In 19 of the 31 members states of the European Economic Area countries there exists legislation on employee board-level representation. Even in countries that have no legal regulations, such as Italy and Belgium, instances may be found (albeit exceptional) of workers’ representatives sitting on the company’s board as the result of a collective agreement.
The situation in 2015 looks the following:
Depending on the company structure in the respective member state, the workers’ representatives may either sit on the board of directors (in a monistic system with only an administrative board) or on the supervisory board (in a dualistic system with a management board and a supervisory board). In every country a specific system has evolved and (board-level) representation is always embedded in the wider context of the national industrial relations system. Consequently, the situation differs significantly among the member states.
Previous version of the map reflecting state of national industrial relations in the area of board-level representation in 2013:
