UP WITH PEOPLE. Private equity isn’t known for having the backs of the rank and file. KKR (KKR.N), though, is trying. On Thursday, the investment firm run by Henry Kravis said it and rival Leonard Green & Partners will give 1,700 employees at Charter Next Generation, which it is buying, equity in the business. More than 7,000 U.S. companies have some form of employee ownership, according to research organization Fifty by Fifty, less than 1% of all firms tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau. Since 2011, KKR has handed over $500 million in equity value to more than 20,000 employees. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are all better off, though. A Harvard Business School study found that employment at buyout-targeted firms declined 13% over two years in deals involving publicly listed companies. KKR, along with Bain Capital, coughed up $20 million to help jobless workers at Toys R Us after it went belly-up. Now, with equity, employees have a stake in holding their owners more accountable, earlier. (By Jennifer Saba) On Twitter http://twitter.com/breakingviews Earlier in Capital Calls: Rio Tinto’s year of high explosives and high pay read more Patent panic overshadows Moderna read more Telecom Italia’s singular problem read more Euro zone bank laggards flatter to deceive read more Aussie bank’s good deeds punished read more Breakingviews Reuters Breakingviews is the world"s leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time. Sign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.