Workers on boards: Thoughts from Europe

Speaking shortly before her appointment in July last year, UK Prime Minister Theresa May stated “If I’m Prime Minister, we’re going to… have not just consumers represented on company boards but employees as well”. 

More recent statements from the Prime Minister, make clear that the current government does not intend to mandate worker or trade union representation on company boards. However, while the idea of voluntary board representation for workers, alongside a number of other models, is being formally considered, in this memorandum we briefly survey the equivalent systems in France, Germany and the Netherlands, with additional insight from Belgium and Italy.