Shared company ownership may be the missing path to the American dream

The American Dream—that foundational promise of economic opportunity, social mobility, and lasting security—looms large in our life stories. While access to this promise has been granted slowly and unevenly, at its best, our nation has been a beacon of democracy and free enterprise.

Today, corporations remain too fixated on the latter at the expense of the former–but we believe democracy and free enterprise must go hand in hand. In a principled, democratic society, every worker should have the opportunity to participate fully in the economy. That means employers, large and small, must provide their workers with more paths to ownership.

We know the power of ownership firsthand. Darren’s grandfather, a Black man born in the Jim Crow South, held only a third-grade education–but as a porter for a Texas oil company, he participated in a profit-sharing plan that dignified his work, sustained his family, and left him with enough stock to retire comfortably.

Pete’s father operated a road grader for nearly five decades for a construction company outside of Chicago. Despite his long hours over many years, he never participated in the success of the company beyond an hourly wage. As a result, he never felt a sense of ownership or alignment, and enjoyed few options for mobility.

Today, millions of Americans feel the same way. Gone are the days when first-generation college graduates could see doors open to them that were closed to their parents. Instead, many Americans are now downwardly mobile.

Unlike previous generations, only half of American adults born in 1980 make as much as their parents did at the same age. Two in five Americans cannot afford a $400 emergency, let alone save enough for retirement. Gaps in knowledge widen the disparity: according to the Treasury Department, only one in three Americans is financially literate.

These trends—evaporating opportunities for access, growth, and prosperity—have dangerous implications not only for the economy but also for democracy. Our social contract is fraying—and we all have a vested interest in weaving it back together. Whether we work for an hourly wage, a salaried job, or own companies ourselves, one way we can do just that is by advocating for shared ownership plans.

What does this look like in action? Publicly-traded pump manufacturer Ingersoll Rand introduced an incremental shared ownership plan for its 16,000 employees in 2020. Employees who have been with the…