The Aspen Institute

Description

A depth of research shows the impacts employee ownership can have on company performance when it is combined with efforts to increase employee participation in solving company problems. Higher productivity, lower employee turnover, and greater resilience to economic downturns are all common outcomes of many employee-owned firms. However, greater employee involvement, when combined with ownership, also offers potential for other benefits, including enhanced innovation and problem-solving. The result is that some of the strongest performing and most resilient businesses in the US are employee-owned. In this conversation from the 2025 Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, leaders from employee-owned companies discuss how ownership drives business success.

Speakers

• Dion Houchins, Houchens Industries, CEO and Chairman
• Leslie Kass, CEO, Lewis Tree Service
• Moderator: Mary Josephs, Founder and CEO, Verit Advisors, Contributor at Forbes Magazine

Related Resources

• Does employee ownership improve performance – Job Quality Center of Excellence
• Employee Ownership Gains Big Momentum
• Houchens Industries – Our Story
• Lewis Services – One of the Nation’s Largest Vegetation Management Companies

About the Employee Ownership Ideas Forum

This video comes from the third Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and the Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. Our 2025 forum, “From Workers to Owners,” highlighted how the experience of ownership changes the reality of work for workers. The forum featured companies in a range of business sectors and explored how employee ownership fits their business strategy and approach to business leadership. The particular role employee ownership can play in supporting business success was discussed , and the role institutional investors can play in improving capital access for employee ownership conversions and expansions was also considered.

For clips and highlights from the Forum, subscribe to the Economic Opportunities Program on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aspeneop/

And tune in to our podcast to listen to full discussions on the go: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/aspeneop

For more from the Forum — including audio, transcripts, and additional resources — visit:

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