Employee Ownership Blog

The NCEO’s 2021 Fall Forum broke new records once again this year with more than 700 people joining us virtually from across the country and world.

We gave our annual Achievement Award to Calibre, whose video won for its creativity, humor, and energy. Bridges Health was the runner-up, with an energetic and inclusive video.

A potentially major improvement in rules for ESOP defense contractors was included in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s markup of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA, S 2042). An amendment from Sen. Jean Shaheen (D-NH) would provide that the Department of Defense should create a pilot program that would allow companies that are or become 100% ESOP-owned to receive noncompete follow-on contracts for the work, even if they no longer meet applicable small business or other set-aside requirements.

In Walsh v. Bowers, No. 1:18-cv-00155-SOM-WRP (D.C. Hawaii, September 17, 2021), a district court decisively ruled in favor of the trustee and the board of directors of the ESOP company Bowers+Kubota in an ESOP valuation case.

The NCEO recently published a table that highlights the main characteristics of four types of employee ownership, found in our web article Employee Ownership for Closely Held Companies: ESOPs vs. Equity Grants, Trusts, and Worker Cooperatives.

The House Budget Committee has approved a $500 million pilot program as part of its final markup of a $25 billion bill for the Small Business Administration (SBA).

An August 9 article by NCEO founder Corey Rosen in Governing, Employee-Owned Companies Could Use a Government Nudge, argues for state and local programs to provide outreach and technical assistance to help educate business owners about employee ownership.

You can get a big picture overview of all things related to making an ESOP company work well at the Fall ESOP Forum, but most people I talk with have one aspect of ESOPs at the top of mind.

Every year around this time, I get excited about our Fall ESOP Forum, taking place this year from September 22 to 24 online.

Businesses across the country are struggling to find, hire, and retain the employees they need, so this finding from the General Social Survey (reported on in our blog) should be w

Employee ownership in Australia is currently limited primarily to employee stock purchase plans and employee equity grant programs such as stock options. A new legislative committee report recommends that the use of employee ownership trusts be investigated.

In its new election platform, the Conservative Party in Canada joins the ruling Liberal Party in pushing for major changes in Canadian law to create an employee ownership structure similar to ESOPs in the U.S. and employee ownership trusts in the UK.