Bob’s Red Mill ESOP Story
You may recognize him from the cover of your favorite flour or oatmeal, Bob Moore, founder of Bob’s Red Mill, based in Portland, OR, tells the story of his company’s transition to employee ownership through an ESOP.
Understanding the Opportunities for Employee Ownership Among Minority Veteran-Owned Businesses
The United States business sector is dominated by small businesses that create new jobs at a rate considered faster than that of their larger competitors. Remarkably, military veterans own nearly 13 percent of small businesses. However, only eight percent of all veteran-owned firms are minority owned. The low percentage of minority-owned veteran businesses is perplexing … Read More
Introduction to ESOPs
What is an ESOP and how do business owners decide to transition ownership of their business, and often their life’s work, to their employees? Most business owners know that there are three options when planning for retirement. One, they can sell their business. Two they can, pass the business to a member of their family. … Read More
Harpoon Brewery’s ESOP Story
Hear the story about how one of the first craft breweries in the nation became one of the most successful employee owned breweries in the world. Most business owners know that there are three options when planning for retirement. One, they can sell their business. Two they can, pass the business to a member of … Read More
Company Profile: Max Auto Supply
At Max Auto Supply Co., a Toledo-based chain of 113 automotive repair stores, CEO Randy Katz’s main motivation for adopting an ESOP was “to cash out family owners and avoid estate tax.” It also “felt like the right thing to do” for the company’s employees, most of whom are mechanics and technicians.
Company Profile: S&C Electric Company
This mini-case study examines S&C Electric Company, the storied Chicago-based employee-owned company that was founded in 1911. The mini-case study introduces the company’s history and describes how employee ownership preserved the company and its jobs during a key generational transition.
Mini-Case Study: National Van Lines
This mini-case study examines employee share ownership at National Van Lines, where an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) provided a family-run business a succession plan that ensured the continuation of the company and protected employee jobs. Just one-third of family businesses successfully transition from the first to the second generation of ownership and only 12% … Read More
Mini-Case Study: ComSonics, Inc.
This mini-case study examines ComSonics, which first adopted an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in 1975, introducing its culture and its unusual Employee Advisory Committee.
Turning Employees Into Owners: Rebuilding the American Dream
Employee ownership is a big, bold idea, a market tested concept that is capable of transforming the American economy and rebuilding the American dream. This white paper includes policy proposals for turning more workers into owners.
“Here, You Earn It”: Employee Ownership at Parksite, Inc.
This case study examines employee share ownership at Parksite, Inc., where the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is paired with a strong company culture and high job quality. For the company’s co-founders, the ESOP provided a solution to a major transition challenge. The company’s long-term employees accumulate considerable stock wealth through the ESOP. Discussion questions … Read More
Case Study: North State Grocery
This case study examines employee share ownership at North State Grocery, where the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) solved a transition challenge in a company owned by two siblings. Thanks to the ESOP, long-term employees, including frontline staff such as cashiers and bakery workers, build a larger cushion of retirement savings than is typical in … Read More
Case Study: Central States Manufacturing, Inc.
This case study examines employee share ownership at Central States Manufacturing, where the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) shares stunning sums of wealth with employees. Central States designs its ESOP to allow participants to access a portion of their ownership wealth while they are still employed at the company, through hardship and service withdrawals. This … Read More
A Detailed Overview of Employee Ownership Plan Alternatives
There are now over 25 million employees who own stock in their companies through employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), broadly granted stock options, or 401(k) plans with heavy concentrations of employer stock.
Introducing CLEO—the Rutgers Online Employee Ownership Library: What Business Owners Can Learn
The redesigned Curriculum Library for Employee Ownership (CLEO), the online library dedicated to employee share ownership, features more than 600 resources—including company case studies, links to scholarly research articles, informative videos, and policy reports. This webinar introduces this free online library and highlights resources of interest to business owners who are considering employee ownership. Research … Read More
Create Amazing: Turning Your Employees into Owners for Explosive Growth
Are you considering starting an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) or converting your company to an ESOP? Or maybe making the big leap to a 100% employee-owned company? If you want your company to perform at its absolute peak and you want the people who make that happen (you included) to receive the ultimate financial … Read More
Race and Gender Wealth Equity and the Role of Employee Share Ownership
Even before the pandemic, many workers struggled to build wealth. Divisions between men and women, and between white households and households of color, are particularly striking. The pandemic has exacerbated and heightened awareness of these inequities, and there is a mounting sense of urgency to find practical solutions. Increasing participation in business ownership can help … Read More
Equity Compensation & Employee Ownership
This is a survey course that explores the variety of ways that businesses can compensate employees with shares of equity, profits, or gains and the human resource management, employment relations, organizational and individual motivational issues that such practices raise. The class will use the Harvard Business School case study method where each class will be … Read More
The National Center for Employee Ownership YouTube Channel
The National Center for Employee Ownership YouTube Channel includes webinars and videos on a variety of topics related to employee ownership. NCEO is a nonprofit organization that has been supporting the employee ownership community since 1981. Its mission is to help employee ownership thrive.
Employee Ownership Expansion Network YouTube Channel
The Employee Ownership Expansion Network YouTube Channel includes informative short videos about employee ownership. EOX is a national nonprofit focused on significantly expanding employee ownership across the United States by establishing and supporting a network of independent nonprofit State Centers for Employee Ownership.
Why Aren’t There More? Assessing Barriers to ESOP Creation
This study by Jared Bernstein looks at why there are not more ESOPs and considers how to address potential barriers to entry. Drawing on a survey of 250 non-ESOP business owners and leaders, as well as interviews with business owners of employee-owned companies, it argues that education and awareness about the ESOP structure is key.
Who Should Own Your Business After You? A Guide for Business Owners
This booklet helps business owners evaluate employee ownership. Thousands of business owners have decided that employee ownership is the best way to preserve the job security of their workforces and protect the character of their companies while providing them and their families fair value. In “Who Should Own Your Business After You?,” several of them … Read More
A Visual Guide to Employee Ownership
The “A Visual Guide to Employee Ownership” website is an initiative of the National Center for Employee Ownership. It includes infographics, videos, a map of ESOPs in the United States, and other accessible but impactful visual guides.
Creating Mutual Gains to Leverage a Racially Diverse Workforce: The Effects of Firm-Level Racial Diversity on Financial and Workforce Outcomes Under the Use of Broad-Based Stock Options
Despite substantial scholarly attention to workforce demographic diversity, existing research is limited in understanding whether or in what contexts firm-level racial diversity relates to performance and workforce outcomes of the firm. Drawing on social interdependence theory along with insights from social exchange and psychological ownership theories, we propose that the use of broad-based stock options … Read More
Employee-Owned Firms in the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Majority-Owned ESOP & Other Companies Have Responded to the Covid-19 Health and Economic Crises
This significant new study shows that majority employee-owned companies with Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are outperforming non-employee owned companies during the COVID-19 pandemic in the areas of job retention, pay, benefits, and workplace health safety. The study reveals that ESOPs have been more proactive about ensuring the safety of employees during the pandemic and … Read More
How to Choose an Employee Stock Plan for a Closely Held Company
Many companies we encounter have a pretty good idea of what kind of employee ownership plan they want to use, usually based on specific needs and goals. However, sometimes they might be better served by another kind of stock plan. Others say they’d like to have an employee ownership plan, but they’re not sure what … Read More