Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Employee ownership, such as employee stock ownership plans and worker-owned cooperatives, has emerged as a catalyst for fostering successful businesses, advancing racial and gender equity, and tackling the persistent issues of poor job quality and wealth inequity.
Employee-owned firms often create a host of benefits compared to similar, non-employee-owned companies, including improved compensation, enhanced working conditions, reduced turnover, and greater resilience during challenging economic times. However, despite its potential, employee ownership remains a relatively small component of the US economy, and awareness about employee ownership is relatively low. A unique opportunity for expansion is at hand, as six out of 10 business owners across the US intend to sell their business in the next decade as they prepare for retirement.
State centers of employee ownership are emerging to help address these challenges and capitalize on this opportunity for expansion. These centers work to promote employee ownership and educate business owners and workers about the different options available. In this brief, we discuss the strategies and practices implemented by Colorado’s Employee Ownership Office to better understand how employee ownership can be supported and grown. We hope this profile will help inform other state centers’ practices and the government’s role in supporting state centers, particularly as more centers emerge through funding provided by the recently passed Worker Ownership, Readiness, and Knowledge (WORK) Act.
The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy.
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This publication examines how fragmented skills, credentialing, and workforce data systems limit the potential of skills-based hiring and advancement, and outlines a shared vision for building the interoperable infrastructure needed to create a connected skills ecosystem that benefits workers, employers, educators, and governments.
Economic security shouldn’t be a lottery. Yet for millions of working families, stagnant wages and precarious jobs collide with the daily grind of managing money on shaky ground — leaving stability feeling less like a plan and more like a gamble. Fixing that takes more than one lever. It takes structural reform and the tools people need to take control of their financial lives, working together.
This resource is designed to help colleges and universities become more employer-friendly and build the kind of institutional capacity that sustains and grows partnerships while simultaneously better serving working learners. It offers role-specific guidance for leaders across the institution, a self-assessment spanning five domains of practice, and a process for turning results into action, grounded in the conviction that institution/employer partnerships can become easier without compromising academic missions.
