The article in the url link below indicates the growing use of Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP) in the U.S. (Issues: Employee Relations, p118):
“There are an estimated 9,650 employee-owned companies in the U.S., most small and privately owned, according to the National Center for Employee Ownership, an educational organization in Oakland, Calif.”
The article describes how the firm’s executives spread awareness about the plan among employees and encouraged them to think like owners who seek to actively add value to their investment, rather than passively process inputs into outputs. The President and CFO of the firm both attribute the firm’s recent improved performance to the success of their ESOP:
“Messrs. Reinertson and Slinger say they believe the efforts are directly responsible for a recent jump in profit, reflected in its share price. The stock was up 78% for 2006, the latest data available, due to sales growth, debt reduction and improved cash flow. Last year, employee turnover fell to less than 8%, from an annual rate of about 18% a few years ago -- an improvement executives believe is directly correlated to employees' engagement and commitment.”
Take care
Dave
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
http://www.sagepub.com/Werther
Small Business Link: How to Get Workers to Think and Act Like Owners
Employee-Owned Firm Van Meter Industrial Prospered After Its Employees Were Persuaded to Take Their Company Stock Seriously
By Simona Covel
1317 words
7 February 2008
The Wall Street Journal
B6
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120205150679938689.html
