Employee ownership

Firms where staff have a big ownership stake and a say in decisions are more productive because employees feel happier at work, according to the Employee Ownership Association (which represents companies wholly or substantially owned by the people who work for them).

It highlights the success of John Lewis and Waitrose, both parts of the employee-owned John Lewis Partnership, and calls on chancellor Gordon Brown to encourage co-owned start-ups in economically disadvantaged communities, and to establish a fund to finance the establishment of employee-owned businesses.