The story I read are that ESOPs are an alternative to unionization, it allows founders to cash out, it aligns incentives towards long term growth of a company a

The story I read are that ESOPs are an alternative to unionization, it allows founders to cash out, it aligns incentives towards long term growth of a company and this has shown better performance in tough economic times. The barriers are that knowledge of them is low and there isn't institutional support in government for organizing companies in this way. Getting stock or pay are not an either/or. Employee actual wages have been effectively flat for the last 30 years, whereas corporate profits have continued to increase. Companies can do both. The money is there. Most of us are not getting it. Corporate organizing hasn't worked for everyone over the last 40 years. The mantra that corporations should only deliver value to shareholders has lead to laser sharp focus on quarterly profits in exclusion to everything else. Financial engineering like stock buybacks and leveraged buy-outs only concentrate wealth and destroy value. While declaring the end of neoliberalism and ESG have been attempts at turning that around, they have not been effective at influencing change. Being smart about how to align incentives is what is going to lead to more value in our economy and lead to more equitable outcomes for all.