Existing Workforce

The second focus group are employees of SMEs. This idea builds up on so called employee buy-outs (EBO), which were quite popular in the 1990 in former Soviet countries. During an EBO one employee or a group of employees takes over the company from the retiring owner-manager. In the last years, these EBOs have become less popular, but as their potential is enormous, due to the following reasons, we decided to revitalize this successor model. EBOs are an excellent way to preserve knowledge and skills about procedures, products and partners within a company. Moreover, the employees’ identification with the company is usually extremely high. Building up on a long employer-employee relationship, trust is given between the two parties, one key component of successful business transfers. Encouraging governments to support EBOs through tax breaks is the key for more business transfers conducted by employees. Strong SME support institutions are needed to advocate for EBOs and to transfer well-proven models from southern European countries like Italy.

The Policy Strategy Program for Existing workforce/Employees of SMEs can be accessed here or by clicking on the image below