A new €9 million Workplace Innovation Fund was unveiled yesterday by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.

The fund will come on stream in the first half of 2007, and will provide support to companies seeking to implement innovative changes in the workplace.

It will also be used to finance a national awareness campaign to inform the country's workforce of key workplace development issues.

"The new fund offers a unique opportunity for companies to receive financial support for projects that seek to develop the role of employee participation and partnership-style practices as enablers of workplace change," said Lucy Fallon-Byrne, director of the National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP).

The Workplace Innovation Fund is a key part of the NCPP's new three-year strategy, which Mr Ahern launched yesterday at Government Buildings.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Ahern said that the NCPP strategy for 2007-2010 "challenges employers and employees to work smarter - not harder".

The Taoiseach also launched the NCPP's new guidelines on employee financial involvement (EFI), published in line with the centre's commitment under the social partnership agreement, Towards 2016.

The guidelines examine five main types of EFI schemes already in operation in the State, such as approved profit-sharing schemes, and aim to make such schemes accessible to a wider audience.

Currently less than 15 per cent of Irish companies have implemented some form of EFI.

The Taoiseach described the new EFI guidelines as "a wake-up call for business".