Bridging the Knowledge Gap
Bringing employee ownership into the conversation on college campuses
Employee ownership and workplace democracy was a concept that was introduced to me in the fall semester of 2023 as I took Dr. Hand’s Democratic Theory class. This was the first time I learned about alternative workplace models beyond traditional stock plans such as employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs). Although not everyone was in favor of employee ownership and workplace democracy, a large majority of students in that class liked the idea of an alternative workplace structure to what we have now. Students shared personal views of wealth disparity gaps, discussing how rising income inequality has affected their families with an overall lack of faith in the current system.
After starting my time working on EO+WD, I believe many of the concerns that students have can be addressed by alternative workplace models like employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), worker cooperatives, and perpetual purpose trusts.
Over the past month, Dr. Hand and I have started to brainstorm ideas for what employee ownership and workplace democracy could look like beyond a newsletter. I believe employee ownership and workplace democracy exist within a niche community. Those inside it are passionate about the potential for change, but these models remain unfamiliar to most Americans—despite being designed to benefit them. Although we have a great base here (600 subscribers as of the past week!), getting more students involved in advocating for alternative workplace models seems like a great place to start.
Adria Scharf and Andrea Steffes-Tuttle have both pointed to gaps in education at business schools surrounding employee ownership. Targeting management, business, and political science students directly engages with their previous studies, but expanding outreach to students across all disciplines can showcase the societal and economic impact employee ownership can have.
One idea is to establish an organization on campus that focuses on advocating for workplace democracy and employee ownership, directed at management and political science students. This organization could partner with other academic honor societies and organizations that may have similar interests. This organization could:
Bring guest speakers from the Texas Center for Employee Ownership and other employee-owned companies near campus
Provide students with research projects or internships with an employee-owned company or Dr. Hand
Host educational workshops that could show students what employee-owned models look like and how they compare to traditional structures
Launch a “Measuring Democracy” program aimed at campus organizations and societies to assess the level of democracy. The program would produce reports with recommendations on potential improvements and their benefits for students involved in those organizations
Write to on-campus newspapers about the work that the organization is doing to target students outside of political science and management studies who may be interested in EO+WD
I am interested in what a university-sponsored cooperative could look like and how it could be developed on a college campus. While this may be a more long-term goal, starting at the local level by promoting employee ownership can help build awareness and create benefits for workers in the community.
Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading!
