The article discusses the issues of employee financial participation in Baltic states which differs and depends on political, legal and economic preconditions. The aim of the research is to analyse employee financial participation as an instrument for collaboration in companies and a new social cooperation model in the Baltic states. The qualitative research was conducted by telephone and e-mail in 2016. The interviews were carried out with the experts (academics, civil servants, lawyers and human resource consultants working in a relevant field) as well some trade union and company representatives. In general, the new policy for supporting employee financial participation has been renewed in Latvia and Lithuania. It started recently with the revision of the legislative framework that was initially established during the privatisation period. The revision of the Law of Companies was driven by the business interest (to have a new effective human resource management tool or to transfer employee share plans from parent companies in Western countries to subsidiaries in the Baltic states) to introduce (or revise, in the case of Lithuania) new employee share ownership (ESO) plans. The research has also proven that there are common similarities in the use of employee financial participation plans despite the existing differences which are based on national features, such as tax and legal regimes, historical development patterns, or economic and structural factors.

Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, Klaipėdos universitetas (Lietuva) ANOTACIJA COVID-19 epidemija privertė vyriausybes, kaip atsaką į krizę, neatidėliotinai ieškoti veiksmingų sprendimų. Vadinamosios atsako į COVID-19 sukeltą krizę politikos kurtos krizių valdymo modelius pritaikant visuomenės sveikatos valdymo sričiai arba kuriant naujas -unikalias reagavimo prieigas bei priemones. Atlikus tyrimą nustatyta, kad COVID-19 pandemijos sukelta krizė yra unikali ir išskirtinė pagal daugelį charakteristikų. Ji priskiriama mažos tikimybės, bet didelio poveikio krizei, atsižvelgiant į poveikį sveikatos ir socialinės apsaugos sistemoms, kitoms viešojo valdymo sritims. Taigi surasti veiksmingų krizės įveikimo priemonių ir jas įgyvendinti valdžiai nebuvo paprasta. Atlikus kokybinį tyrimą nustatyta, kad priešakinėse linijose dirbantiems tarnautojams tenka ypač didelis darbo krūvis, trūksta išteklių, netikrumas dėl krizės valdymo politikos įgyvendinimo. Kai kurios epidemijos valdymo priemonės riboja jų tiesioginę veiklą su klientais. Be to, COVID-19 epidemija iškėlė nemažai neigiamų kontekstinių veiksnių. PAGRINDINIAI ŽODŽIAI: COVID-19 sukelta krizė, krizės valdymo politika, artimieji tarnautojai, viešosios paslaugos, piliečių aptarnavimas.

This article presents the results of a project funded by the Research Council of Lithuania: ‘Public policy solutions and their improvement to overcome the COVID-19 crisis in Lithuanian municipalities: solution tools and service delivery.’ The research methodology is based on street-level bureaucracy theory and ongoing qualitative research in the form of interviews with social workers and doctors. Interviews were conducted in the Lithuanian municipalities which became the first COVID-19 hotspots in March-April 2020. The aim is to identify the response and coping strategies of street-level bureaucracy. The findings of current research suggest that the workload of street-level bureaucrats increased, the situation changed very rapidly, and there was a constant need to adopt rules and even recommendations issued by the ministry. Fear of COVID-19 infection, a lack of accurate information, uncertainty, and the possibility of allowing staff with children to leave the workplace led to staff shortages. This in turn motivated the administration and the remaining employees to look for suitable coping strategies.

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The article analyzes the factors of the use of employees’ representatives in the adoption of a company’s decision in Lithuanian companies. The methodology of current research is based upon the data collected through a quantitative expert-based survey and qualitative interviews with representatives of trade unions. The survey method has been used in order to obtain the data from the experts involved in the field of industrial relations in Lithuania. The interviews with representatives of trade unions gives a possibility to look at how people perceive the employee participation methods proposed by the employers, what benefits they see in their use and what policy does their organization or collective apply towards these means (trade unions etc.). According to the research findings, the employee’s participation is called a social dialogue at the company level. The results of the current research in favor evaluate the constructive cooperation between the employee representatives and employers (when this does not encompass important areas of industrial relations (i.e., collective agreements, negotiations regarding wages, employment conditions etc.)).