Employee Ownership Gives Workers Voice Before It Builds Wealth
At the Aspen Institute’s 2026 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, employee owners from Equal Exchange, Advisors for Change and Lewis Tree Services argued that ownership changes work first by changing workers’ agency, not simply their compensation. Nicole Vitello, Krystal Thompson and Charlie Arrindell described different models — a mature worker cooperative, a newer remote co-op and a large ESOP — but made a common case: employee ownership requires transparency, training and participation if workers are to have a real claim on the enterprise they help build.
The Aspen Institute·Jun 9, 2026·14 min read
