Our free online course helps small business owners understand the full process of becoming employee owned, from your initial exploration, to assessing your company’s readiness for an ownership transition, to structuring the transition.
- Forbes – I’m Here To Tell You We Sold The Company
- ASBN – How Employee Ownership Can Reshape the Economic Outlook of South Atlanta’s Minority Neighborhoods
- Next City – Can Employee Ownership Preserve Legacy Businesses in Communities of Color?
- Atlanta Business Journal – Choate Construction moves towards 100% employee-ownership
- National League of Cities – Employee-Owned Businesses a Tool for Equitable Growth
See our library of policy supports from around the United States.
An employee-owned business is owned and controlled by its employees. While there are a number of legal entity options – cooperative corporations, LLCs, trusts – they all share equity ownership that gives employees real risk and reward, and a path for employee participation to voice their desires, and to improve their work life.
Small businesses that are employee-owned are often organized as worker cooperatives – value-driven business that put employees and community benefit at the core of its purpose. The central characteristics are:
- Workers own the business and participate in its financial success on the basis of their labor.
- Workers vote for their representation on the board of directors, with the principle of one worker, one vote.
- In addition to their economic and governance participation, worker-owners participate in day-to-day management structures.