They Own the Place

In thousands of American companies large and small, the employees are starting to act as if they own the place. Well, they're entitled, because they do. Meet the new breed of hard-driving capitalist: the employee stockholder. At Oregon Steel Mills in Portland, the chairman's secretary has earned $500,000 in company stock, and a few of her colleagues have become paper millionaires. At Quad/Graphics, a Wisconsin printing company, the average five-year employee owns shares worth $250,000. In Avis car-rental offices across the U.S., employees are touting their stake in the company with lapel buttons that put a new twist on their old...