Employee Ownership Blog

Christopher Cox (R-CA), President Bush's nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission was a cosponsor of the "Broad-Based Stock Option Plan Transparency Act," a bill that would limit options expensing to the top five officers of a company.

The Department if Labor has settled its lawsuit with Enron Corporation over ERISA fiduciary breaches in its 401(k) plan and ESOP. The settlement gives the plans an unsecured claim of $305.36 million in Enron's bankruptcy proceedings.

In a new study of 69 companies drawn from a census of Ohio ESOP companies, the Ohio Employee Ownership Center has found that 25% of the companies indicated that before the ESOP was implemented, or 10 years ago if their ESOP was older than that, their profits were better then their industry, while

In its new 2005 Stock Compensation Survey, Deloitte Consulting LLP reports that 75% of responding companies plan to reduce, or had already reduced, the number of options they grant. Public companies were more likely to reduce options than private companies, by an 83% to 53% margin.

Publix Supermarkets continues to be the largest majority employee-owned company in the U.S. and, almost certainly, the world. It employs over 120,000 employees in over 800 stores in five Southern states.

The NCEO is currently conducting a survey on executive compensation in ESOP companies. Those filling out the survey will get free access to the results. The survey deadline is July 29. To fill out the survey, go to this link.

A new NCEO study provides insights into how employees perceive stock options.

In the U.S., it's common for companies to provide employee ownership as a benefit. Outside the U.S., executives in most countries strongly dislike that idea. They want employees to buy stock. But how can employees do that if they have limited discretionary income?

Low wage workers may be eligible for a number of major federal and state work support resources such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, Food Stamps, State Children's Health Insurance Program, Medicaid, Child Care, Housing assistance, etc.

Thomas Friedman, the influential columnist for the NY Times and author (most recently) of the best-selling book The World Is Flat provides a ringing endorsement for broader employee ownership.

Many employee ownership companies employ people who meet one or another definition of a low-wage worker. A new project is working to help employers make sure these employees can access the many benefits available to them, usually at no cost to the employer.

Christopher Cox (R-CA), President Bush's nominee to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was a cosponsor of the "Broad-Based Stock Option Plan Transparency Act," a bill that would limit options expensing to the top five officers of a company.