companies which offer their staff profit-sharing schemes see their workplace transformed, the chief executive of Irish Life, Mr David Went, has said.
He said Irish Life employees, who now have three million shares in the company, have "re-evaluated their relationship with the company" by participating in several profit-sharing schemes.
"By dint of the personal financial investment which they are making in the business, they take a more active interest in issues which they might not otherwise bother with," he said.
He was speaking at an IBEC conference in Dublin on profit-sharing schemes.
IBEC estimates there are more than 250 approved profit-sharing schemes in place and 200,000 employees are covered in the schemes. It said 50 schemes are waiting for approval.
Mr Went told the conference that more than 50 per cent of the company's employees participate in its "save as you earn" scheme. The scheme operates by granting employees an option over an agreed number of shares at today's price and then providing them with a savings plan to help them get the funds necessary to purchase the options at an agreed time in the future.
Mr Went said a scheme like this should be particularly attractive to companies which want to get the benefits of greater employee participation, "without having to tie themselves up in either the hassles or the costs that many associate with doing this", he said.
"One of the most encouraging things we have noticed with these schemes, for example, is that they have created an appetite among employees for more information about the company's performance and how different elements influence that performance each year," he said.
"Engaging staff on a level like this changes the whole nature of problem-solving in an organisation," he added.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, speaking at the same conference, said he would be introducing legislation in the Finance Bill to make sure there was favourable treatment for save as you earn share schemes.
He added that Department of Finance officials have been in discussions with ICTU and IBEC on this issue.
