Human Impact of Employee Ownership in the UK

A four-year study of 1,500 employees primarily at companies in the UK with all-employee share plans found that plan participants reported a number of positive results. In The Human and Organisational Impact of Employee Share Ownership, David McConville, Alison Smith, and John Arnold of Loughborough University report that 50% of employees who participate in plans say that the plans make them more likely to remain employed at the company, compared with 32% who said participation would not affect them. The main characteristic the study identified separating those who expect to remain employed versus those who do not is the extent to which employees feel their expectations for the plan have been met. Interestingly, a minority (from 14% to 22%) of respondents reported that being an employee-owner affected the quality of their job performance.