The article describes alternative forms of employee participation initiatives, such as information, consultation, negotiation, apart from deep-rooted trade union mechanisms. It provides an analysis of present legal regulations and tendencies in the EU countries, in the light of the implementation of Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community. The second main part of the article refers to the worker involvement in company decision making procedures and management in the U.S. What is unique for the U.S., employee participation programmes were created as a result of bottom-up processes, with the initiative coming from employees and employers themselves. The article also focuses on contemporary public debate by explaining the added value of employee participation in the light of Corporate Social Responsibility policy.