More than 150 delegates attended Ireland’s first ever Employee Share Ownership Day at Google's Headquarters in Dublin today. 

The event was hosted by the Irish ProShare Association (IPSA) who are the voice of employee share ownership in Ireland. IPSA is an independent advocacy group which represents companies which are engaged in Employee Financial Involvement (EFI).

EFI is any scheme which advances part or complete employee ownership of the company which they work for. Research shows that businesses with EFI are typically 5-10% more productive than those operating under more traditional structures. 

During today's conference, attendees heard how Ireland is lagging behind EU and global competitors when it comes to incentivising employee ownership. The IPSA are calling on the Government to improve their approach by increasing the variety of Revenue-approved employee share schemes, particularly for the SME sector.

Global experts at the conference provided delegates with workshops on legal, tax, communications, recruitment and employee engagement aspects of employee incentives and ownership for businesses of all sizes.

Speaking today, IPSA CEO, Gill Brennan said, "Over 30 years of research has confirmed that companies partly or entirely owned by their employees are more profitable, create more jobs and pay more taxes than their competitors without some form of employee ownership. They are better placed to attract and retain high-quality staff and, in turn, those workers are better motivated and more productive."

She added, "IPSA urges the Government to support and strengthen Ireland’s start-up and SME community, and our economy as a whole, by implementing proposals to broaden the range of employee share-based remuneration schemes available to companies in Ireland."

Source: www.businessworld.ie