Bipartisan Policy Council Report Urges More Support for Employee Ownership
In the new report A Nation at Risk to A Nation at Work: The Case for a National Talent Strategy, the Bipartisan Policy Council urges Congress and the administration to improve incentives for employee ownership. Founded in 2007, the council holds meetings and issues reports on a wide variety of topics. Its current co-chairs are former Massachusetts Democratic governor Deval Patrick and former Tennessee governor Bill Haslam. The Council includes a variety of prominent former political leaders as well as thought leaders.
The report argues that the country’s education and workplace training systems are not adequate to ensure a pipeline of workers who can keep America competitive. The Council convened a group of 30 diverse experts and held a variety of meetings around the US to seek input into what is needed for an effective future workforce.
One of the Council's 15 recommendations is to provide greater support for employee ownership to “boost worker productivity and performance, attract and retain talent, and promote long-term employee wealth-building.” The report states, “Providing workers a direct stake in the company through employee ownership opportunities allows them to benefit financially from the company’s success, resulting in greater employee engagement, increased asset ownership, and improved financial literacy, which sets workers up for a better financial future and leads to positive returns for business.”
To encourage employee ownership, the report says:
- Congress and the administration should work to improve incentives for employee ownership to allow more firms to offer the benefit to their workers.
- Efforts to increase uptake should go hand-in-hand with financial literacy and education on employee ownership benefits to maximize their impact.
- The ESOP effort might also require the Department of Labor to engage on behalf of workers and reduce some legal impediments to more systematic adoption of employee ownership programs.