Below are the key findings from the study and corresponding recommendations for ecosystem developers, advocates, policy makers, and business leaders. These recommendations focus on a few key themes:

• Reframing the narrative around shared ownership to make it more compelling, relatable, and rooted in workers’ real experiences.
• Recognizing the cultural and job-quality dimensions of shared ownership, which are often overlooked in favor of financial or structural outcomes.
• Addressing inequities that are being reproduced within current shared ownership norms and reimagining approaches to create more inclusive models.
• Strengthening support and scalability for worker cooperatives through more equitable and accessible ecosystem strategies.

I want to offer gratitude to Jason Wiener for his support on this study and help developing many of the recommendations that are featured here.

Finding 1: Cultural and Emotional Benefits Outweigh Financial Ones

The most significant and valued benefits of employee ownership, as reported by workers themselves, were cultural and emotional rather than financial.

Although the study’s interviews were designed to explore financial outcomes, participants overwhelmingly centered their discussions on agency, dignity, and workplace culture. Workers described how having a voice in company decisions, being trusted with information through open-book management, and feeling respected in their roles contributed more to their sense of ownership than financial returns. The dignity of good work and a sense of shared purpose were repeatedly cited as the core rewards of employee ownership.

Recommendation: Center Cultural Narratives in the Shared Ownership Movement

The cultural significance of employee ownership must be recognized and elevated alongside its financial benefits. The movement’s messaging should not focus solely on scale or capital outcomes, but on the lived cultural inspiration found in workplaces already practicing shared ownership.

Efforts to promote employee ownership—through events, panels, media coverage, and policy discussions—too often center founders, experts, and academics, while the workers themselves are absent from the conversation. To strengthen the movement and ensure it resonates broadly, workers must be brought to the forefront as storytellers and representatives of what shared ownership means in practice.

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Suggestion for Ecosystem Advocates and Builders

Integrate the cultural and emotional dimensions of employee ownership into the movement’s core messaging and outreach strategies. Prioritize worker voices and experiences in storytelling, programming, and public education, placing the recognition of cultural benefits on equal footing with financial gains.

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Finding 2: Ownership Culture Thrives Through Communication, Education, and Shared Rituals

A strong ownership culture depends on consistent communication, ongoing education, and shared rituals that reinforce the meaning of ownership in daily work life.

Many organizations underestimate the cultural power of gatherings, celebrations, and shared practices. Yet, in my interviews, workers consistently emphasized that rituals and communication were the elements that embedded ownership culture into their work experience. These practices help translate abstract ownership concepts into tangible, emotional connections among employees, strengthening both engagement and commitment.

Recommendation: Establish Core Practices That Sustain Ownership Culture

To build and sustain a thriving ownership culture, ecosystem developers and company leaders should promote a standard set of practices that ensure communication and culture remain central to shared ownership. Such practices should be grounded in and connected to the practical reality of workers’ experience and should be revisited regularly for efficacy, appeal, and function. For example, workers who spend their day in the field will respond to and be more consistent with certain practices than office workers who are more present at a computer. These should include: