Matt Helmer
Director of Job Quality and Worker Well-Being at the Aspen Institute's Economic Opportunities Program, where he develops conversations, tools, and research advancing job quality, equity, and economic security for low- and moderate-income workers.
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.
Federal Policy Should Make Partial ESOPs Work for Larger Employers
Danny Massey, head of strategy and communications for Expanding ESOPs, argues that employee ownership should be treated as a federal wealth-building policy, not mainly as a succession tool for small private companies. In a keynote at the 2026 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, Massey says ESOPs have proved they can raise worker wealth and job quality, but their reach remains too narrow. His central case is that policy must make partial ESOPs viable for larger companies if broad-based ownership is to reach millions of workers rather than hundreds of firms a year.
Work Alone Leaves 42% of U.S. Households Below Survival Budgets
Stephanie Hoopes of United For ALICE said 42% of U.S. households were below the group’s conservative survival threshold in 2023, including many families above the federal poverty line but unable to cover basic costs. In a May 2026 discussion hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and United For ALICE, speakers argued that this makes hardship among working households a job-quality and affordability problem, not simply a poverty problem. They presented ALICE at Work as an employer-focused effort to use local data and peer cohorts to change the workplace practices that affect income, costs, stability, and advancement.