The historical relationship between capital and labor has evolved in the past few decades. One particularly noteworthy development is the rise of shared capitalism, a system in which workers have become partial owners of their firms and thus, in effect, both employees and stockholders. Profit sharing arrangements and gain-sharing bonuses, which tie compensation directly to a firm’s performance, also reflect this new attitude toward labor. Shared Capitalism at Work analyzes the effects of this trend on workers and firms. The contributors focus on four main areas: the fraction of firms that participate in shared capitalism programs in the United States and abroad, the factors that enable these firms to overcome classic free rider and risk problems, the effect of shared capitalism on firm performance, and the impact of shared capitalism on worker well-being. This volume provides essential studies for understanding the increasingly important role of shared capitalism in the modern workplace.

The question of 'what happens when I want to step away from all this?' is one that keeps many business owners awake at night. 'How does my entrepreneur story end in a way that preserves the good I’ve built up, and looks after the employees and clients?' For the owner who has spent a big chunk of their working life building up a business they passionately believe in, and nurturing staff they care about, traditional succession planning doesn’t work. Employee ownership is the new and better way of preserving your achievement. Done the right way, you can release value, preserve your legacy and pass on control without employees having to raise finance. Financial expert, podcaster and author Chris Budd recently sold his own business to its employees through the UK's Employee Ownership Trust. But the movement for employee ownership is global - and interest in this alternative succession route is growing fast. Employee ownership is about more than the ownership, however. It is about creating sustainable businesses. A focus on long-term sustainable profits; happy customers; happy employees. The Eternal Business lays out a system for a business - and its employees - to transition to employee ownership. It provides a model and pathway to follow so that the business continues - maybe forever! It will help anyone running or working in a business with a real purpose, and who is wrestling with the 'what next?' question.

This volume is an examination of the origins, characteristics and performance of employee-owned firms. It focuses on firms that have converted to either partial or full employee ownership using recent institutional, fiscal and legal innovations. Based on five years of empirical research, this is a topical contribution to recent debates on the challenging nature of employment.