Employees could be given the right to request shares in the organisations they work for under proposals put forward by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.
During a keynote speech to the CentreForum and the City of London Corporation on 16 January, Clegg outlined plans to boost employee share ownership by giving staff a universal right to request shares in the organisations they work for.
He also said he will set up a commission to investigate the most effective forms of mutual ownership to give organisations a guide to adopting employee shareholding.
Clegg said: “Liberals believe strongly in the virtues of the market but only if it is a market for the many, not a market for the few.
“We need more individuals to have a real stake in their firms. The 80s was the decade of share ownership. I want this to be the decade of employee share ownership.”
Paul Randall, partner at law firm Ashurst, said: “Share plans for all employees are long overdue for a boost. They were immensely popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Under the last government they were made over-complicated and unattractive.
“All the research indicates that employee-share ownership is good for employees, good for organisations and so good for the economy as a whole.”
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