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A recent report by Gallup titled Employee Burnout: Causes and Cures provides useful insight into an issue of growing concern — employee burnout.

America is facing a crisis of social trust. In 1964, more than three-quarters of Americans said they trusted the federal government; today, only a quarter of Americans do. In 1972, 46% of people said other people can be trusted; today only 30% do.

Under ERISA, the ESOP trust is the legal owner of the shares in an ESOP. The trustee votes these shares, usually at its discretion but occasionally at the direction of plan participants. That includes voting for the board.

When Dr. Randy Spencer met with his leadership team in 2018 and presented the idea of selling his 24-hour emergency, specialty and primary care clinics, 1st Pet Veterinary Centers, to an ESOP and its 300 employees, he was not lacking in potential buyers for the company.

In 2018, Folience, a 100% ESOP-owned holding company based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, bought Cimarron Trailers, a manufacturer of high-end custom horse and livestock trailers in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

“Ok, everybody, please take a breath. Yes, Clown Shoes has been acquired by Harpoon.

Huawei Technologies is the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world and the second-largest manufacturer of smartphones. It has close to 200,000 employees worldwide, mostly in China.

Driven by engaged, entrepreneurial employees, employee-owned companies often emerge as industry leaders, pioneering best practices in a range of areas.

Paducah Bank and Trust, based in Paducah, Kentucky, has made employee ownership a core concept in how the company is run. The bank is mostly family owned and operates as an S corporation. It has six locations and 168 employees.

Early this year, several employee-owners from ProAct visited another ESOP company, Restek Corporation, as part of an ongoing series of visits to employee-owned companies in an effort to learn from companies further along on their ownership culture journey and form relationships and connections that can serve both companies into the future. In fact, just a week after their visit at Restek, ProAct employee-owners Kate Johnson, Dani Green, and Kayse Diamond had already set up a call with their own HR team internally to discuss the insights they learned about with regard to Restek's onboarding strategy the week prior.