In this event, leaders from both business and organized labor discuss how they can innovate and work together to achieve shared prosperity. The conversation offers a glimpse of how business leaders have begun to reimagine their relationship with organized labor, including a fireside chat with AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.

In this event, panelists discuss the latest research on the experiences of workers grappling with schedule instability, how new technology is helping businesses adopt worker-friendly scheduling practices, what we are learning from states and cities with fair workweek laws, and other opportunities and strategies for change.

In this event, panelists discuss the state of research into employee ownership trusts (EOTs), the benefits that EOTs provide, how EOTs compare to other forms of employee ownership, the experiences of business owners and workers in trusts, and what the future holds for this model in the US.

In this event, Marjorie Kelly, author of “Wealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises,” outlines the myths that perpetuate wealth inequality and discusses how the democratization of ownership — including public ownership of vital services, worker-owned businesses, and more — can help us build a non-extractive capitalism and economy based on the public interest.

In this event, panelists discuss alternative models of platform-based work — including cooperatives and public options — policies being introduced to improve gig workers’ lives, and research pointing to what’s next in the gig economy.

This piece provides a summary of The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone’s Work, a book talk EOP hosted with MIT Professor Zeynep Ton in 2023.

This piece reflects on the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program’s event “Sustaining Ownership: The Promise of Employee Ownership Trusts,” which introduced viewers to Employee Ownership Trusts and their potential to increase job quality for workers.

This piece summarizes the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program’s event “Unstable Schedules: Unwrapping the Challenges and Solutions for Service Workers,” during which panelists discussed the importance of stable scheduling practices for job quality.

For more than two decades, the Vermont Employee Ownership Center (VEOC) has worked to raise awareness and grow employee ownership in the state, including by providing technical and financial assistance to firms looking to transfer ownership to their workers. Vermont is home to several notable employee-owned companies, like Gardener’s Supply Company and King Arthur Flour, boasting one of the highest rates of employee ownership in the country, and the benefits of this shared prosperity are measurable. The state’s 55 employee-owned companies tend to have higher employee retention rates and narrower pay gaps between leadership and workers when compared to conventionally owned companies. And Vermont’s employee-owned companies report that employee ownership has improved their resiliency. The history of employee ownership in Vermont and the work of VEOC provide useful guidance and insight to those seeking to grow employee ownership and develop new state centers.

This piece reflects on the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program’s event “ESOPs, Job Quality, and Wealth Inequality: The Potential of Employee Stock Ownership Plans,” which discusses the potential for ESOPs to improve job quality and build meaningful wealth for workers.