Employee Ownership Blog

Timothy Garbinsky

Putting the Equity in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Around this time in late 2021, I wrote about the urgent need for DEI programs to address the myriad issues of racial and gender equity in the working world. At that point, the call to act felt clear not only to me but also to those who’d been previously deaf to it—significant portions of the population belonged to demographic groups long passed over, ignored, cast aside, or waved away. It felt (and excuse the clunky, on-the-nose metaphor) as though the issues of modern work were being seen no longer in drab and dichotomous black and white, but in technicolor, with all the vibrancy and nuance that that implies.

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Scott Rodrick

IRS Further Clarifies Current Focus on ESOPs

We reported on August 9 that an IRS press release issued that day stated that as part of “an expanded focus on ensuring high-income taxpayers pay what they owe,” it was warning “businesses and tax professionals to be alert to a range of compliance issues that can be associated with" ESOPs. On September 19, we reported that in discussions with Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA), the IRS clarified that the press release was not an official notice and that the focus was only on a small subgroup of practitioners and a specific ESOP structure used for tax avoidance.

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Loren Rodgers

New Research on the Impact of UK Employee Ownership

New research released on October 19, 2023 on employee ownership in the United Kingdom – the People Powered Growth Report – suggests the UK’s employee ownership sector is outperforming the UK’s national productivity while contributing to several measures of employee and community wellbeing. The report also notes that the number of employee-owned businesses in the UK increased by 30% over the last year. 

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Lindsay Isaac

New Resources for Employee Ownership Month

Employee Ownership Month provides us with an opportunity to celebrate, reward, and educate employee-owners and the companies they work for. Stepping back, it’s helpful to understand the history behind the celebration and why it matters today. That’s where this month’s Download (solutions-focused, member-exclusive content delivered to your inbox monthly) comes in. The October resource is a two-page handout* that provides the background and context for Employee Ownership Month (available in Spanish on the aforementioned Download landing page)*. 

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Timothy Garbinsky

Apis & Heritage Releases First Annual Impact Report

Apis & Heritage Capital Partners (A&H), a middle-market mezzanine debt firm with the mission of closing the racial wealth gap using employee ownership, has released its first annual impact report, highlighting some of the successes of its initial Legacy Fund I. A&H saw its first fund oversubscribed by investors and foundations, exceeding its initial $50 million cap by over $8 million. This fund will help A&H further its mission of converting businesses that primarily employ workers of color to employee ownership.

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Scott Rodrick

Ex-House Members Propose ESOPs as Solution to Retirement Crisis

Ron Kind (D-Wis.) and Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), both former U.S. representatives who served on the House Ways and Means Committee, authored an editorial in The Hill, Employee ownership could be the key to solving our retirement security crisis, pointing out that "At a time when retirement seems out of reach for many Americans, there is clear and convincing evidence that people who work for private businesses with Employee Stock Ownership Plans . . . have far greater retirement security than the average American." Citing recent research from Ernst & Young on S corporation ESOP participants and NCEO research on ESOPs and retirement security, Kind and Paulsen note how ESOPs help workers; at the same time, they cite a report from Matrix Global Advisors and an NCEO analysis of ESOP litigation to criticize regulatory uncertainty around ESOPs that makes it more difficult to establish an ESOP. They express hope that the project at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to establish clearer guidance for ESOPs will "finally put to bed the regulatory uncertainty that has cast a shadow over employee ownership for decades," stating that the ESOP community is ready to work with the DOL and the administration "to usher in a new era of employee ownership."

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