Study "Incidence of employee share ownership in Germany and Europe – Development perspectives" commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (August 2019 - April 2020)

The study "Incidence of employee share ownership in Germany and Europe – Development perspectives" was published in April 2020 under the aegis of the Kelso Chair and commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

The research report, prepared by the consortium of the Foundation European University Viadrina, Helmut Schmidt University / University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg and the Federal Association of Employee Financial Participation - Arbeitsgemeinschaft Partnerschaft in der Wirtschaft (AGP), was edited by Prof. Dr iur. Jens Lowitzsch. The Institute for Empirical Social and Economic Research (INES Berlin) and the country experts from the PEPPER network of the Inter-University Centre (Intercentar) also contributed.

The Federal Minister of Economic Affairs and Technology Peter Altmaier: "Employee share ownership is an important instrument for attracting and retaining skilled workers for companies. Employees become shareholders and participate in the economic development of their company. Our goal is to increase employee share ownership, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups".

The study provides an up-to-date systematic overview of the incidence and models of employee share ownership in the Member States of the European Union (EU), with the emphasis on Germany. The focus here is on SMEs on the one hand and start-ups on the other.

The study provides systematically prepared up-to-date information on the following subject areas:

analysis of empirical data,
the situation in Germany, the 27 EU Member States and the UK (legal framework, tax incentives, attitude of social partners and politics),
case studies and best practice,
employee share ownership in small enterprises, e.g. to reactivate the unemployed,
harmonisation at EU level,
tax incentives,
effectiveness of support measures for employee share ownership,
promotion of employee share ownership in start-ups.

In addition to general recommendations to policymakers ranging from better information, privileging long-term share ownership, increasing the tax allowance to harmonisation at EU level, the recommendations for SMEs and start-ups include legislative measures to simplify the implementation of employee share ownership and reduce transaction costs, promoting employee share ownership in SMEs through the use of intermediary companies and for business succession, and creating alternatives to "virtual participations" in start-ups.