This brief discusses the potential of data-driven impact procurement as a job quality strategy and specifically how, through strategic partnerships, Kaiser Permanente (KP) embedded job quality in its procurement practices from 2019 to 2023. It describes KP’s strategies to engage pilot partners, design the implementation process, and use the data and lessons from this work to inform future action. The analysis is derived from interviews conducted by EOP staff in 2024 with stakeholders involved in the California Good Companies/Good Jobs pilot. In addition to KP leadership, these stakeholders included leaders from the data analytics platform Working Metrics (WM), KP, and security services firm Blackstone Consulting Inc (BCI). Interviews focused on the context of each organization’s engagement in the pilot, the rationale for and design of the pilot, the results of the pilot and reaction of the organizations involved, and resulting changes in practices and policies. EOP staff also reviewed pilot materials from KP and WM, previous WM use case briefs, and literature on job quality and the procurement landscape. The interviews provided context regarding use cases for WM that predated the pilot, including information about organizations that were using the platform to inform vendor selection. Drawing from the research and interviews, the brief also provides recommendations for increasing the uptake of job quality-focused procurement in the private sector in California and nationwide.

This report presents six easy-to-read charts about differences in the average dollar value of employee ownership by the annual earnings, gender, and race of employees. As averages, this gives a snapshot from random samples from employee surveys from the US General Social Survey across the entire US population. It answers the question: How broadly has employee share ownership’s financial benefits spread among working people?

The focus is on employee equity ownership plans and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), separately. Employee equity ownership plans involve grants of restricted stock, performance shares, Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and company stock ownership in 401(k) plans, etc. and do not include ESOPs. The results specifically on ESOPs are broken out and presented separately. Data are from the 2022 General Social Survey using previous surveys from 2018 and 2014 for a larger national sample.

In this research brief, we provide back-of-the-envelope calculations showing that, as of 2022, about 140,000 firms employing around 33 million workers would have been suitable candidates for ESOP employee buyouts, and nearly 1.1 million firms employing over 25 million workers suitable candidates for cooperative employee buyouts. Collectively, these firms accounted for roughly $25 trillion in total revenues (in 2024 dollars). The data used in this exercise were drawn from several different sources, including the US Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey, County Business Patterns, and Economic Census.

Notably, we find that even under alternative modeling assumptions the resulting estimates would still point to substantial scope for expansion of employee ownership in the US today.”

Employee share ownership has a long and important tradition in the US. As of 2022, approximately 18% of employees or about 25 million workers across our nation have some form of ownership stake in the company where they work and 8% of employees have employee stock options. Employees participating in ownership in the US do so through a variety of means, including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), equity compensation programs, worker-owned cooperatives, and employee-owned trusts. About 11 million active employees participate in ESOPs, while another 4.2 million additional retired ESOP employees are still receiving ESOP benefits from their ownership. An estimated 14 million employees participate in different other combinations of equity compensation plans, including grants of restricted stock, employee stock options, and employee stock purchase plans. Estimates show that approximately 10,000 workers are employed in between 900 and 1,000 worker-owned cooperatives, with a growing number of employees in Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs).

In this short brief, we provide some updated statistics and analysis regarding workers’ involvement in employee share ownership plans and the wealth and job quality benefits those workers realize from their participation. ESOPs are the most common form of broad-based employee share ownership in the US, and, likely for that reason, there are more robust data related to ESOPs. For these reasons, this brief focuses primarily on workers who participate in ESOPs.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was designed to help workers move “into high-quality jobs and careers and help employers hire and retain skilled workers.” A decade after its passage, however, it is clear that WIOA has often missed the mark in supporting workers’ success in accessing quality jobs or in effectively serving the high-road employers who provide good jobs. If legislators are serious about using WIOA to support quality jobs and good employers, then stronger efforts to support employee-owned companies would be a great place to start. This brief outlines the opportunity and the steps to achieve this goal.

This brief set of 13 tips for managers and supervisors offers a framework by which to address scheduling flexibility. Each tip provides useful considerations to keep in mind when discussing flexible remote work options with employees. HR professionals, managers, and supervisors interested in creating work environments that support flexible working schedules may find this resource helpful. Additionally, workforce development and worker advocacy professionals may find it helpful to send this set of tips to employers with whom they work.

In this brief, the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program discusses Participatory Decision Making (PDM), including its history, the outcomes it helps create for workers and businesses, its importance in helping firms navigate technological changes and design work-based learning, and numerous examples including those from employee-owned companies.The scope of this brief is intended to help organizations working at the intersection of job quality and business competitiveness better understand how incorporating workers’ ingenuity through PDM is important for firm success and good jobs. This brief is a resource for workforce and economic development organizations, community development finance institutions, and other organizations that advise businesses or focus on or fund employer practice change, to help inform their job quality conversations and efforts with employer partners.

This fact sheet, released at the 2024 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, provides some updated statistics regarding employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) in manufacturing in total, and, separately, for ESOPs in publicly traded corporations and closely-held corporations

In this fact sheet, released at the 2024 Employee Ownershipo Ideas Forum, the authors provide some updated statistics regarding ESOPs in rural counties with a focus on closely-held corporations where rural ESOPs are most prevalent.

This fact sheet, released at the 2024 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, summarizes some of the latest research on employee ownership with a focus on employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).