co-determination

noun · Mitbestimmung

Mitbestimmung, the participation of employees in company decisions, on two levels: at company level, worker representatives sit on the supervisory board, and at establishment level, participation runs through the works council. The board-level form has no counterpart in the UK single-tier board.

Which translation, when

zwei Ebenenthe two levels: Unternehmensmitbestimmung places worker representatives on the Aufsichtsrat, the supervisory board of a company, while betriebliche Mitbestimmung is exercised in the individual establishment through the Betriebsrat, the works council, under the Betriebsverfassungsgesetz.

auf Aufsichtsratsebenethe board level and the contrast: how many seats depends on size, roughly one third of the supervisory board for mid-sized companies (DrittelbG) and near-parity for large ones (MitbestG), though the chair from the shareholder side holds the casting vote; this sits on the German two-tier board of Vorstand and Aufsichtsrat, which the UK single board does not have, so there is no direct English equivalent of board-level co-determination.

Why

Co-determination is Mitbestimmung, and it needs unpacking because it works on two levels that English collapses. At company level, Unternehmensmitbestimmung, worker representatives sit on the Aufsichtsrat, the supervisory board, which appoints and oversees the Vorstand, the management board; the share of seats depends on company size, roughly one third for mid-sized companies under the Drittelbeteiligungsgesetz and close to half for large ones under the Mitbestimmungsgesetz, although in the large-company model the chair, drawn from the shareholder side, has a casting vote that keeps the balance with the owners. At establishment level, betriebliche Mitbestimmung, participation is exercised through the Betriebsrat, the works council, under the Betriebsverfassungsgesetz, with genuine consent and consultation rights in social and personnel matters. The whole rests on the German two-tier board structure, management board and supervisory board, which the UK unitary board does not share, so board-level co-determination has no direct English counterpart. So rendering the word as Mitbestimmung is right, but reading it as a single mechanism, or as mere consultation, misses both the board-level seat and the establishment-level rights.

Typical mistakes

Mitbestimmung works on two levels, company-level seats on the supervisory board and establishment-level rights through the works council, so treating it as one mechanism flattens it.
Board-level co-determination rests on the German two-tier board of Vorstand and Aufsichtsrat, which the UK single board lacks, so assuming a direct English equivalent misleads.
It is genuine participation with consent rights, not only consultation, so rendering it as mere information or advice understates it.

What matters

Explaining German corporate governance or employee participation, the translation should render co-determination as Mitbestimmung and separate the company-level seats on the Aufsichtsrat from the establishment-level rights of the Betriebsrat. Treating it as one mechanism, or as mere consultation, misstates a two-level system with no direct UK equivalent.

Authority

§ 1 MitbestG
§ 1 DrittelbG

What the machine misses

Machine output renders co-determination as Mitbestimmung but then treats it as a single consultation mechanism. It loses that Mitbestimmung runs on two levels, worker seats on the Aufsichtsrat at company level and works-council rights at establishment level, that it rests on the German two-tier board the UK single board lacks, and that it carries genuine consent rights rather than mere advice. The rendering flattens a two-level structure into one.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

employee co-determination	die Mitbestimmung der Arbeitnehmer
co-determination at company level	die Unternehmensmitbestimmung
co-determination in the establishment	die betriebliche Mitbestimmung
the supervisory board	der Aufsichtsrat