German start-ups are increasingly focusing on employee participation

According to a survey, every second young tech company in Germany now relies on issuing shares to its employees.

In Germany, too, founders are increasingly giving their employees a stake in the company's success. According to a survey by the digital association Bitkom, one in two start-ups are now involving their employees. Last year, the figure was only 44%. In addition, 40 percent can imagine an equity stake in the future, while seven percent rule it out completely.

"Internationally, it is common for start-ups to offer a stake in the company when competing for talent. In Germany, this is still too rare because the legal regulations are not practical and make employee participation unattractive," says Bitkom President Achim Berg. This was already a much-discussed topic in the last legislative period. Founders repeatedly call for the regulations to be adapted in order to remain internationally competitive.

In Germany, employees who have a stake in a start-up are taxed before they have even sold their shares. Three quarters (78%) of start-ups state that it would help them if politicians made employee share ownership more attractive. "In its start-up strategy, the German government promises improvements, and these are urgently needed," says Berg.