Fireside Chat: The Employee Ownership Advantage — Employee Ownership Ideas Forum 2025

A depth of research shows the impacts employee ownership can have on company performance when it is combined with efforts to increase employee participation in solving company problems. Higher productivity, lower employee turnover, and greater resilience to economic downturns are all common outcomes of many employee-owned firms. However, greater employee involvement, when combined with ownership, also offers potential for other benefits, including enhanced innovation and problem-solving. The result is that some of the strongest performing and most resilient businesses in the US are employee-owned. In this conversation from the 2025 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, leaders from employee-owned companies discuss how ownership drives business success.

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The 2025 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum took place on April 9-10, 2025, virtually and in Washington DC. The Forum is proudly co-hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University.

This year’s theme, “From Workers to Owners,” highlights how the experience of ownership changes the reality of work for workers. The forum highlights companies in a range of business sectors and explores how employee ownership fits their business strategy and approach to business leadership. We also discuss the particular role employee ownership can play in supporting business success, and we consider the role institutional investors can play in improving capital access for employee ownership conversions and expansions.

For more information about the Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, including our speakers, agenda, and additional resources, visit our website: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/employee-ownership-ideas-forum-2025/