Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Workers are a rich source of strategic and operational insight for the companies that employ them. Yet only 30% of American workers surveyed by Gallup reported that at work, their opinions really count and only 6% of private sector employees in the US can influence the conditions of their employment via a union. The Aspen Institute Business & Society Program’s Idea Lab on Worker Voice in Corporate Governance convenes leaders to explore policies, practices and new structures that embed and amplify worker voice inside corporate decision making and accountability systems.
As the Covid-19 crisis has forced a reckoning about who is truly “essential” in the American economy, employee voices have reverberated from Silicon Valley to the factory floor. Workers are eager to contribute their insight and knowledge. It is time to take seriously the idea that fostering worker voice and including worker voice at the table can make corporate leadership—and American capitalism—better. The Idea Lab on Worker Voice in Corporate Governance invites you to explore resources to ensure that important signals from workers reach business leaders and investors, to inform corporate strategy, decision making and accountability.
