Download article (PDF)

Employee participation is the process whereby employees or their representatives can influence the decision-making process of the company they work for. In the Netherlands employees have a right to participate in decision making.

There are two types of employee participation. The first one is direct participation of employees within a specific company or group of companies. The second one is indirect participation through a trade union. Trade unions usually represent employees of several companies within a specific branch of industry.

Both types of participation are available to the same group of employees. In general, primary labour conditions (wages, holiday-pay, working hours) are covered by trade unions and secondary labour conditions (company rules, pension scheme) are covered by employee participation within a company.

In this article mr. Stephanie Dekker will at first discuss direct participation by employees within a company and secondly, indirect participation through trade unions.