employee-owned enterprise

4.6

A business where workers have most or all of the company, often through shares

noun

: empresa de propiedad de empleados

After the buyout, the company transitioned into an employee-owned enterprise to give staff a direct stake in its success.

Examples

The law firm is proud to be an employee-owned enterprise, where every employee is a shareholder.
An employee-owned enterprise often fosters higher morale and productivity among its workers.
An employee-owned enterprise can lead to higher job satisfaction.
Many employee-owned enterprises thrive in local communities.
After the buyout, the company transitioned into an employee-owned enterprise to give staff a direct stake in its success.
The law firm is proud to be an employee-owned enterprise, where every employee is a shareholder.
An employee-owned enterprise often fosters higher morale and productivity among its workers.

Synonyms

employee-owned business

vsemployee-owned enterprise

3.6

A company where the people who work there have most or all the shares

is a more formal or organizational term for the same company whose staff hold shares

Surface Forms

employee-owned enterprise singular

employee-owned enterprises plural

Morphology

employee-owned + enterprise

The meaning 'an enterprise owned by its employees' is directly and compositionally derived from the constituents 'employee' + 'owned' modifying 'enterprise'. The noun+past-participle compounding pattern (employee-owned) is a regular, productive construction in English and has clear parallels in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the parts should understand it.

Etymology

Employee-owned enterprise is a phrase that creates a simple picture: the employees are the workers who actually own the enterprise, like a group sharing a house. So it means 'a company that the workers own'.