Elements of a Democratic Economy
Employee Ownership
Our employer ownership initiative, Fifty by Fifty, is aimed at creating a more inclusive economy through employee ownership. Our goal is to help build a movement with the knowledge, resources, and skills to grow the number of employee owners in the U.S. to 50 million by 2050.
Why employee ownership?
As of 2021, more than 7,000 US companies are owned wholly or in part by their employees—the people who work there every day. As a result, 10 million people in the US already have an ownership stake in their workplace.
These employee-owned businesses are more connected to their communities, better for their workers, and are measurably more stable and productive than traditional investor-owned corporations. They represent the seedbed of a new kind of economy based on democratic participation, shared prosperity, and a shared sense of responsibility for our communities and workplaces.
How we get to “Fifty by Fifty”
Growing employee ownership to roughly a quarter of our future workforce will require sharing our best analysis, thinking, and strategies. It will also demand an unprecedented level of focused collaboration among both traditional leaders in the employee ownership field and nontraditional partners in order to create a broad ecosystem of support for employee ownership.
The Fifty by Fifty initiative facilitates the deep collaboration needed to make employee ownership—through structures like worker cooperatives, employee stock ownership plans, and other models—a major part of the US economy. We engage with public officials as well as business and community leaders, and use such tools as our highly acclaimed employee ownership newsletter, research reports, and public forums.
Our aim is to bend the curve of history toward an inclusive, community-based economy, where millions more families enjoy financial stability, increased income, greater retirement security, and control over their economic destiny.
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