New research released on October 19, 2023 on employee ownership in the United Kingdom – the People Powered Growth Report – suggests the UK’s employee ownership sector is outperforming the UK’s national productivity while contributing to several measures of employee and community wellbeing. The report also notes that the number of employee-owned businesses in the UK increased by 30% over the last year. 

The report is based on work by independent researchers, who surveyed over 9% of the UK’s 1,650 employee-owned companies and compared results to a control group of comparable non-employee-owned companies. The findings are based on a survey of 152 employee-owned businesess and a group of 285 non-employee owned businesses (non-EOBs).

They found that the employee-owned companies are associated with being 8-12% more productive and a number of other positive outcomes. The employee-owned companies:

• Pay more in dividends and bonuses;
• Are far less likely to lay off employees in the last three years;
• Provide greater access to healthcare, mental health resources and flex work, and;
• Invest more in on-the-job training and R&D.

The Employee Ownership Association of the UK commissioned the report. James de le Vingne, the chief executive of the EOA, said: “This is a new baseline in our understanding of the scale and impact of employee and worker ownership in the UK, contrasting EOBs with non-EOBs for the first time across economic, social and environmental outcomes. The findings are remarkable. They clearly show that this small section of the UK economy is punching above its weight across multiple dimensions of impact on individuals, businesses, communities and the wider economy.”