Turning Employees into Owners: Rebuilding the American Dream

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ownership America, a new non-profit organization founded to turn Americans into owners, released its inaugural policy publication Turning Employees into Owners: Rebuilding the American Dream. Authored by experts in the employee ownership field, the report examines federal policy opportunities to significantly expand the number of Americans with an ownership stake in the company they work for through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The report reviews the extensive track record of employee-owned businesses in creating high-quality jobs that build substantial retirement wealth for workers while reducing layoffs and outperforming both domestic and global competitors.

"Employee ownership may be the most unsung economic policy success story in America," said Jack Moriarty, Ownership America Founder and Executive Director, who developed a passion for the issue while completing his MBA at the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management. "These policy proposals are intended to insert employee ownership squarely into the dialogue on how to generate equitable growth and shared prosperity. Employee ownership is a bipartisan idea that creates wealth for American workers and anchors high-quality jobs in communities across the country—all while producing higher-performing businesses."

Board President Michael Quarrey has seen firsthand how employee ownership has made his company, 100% ESOP manufacturer Web Industries, and his employees more successful. An executive at Web, Quarrey says, "When employees own their company, they care about customers, they share their ideas, and they benefit directly from improved profitability. This is good for business, for families, for communities, and for our country." Quarrey is joined on the Board by Corey Rosen, Founder of the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO). Ownership America is supplemented by an Advisory Board composed of leading thought leaders and practitioners that bring diverse perspectives to the work of broadening asset ownership.

Policy proposals include the Employee Equity Investment Act, a federal loan guarantee program designed to mobilize private investment to grow employee ownership in the middle market of the American economy. Other policies include tax incentives to promote employee ownership conversions in the context of private equity transactions and corporate divestitures as well as reforms to Opportunity Zones to clarify ESOP eligibility. The report focuses primarily on the ESOP model, but also touches on additional forms of employee ownership including worker cooperatives, employee ownership trusts, employee stock purchase plans, and broad-based equity sharing.

Ownership America is a dual-entity 501(c)(3) and affiliated 501(c)(4) organization that coordinates thought leadership and grassroots advocacy. Learn more at www.ownershipamerica.org