Start inclusive ownership funds

An economic heartbeat that transfers the ownership and control of businesses to workers and other key stakeholders.

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To see growth in co-operation and the democratisation of business, we need to transform the hostile economic environment into one that is conducive. This could be achieved through an Inclusive Ownership Fund into which shareholder- and privately-owned businesses transfer a small amount of profit each year in the form of equity.

An Inclusive Ownership Fund would ensure that over time and in all businesses, the ownership and control of workers and other designated stakeholders would grow. This could be achieved by:

• Mandating the transfer of the equity of firms into an Inclusive Ownership fund, with formally designated stakeholders, annually and at a low level
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• By incentivising this transfer through the business tax system
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• Using both approaches: mandating at a low level and incentivising to allow some business to opt for a more rapid transfer

Over time — like a beating heart in the economy — these funds would reach a tipping point, at which time employees could opt to take various forms of control over the running of the business. Prior to that, steps could be built into the fund that would see incremental improvements in worker or wider stakeholder participation when the fund reached certain levels.

The Inclusive Ownership fund would create more businesses as employee-owned partnerships sharing the wealth they create and involving employees and other stakeholders in decision making.

Tags Democratic ownership