McKay Nurseries Wins Business Enterprise Trust Award

McKay Nurseries, a wholesale and retail nursery in Waterloo, Wisconsin, has been named a winner of the Business Enterprise Trust award for 1997. The award is given to four individuals and companies each year by a foundation created by Norman Lear and based in Stanford. Winners receive a lot of publicity, meet with the President, and are written up as Harvard Business School cases. The award is given to companies who find ways to combine successful business operations with meeting social objectives.

McKay is the fourth NCEO member to win the award in the last five years (Springfield ReManufacturing Corp., Community Health Care Associates, and Hannah Anderson are the others). It employs over 100 migrant workers who work about six months each year. Rather than just take whoever comes, McKay has made a concerted effort to encourage people to return every year. It provides good housing and pay, training, and, most important, participation in the company's ESOP. The ESOP, set up 13 years ago, owns 100% of the company. Typical annual contributions to the plan from the company equal 20% to 25% of pay. All employees working 1,000 hours in a year qualify, which means most of the migrant workers are included.

The results have been impressive. The company has an astonishing 90% retention rate for its migrant employees, whose average tenure is 15 years. It has quadrupled in size since the ESOP was set up, and employees in the plan since its inception have six-figure account balances.