This article presents an overview of participation schemes in European companies. It is based on a secondary analysis of data from the 1996 EPOC mail survey among managers of profit sector establishments in 10 EU countries. The article describes the diverse extent and nature of participative workplaces in European countries. It analyses the inter relationships between several forms of participation schemes and indicators for the participative nature of the workplace: schemes for direct participation (DP) of employees, i.e. group consultation and individual and group delegation; schemes for financial participation (FP), i.e. employee ownership and profit sharing; and the arrangements for indirect, employee representative participation (ER). Based on a multivariate analysis of the intensity of the participation schemes, a profile of participative workplaces is presented. To categorize these workplaces, we focused on country factors, management practices and workplace characteristics.

Data from the EPOC‐mail survey among managers in 10 European countries are used to fill the gap in our knowledge about the incidence of group work. Two variables were used to demarcate ‘group‐based’ establishments. An attempt is made to compare the European data with American findings.

This article discusses the conditions for the development of a common identity among employee representatives within European Works Councils and addresses the importance of information and communication technology in this respect. Drawing on case studies conducted at General Motors and Deutsche Post, it is concluded that systematic use of such technology is a necessary condition if employee representatives are to be able to act jointly and in a timely manner across borders when challenged by management.

Whereas group work has been much discussed throughout the 1980s and 1990s, there are few statistical studies about its incidence. The available surveys have adopted a variety of methodological approaches. This paper discusses these studies to investigate two questions: Are there differences in the incidence of group work in different countries? Is its popularity indeed increasing?

This article presents an overview of participation schemes in companies in different European countries. It analyses the interrelationships between two forms of participation schemes: first, schemes for direct participation of employees, namely consultation and delegation both on individual and group level; and second, schemes for financial participation, namely employee ownership and profit sharing. We discuss the background to the diversity in practices by analysing survey data of establishments in ten European countries.