Mary Wilder

Former worker-owner and board director at Shine Nurture Center Cooperative, an Ohio child-care cooperative, where she shared firsthand perspectives on worker ownership and cooperative care work.

Employee Ownership Takes Hold Through Transparency, Voice, and Shared Responsibility

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program’s report *What Employee Ownership Means to Workers* finds that a legal stake alone does not make employees feel like owners. Drawing on focus groups with 85 workers at 12 companies, it argues that ownership becomes meaningful when employees can understand the business, share in its financial outcomes and help shape decisions. The report also finds that how those opportunities work depends on the ownership model and the practices companies build around it.

The Aspen InstituteNov 3, 202614 min read