Broad-based employee ownership gives workers outside the C-suite a meaningful stake in the value they help create — typically through equity or equity-like participation, paired with an ownership culture, transparent communication, and financial wellbeing resources. When designed well, employee ownership helps workers participate financially in a company's success while strengthening engagement, accountability, and shared purpose. Ownership Works is a nonprofit on a mission to make employee ownership the new norm at work.
CoolIT Systems shows what that mission looks like in practice. Produced by Ruder Finn in partnership with KKR and Ownership Works, this video series documents what happened when 650 CoolIT employees — many of them frontline manufacturing workers from around the world — shared in the value they helped create. Following CoolIT's extraordinary growth and its acquisition by Ecolab from KKR, employees received payouts averaging $240,000, tied to tenure. Employees who joined in 2025 received two and a half times their annual pay; those who joined between 2020 and 2022 received six times annual pay; and those who joined in 2016 or earlier received eight times their annual pay.
The goal of the series was to make the benefits of employee ownership tangible for companies, investors, employees, and other stakeholders — by connecting the scale of a business outcome to its personal impact on workers and their families.
The series combines measurable business outcomes with personal stories of economic mobility, dignity, and recognition — making the case for employee ownership in a way that data alone cannot.
The strategy joins a company-wide ownership story with individual employee spotlights. The full CoolIT video captures approximately 600 employees gathering under a tent during an unexpected Calgary snowstorm, believing they were attending a routine town hall. Instead, they learn what the company’s growth and ownership program mean for them individually.
The video captures the payout announcement as it happens, including employees’ unscripted reactions as the amounts are revealed. Employees respond with disbelief, tears, celebration, and pride. It also establishes the scale of CoolIT’s growth, the role of an ownership mindset in driving that growth, and the significance of employees sharing in the company’s success. CoolIT’s cooling technology is used in data centers across more than 300 locations globally.
Two employee spotlight videos build on that moment by focusing on Jyoti Verma and Tete Ester Francis, whose stories illustrate the human impact behind the numbers. Jyoti moved to Calgary from India in 2022 and started at CoolIT as a temporary production worker before advancing to quality controller and then accounts payable specialist. She opens her ownership letter on camera and asks, “Is this real? Are you sure?” Her payout will help her purchase her first home — a dream she describes as something every immigrant works toward
Tete came to Canada from a refugee camp in Uganda as a single mother of five children, originally from South Sudan. She describes the challenges of building a new life in Canada and explains that, for her, ownership reflects a simple belief that people coming together make a company great. Her payout will help support her children as they prepare for college and create a new beginning for her family.
All three videos were produced as standalone pieces that also work together as a cohesive series. Employees speak for themselves throughout, keeping the storytelling direct, emotional, and credible. Together, the videos connect Ownership Works’ core messages around equity participation, ownership culture, transparent communication, and financial wellbeing to real employee experiences. Employees could see themselves reflected in the stories, while business leaders and investors could see a concrete example of broad-based ownership in action.
The series succeeded by turning a complex workplace and financial model into a clear, human, and credible story. It showed employee ownership not as an abstract concept, but as a real outcome for 650 employees who helped build a successful company.
CoolIT employees received ownership payouts averaging $240,000. For Jyoti, the payout made homeownership possible. For Tete, it created a new beginning and helped her support her children’s education. Across the company, the program recognized employees as contributors to and beneficiaries of CoolIT’s success.
The series also reached a broad digital audience. The content generated more than 69,000 video views, nearly 3,500 engagements, and nearly 180,000 in combined reported reach. These results extended the employees’ stories to new audiences and sparked interest in employee ownership.
The videos strengthened Ownership Works’ ability to communicate its broader mission. CoolIT’s story provides a concrete example of how broad-based ownership can empower employees outside the C-suite, reinforce a culture of shared accountability, and generate meaningful returns for workers and investors alike. As one employee says in the full video, “This is a perfect example for other companies to see that it works.”
