Close up hand search for book on bookshelves in the library.

The July 2025 Employee Owners Knowledge Share focused on the topic: Mitigating Workplace Alienation.

We were fortunate to be joined by guest speakers Mario Vafeas, Professor of Marketing, and Ed Little, Associate Head of Department, from University of West of England, Bristol Business School. They presented their academic research on our topic, and below we share our takeaways from their research and the group’s follow up discussion.

Mitigating Workplace Alienation 

What is alienation in the context of work? It is the separation between an employee and their work; both the output and the way they conduct their work. 

Why does it matter? A lot of research over the years has shown that alienation has a negative impact on employees directly, and the business indirectly. The impacts of alienation on an employee can impact their job performance, job satisfaction, organisation citizenship behaviour, commitment and wellbeing. 

What causes workplace alienation? There are a number of causes and Mario and Ed have bucketed them up into four areas: powerlessness, meaninglessness, social isolation and self-estrangement. 

Our takeaways from the research and discussion: 

1. Key findings of the mitigating workplace alienation research project 

    The research identified a number of key findings, and some of the most illuminating were: 

    • Employees of EO businesses are more likely to be ‘disalienated’ (i.e. have a more positive relationship with their business) when compared to their non-EO counterparts.
    • Alienation has a negative impact on not only individuals but also their organisations. 
    • Self-estrangement (where an employee has a poor work/life balance and feels unfilled by their job) and meaninglessness (where there the employee perceives their job as insignificant and not part of the business’ bigger picture) are the biggest drivers of alienation.
    • Middle-ranking and junior employees are significantly more likely to be alienated in non-EO business when compared to EO businesses, whereas the alienation felt by senior employees was the same across EO and non-EO businesses.
    • It’s not guaranteed that EO leads to less alienation – it requires attention and effort. Potential tensions arising from a businesses EO status can actually aggravate alienation. 
    • Middle management have a crucial role to play as the burden of engaging the majority of the workforce with employee ownership sits with them. 

    2. What participants said 

      While there are many technical aspects to understand in relation to employee ownership it is mostly an experiential change that EO creates. The following are some of the changes that participants noted following their transition to employee ownership: 

      • A sense that if they put the effort in, they got a reward back. Although this reward was partly financial, it was not the only reward felt by employees, with some also noting the greater connection they felt with the purpose of their businesses, and a greater sense of community. 
      • Pride in the business, and a feeling of genuine concern about its success. Some employees felt their reputation was at stake too. 
      • A sense of being able to help others in the business, but also outside of the business – the local community for example. 
      • A change in language where people are described as “colleagues” or “partners” rather than staff or employees only. A feeling that the use of this sort of language helps people to feel like they belong. 
      • Support from the business on their personal development, rather than simply their professional function for the business. 
      • The values of the business moving to better reflect the values of the business, such as through employees having a say in which clients they should work with, with this often being clients whose values align with that of the employees.
      • A sense that the organisation cares about its people. 

      3. Tensions to be aware of 

        Although implementing employee ownership can significantly decrease alienation in the workforce, the research also shows that if employee ownership is implemented in the wrong way, or not fully embraced, its effects can be limited or even detrimental. There can be a tension in EO businesses between: 

        • the need for a business to be decisive and make decisions quickly, and the expectation of employees to have the ability to participate in that decision making process; 
        • the notions of equality (that everyone is treated the same) and equity (that everyone is treated fairly). Those employees who feel they are contributing more to the business than others may actually become demotivated if they see others being rewarded in the same way; 
        • the desire of some employees to simply do their 9-5 job, and the perception they may have that the business wants them to be going above and beyond now that the business is EO. This can lead to these employees feeling pressurised and isolated; and 
        • the appetite of some employees for detailed information about the business so they have a better understanding of its performance, and those employees who feel overwhelmed and potentially anxious about the volume of information which they are not used to receiving.

        Stephens Scown hosts the Employee Owners Knowledge Share monthly to help create a community space for employee owners, and those looking to transition. If you are interested in joining future sessions, please visit our Events page.

        This article was co-written by and Sam Moles (Ownership Engagement Advisor) and Dave Robbins (Associate in our Corporate team) who are both former employee ownership trustees, and currently sit on the firm’s Strategy Board.