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Having a Stake: Evidence and Implications for Broad-based Employee Stock Ownership and Profit Sharing

Douglas Kruse, Joseph Blasi, Richard B. Freeman | December, 2019

At the center of the ongoing debate about the causes and cures of inequality in America today is the vast difference in wealth between owners and workers. As many have noted, that gap was not nearly as large in the middle of the twentieth century as it has become in the first two decades of the 21st century, where owners and other executives make many multiples of what workers make – largely through grants of stock in lieu of salary.

Broad-Based Employee Stock Ownership and Profit Sharing: History, Evidence, and Policy Implications

Douglas Kruse, Joseph Blasi, Richard B. Freeman | June, 2018

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the historical background for broad-based ownership in the USA, the development of forms of employee ownership and profit sharing in the USA, the research literature on employee ownership and profit sharing and related employee participation, the development of policy and options for new policies. Design/methodology/approach It … Read More

Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership (JPEO) in the Changing World of Participative Work Practices and Pay

Richard B. Freeman, Takao Kato | January, 2018

Work practices and modes of pay have changed in recent decades. The combination of an increasingly educated work force, new information and communication technologies, the influx of AI and big data into business practices from production and sales to human resources, the increased importance of teamwork and the growth of non-standard work arrangements which blur … Read More

Podcast with Joseph Blasi, Richard Freeman & Douglas Kruse

Douglas Kruse, Joseph Blasi, Richard B. Freeman | June, 2016

When Workers Become Owners Professors Joseph Blasi, Richard Freeman, and Douglas Kruse explain how sharing the ownership or profits of a company with workers can improve productivity, pay, and work life quality – all while reducing economic inequality. Bonus – Jump on the Bandwagon Professors Blasi, Freeman, and Kruse stay post-interview to discuss why trade unions, business schools, and … Read More

Do Broad-Based Employee Ownership, Profit Sharing and Stock Options Help the Best Firms Do Even Better

Douglas Kruse, Joseph Blasi, Richard B. Freeman | March, 2016

This article analyses the linkages among group incentive methods of compensation (broad‐based employee ownership, profit sharing and stock options), labour practices, worker assessments of workplace culture, turnover and firm performance in firms that applied to the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For in America’ competition from 2005 to 2007. Although employers with good labour practices … Read More

The Citizen’s Share: Reducing Inequality in the 21st Century

Douglas Kruse, Joseph Blasi, Richard B. Freeman | November, 2013

The idea of workers owning the businesses where they work is not new. In America’s early years, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison believed that the best economic plan for the Republic was for citizens to have some ownership stake in the land, which was the main form of productive capital. This book traces the development of that share idea in American history and brings its message to today’s economy, where business capital has replaced land as the source of wealth creation. 

Inclusive Capitalism for the American Workforce: Reaping the Rewards of Economic Growth through Broad-based Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing 

Douglas Kruse, Joseph Blasi, Richard B. Freeman | March, 2011

What can be done to reverse the economic disparity in our nation and restore prosperity for all? This paper lays out a policy reform that will help restore the link between economic growth and the earnings of workers so that the recovery re-establishes a prosperous middle class. The reform encourages firms to develop broad-based incentive compensation systems that link employee earnings to the performance of the firm. This reform would give employees access to the capital-related earnings of their companies comparable to that of the senior executives who run these firms. 

Creating a Bigger Pie? The Effects of Employee Ownership, Profit Sharing, and Stock Options on Workplace Performance 

Christopher Mackin, Douglas Kruse, Joseph Blasi, Richard B. Freeman | April, 2008

This paper uses data from NBER surveys of over 40,000 employees in hundreds of facilities in 14 firms and from employees on the 2002 and 2006 General Social Surveys to explore how shared compensation affects turnover, absenteeism, loyalty, worker effort, and other outcomes affecting workplace performance.