Sharing the spoils with employee share ownership

Employee share ownership can be good for everyone involved, says David Prosser.

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McDonnell: controversial proposal from Labour
(Image credit: 2018 Getty Images)

The proposal by John McDonnell, Labour's shadow chancellor, to force companies of a certain size to hand over shares to their employees is controversial. But while his mechanism for increasing workers' ownership has its critics, McDonnell's motivations are widely shared. The arguments for employee share-ownership improved engagement and motivation, for example are solid. What's more, the Employee Ownership Index, which tracks companies on Aim and the London Stock Exchange whose employees own at least 3% of the shares, easily outstripped the wider market between 2003 and 2016.

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David Prosser
Business Columnist

David Prosser is a regular MoneyWeek columnist, writing on small business and entrepreneurship, as well as pensions and other forms of tax-efficient savings and investments. David has been a financial journalist for almost 30 years, specialising initially in personal finance, and then in broader business coverage. He has worked for national newspaper groups including The Financial Times, The Guardian and Observer, Express Newspapers and, most recently, The Independent, where he served for more than three years as business editor.