It is necessary to act on the legal and fiscal aspect in order to encourage the leaders to associate the employees with the capital. Several tools exist, apart from capital increases or IPOs.
• What levers should be activated to promote the practice of employee share ownership?
We must act on two essential levers. The first consists of strengthening the legal and tax aspects. At the legal level, we must first start, following the example of France, by making profit sharing compulsory.
The second lies in raising the awareness of employee representatives, trade unions and financial advisers. These actors must integrate employee shareholding as a mechanism for negotiation with companies and offer it to managers as a mechanism for aligning interests. If leaders today are reluctant to open up capital to employees, it is because they only see participation as a daunting measure of financial and political intrusion.
• Apart from capital increases and IPOs, what other tools can companies use?
There are several possibilities to practice it, especially for small businesses in difficulty. Employee share ownership can be practiced through stock warrants (BSA) or business creator share warrants (BSPCE). For both, it is an option to purchase shares at a strike price fixed in advance for a given period. Both devices are of interest to start-ups and small unlisted companies, which can use them as a compensation argument to attract and retain the most qualified employees. Unlike BSPCEs, which are granted free of charge, BSAs have a price and constitute a quick and efficient means of obtaining short-term financing with a promise of a capital increase after the option exercise period.
• What about company savings plans?
Are they known to company executives?
The Finance Act of 2013 introduced the company savings plan, allowing employees to set up, with the help of their company, a collective savings plan made up of a portfolio of securities.
The contribution paid by the company to the employee in order to help him build up his savings does not replace a salary element. Similarly, it is not taxable on income, except when it exceeds 10% of the annual taxable salary. Another advantage of the PEEn is linked to the total exemption of realized capital gains and income. However, this tax benefit is conditioned by a payment ceiling of 2 MDH according to the 2020 Finance Law, instead of 600,000 DH initially planned and by the unavailability of the sums saved in the PEEn for a minimum period of 5 years.
PEEn have difficulty becoming anchored in the practices of companies, because their adoption remains optional and dependent on the goodwill of managers.