Dan W
CEO, Pay-for-performance and Equity Compensation Consultant, Consultant and Educator
What does Employee Ownership mean to you?
A new Group has been started on LinkedIn. The Employee Ownership Network (EON).
The EON is dedicated to discussions around all forms of inspiring and utilizing employee ownership to build more successful companies. This group wants to discuss ESOPs (EMployee Stock Ownership Plans, Equity Compensation Plans, Profit Sharing, Partnerships, Volunteerism (perhps the strongest for of ownership) and any other form of employee ownership.
Join today at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1925410&trk=anet_ug_hm
Good Answers (1)
Judy (RunRun) K
RunRun Kushner Motion Pictures
Best Answers in: Compensation and Benefits (1), Starting Up (1)
To me, employee ownership means the evolution of the traditional employer-employee relationship into a form of enterpreneurial partnership. In a globalized economy, outdated concepts such as "labor vs. management" no longer apply. One quick example: when Warren Buffet bought Berkshire Hathaway, it was an actual textile mill (remember Hathaway shirts?) Eventually, the textile industry left New England for the greener pastures of South Carolina, where labor was cheaper. South Carolina's prosperity did not last long, however; soon the southern textile mills were shuttered and the work outsourced overseas where the labor was even cheaper. Clearly, we need a new paradigm.
Employee ownership, in whatever form (ESOP, stock bonus plan, employee stock options, profit-sharing, gainsharing, etc.) simply recognizes the reality that an employer and its employees inhabit the same economic ecosystem; an enterprize cannot be successful in the 21st century unless both are stakeholders.
Employee ownership encourages employees to think like enterpreneurs and to share enterpreneurial risks and rewards with employers--it helps eliminate the "9 to 5" mentality and helps all parties realize their economic dependence on the strenth of the business as a whole. As such, it might be viewed as an odd mixture of capitalism and collectiveism. In my view, however, it is simply an evolution of capitalism to meet the challenges of the 21st century economy.
In the future, we will all be independent contractors, therefore we will all be stakeholders. Employee ownership, in whatever form, simply recognizes this reality and implements it in the corporate context. It is an important step in modernizing Western capitalism to fit the current economic model. In the future, we won't have the luxury of competing against each other in a form of labor/management class warfare. We are all in the same boat together. Employee ownership, in whatever form, simply recognizes that reality.
Judy Kushner
More Answers (4)
Shankar B
Lead Consultant - Strategic Business Initiatives & Innovation at Levi Strauss India Pvt Limited
Best Answers in: Business Plans (1), Starting Up (1)
To me it means taking on complete end-to-end responsibility for a new business/ project/ opportunity, creating the building blocks and foundation, crafting the building strategy, executing it and bringing the whole thing upto scratch, where it attains critical mass, which in turn brings it to steady state. Ownership is not about a "job" it is about taking things on as a "mission". Being responsible, accountable and at all times "owning up" - no question of remaining a mere "manager", one needs to be a "leader with vision". It is all about and only about "attitude" which will separate the wheat from the chaff in this case.
Russell W
Director of Human Resources
Best Answers in: Compensation and Benefits (7), Employment and Labor Law (2), Personnel Policies (1), Staffing and Recruiting (1), Individual Insurance (1)
Personally I can't wait to enter into this discussion. I agree that there is an evolution going on in the business world and it is a strange concoction of capitalism and collectivism. Look at Chrysler, will the UAW become the largest shareholder and how does that fit into this conversation?
The key to this discussion is how to motivate employees (at all levels from C-level to clerical) to give their best in the pursuit of the organization's goals. The myriad of ways to perform this is endless and with some tactis more successful with some and other tactics more successful with others.
We can help shape the economic future of this country and the world. This is a grand and new horizon we can embark on. Lets enjoy the ride.
Rick J
System Administrator at United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed.
Simple: Employees share in the decision process of company goals and objectives, and profit and loss as well.
Employee Ownership at a company does not always necessarily mean equity "ownership". To me, it also means accountability, responsibility, an end to entitlement mentality in the workplace, and employees treating each other as adults (respect, don't hide problems, don't "shoot each other", help each other, don't argue with reality...). In achievement-oriented cultures people grow, learn and become better leaders. This in turn builds an individual's self-esteem and gives more purpose to one's life: a truly rewarding way to go through life.
