The world of work is changing—and not in the direction of greater equity. However, employee ownership provides a pathway for addressing many of the challenges of current workplace trends like the automation of work and the shift to a gig economy. If people own their jobs, then they have the leverage necessary to create more stable employment.
For nonprofits involved in economic and business development, and those concerned about the wealth gap and strengthening communities, the role and emergence of ESOPs is not to be underestimated, as employee ownership is poised to be a major economic factor in the years to come.
Building on the passage of last year’s Main Street Employee Ownership Act by Congress, prospects for continued employee ownership growth in the US look bright.
Nonprofits are helping to democratize business ownership through cooperatives and employee stock ownership plans that give workers the opportunity to share in the wealth they are creating.
A nonprofit lender’s study looks at five industries and shows how a targeted lending and technical assistance program can help workers acquire their place of work from retiring owners, thereby preserving their jobs and gaining access to business profits.
Just weeks after Congress passed landmark legislation to support the conversion of businesses to employee ownership, a nonprofit co-op developer in the Pacific Northwest is poised to barnstorm rural communities in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to educate small business owners regarding how to sell businesses to their employees.
Buried in the recently passed defense authorization bill, the Main Street Employee Ownership Act is now the law of the land. The new law, which is the first major supportive employee ownership legislation to pass Congress since 1997, enables the use of Small Business Administration–guaranteed loans to help retiring business owners finance the sale of their businesses to their employees.
In part because of the work of a nonprofit technical assistance center at Kent State University, Ohio has been a leader in employee ownership. Now, the state’s largest brewpub is poised to join the ranks of Ohio employee-owned firms.
With unanimous votes last week in committees in both the US Senate and House of Representatives, support is growing for Congress to authorize the Small Business Administration to greatly expand the support it gives to employee-owned businesses.
This week, four separate stories on business conversions to employee ownership were in the press—in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Ohio. Each is unique, but all speak to the growing promise of employee ownership as a tool to ensure business continuity as Baby Boom business owners retire.
