking Employee Participation in Profits and Enterprise Results in the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States (Kelso Institute Europe in cooperation with European University Viadrina & the Inter-University Centre network, January 2024). See also executive summaries in EN - DE - FR.

A European Commission financed tool, the 'Virtual Centre for EFP' allows access to the individual country chapters online - with a function to compare specific topics.