> Many software companies offer equity, which makes employers the shareholders. What's good for shareholders is also good for a lot of tech employees.

I am skeptical about this. At public companies, it seems like in general shareholders do an ineffective job at reigning in management. See e.g. all the discussions around executive pay, as well as the proportion of shares that are held through passive funds.

Within tech in some cases (e.g. FB) extra means were taken so that shareholders have even less control than is typical.

Within private companies, employees with vested options typically have far less visibility into company finances than do the VCs, and certainly don't have a board seat or the ability to vote. I.e. being an employee shareholder at a startup often gives you no ability to see whether management is actually working in your interest, and certainly no special input into corporate governance.