Resource Toolkit

Employee Ownership Month Toolkit

A collection of resources for NCEO members

People sitting around long table

Employee Ownership Month (EOM) provides us with a unique opportunity to celebrate, educate, and reward employee-owners and the companies they work for. There is often untapped potential to spotlight employee-owned companies out in the public through communications efforts and PR. This toolkit is designed to highlight the “why” behind Employee Ownership Month and to provide resources and examples to assist with the planning and execution of the month’s activities.

The History and Significance of Employee Ownership Month

It’s an exciting time to be in the employee ownership space—awareness is building, publicity is more frequent, and employee-owned companies are doing cool things. Research continues to point to the success of ESOP companies and the positive impact of ESOPs on employee-owners’ financial situations and day-to-day experiences at work. There are countless reasons to celebrate employee ownership—and what better time to celebrate than during Employee Ownership Month every October.

NCEO Guide to EO Month_2025 cover

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Guide to Employee Ownership Month
To set the stage, the History of Employee Ownership Month guide (available in Spanish here) explains how EO Month came to be, why it's so important today, and how you and your company can celebrate. 
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Infographic: The Economic Power of ESOPs
Also visit our research portal for more infographics, the latest stats on employee ownership, and studies on the impact of EO.

Education and Content Planning

Whether you are a brand-new ESOP or a company that has been doing this for decades, determining the best types of education, content, activities, and approaches can be a daunting task. However, if you begin by considering your goals and the types of activities that can serve as building blocks to achieving those goals, you’ll be able to create the foundation for an effective EOM campaign. The NCEO has developed an EO Month checklist and project plan to support your company’s efforts around education, communication, and engagement. 

To support your communication efforts, this helpful guide shares best practices for writing and speaking about employee ownership, including both internal and external audiences. This is also a prime opportunity to create social media campaigns to highlight that your company is employee-owned and explain what that means for your employee-owners, customers, clients, and suppliers. For ideas on what to include, check out these kickoff social media posts from employee-owned agency Mower.

EO Month Checklist

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EO Month Checklist
An Excel template for planning your company's EO Month activities.
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101 Ideas for Celebrating Employee Ownership Month

Equally as important as communication is feedback solicitation. In this article, NCEO executive director Loren Rodgers shares some tips from NCEO members about how to be a listening organization. EOM is also a popular topic for our Weekly Webinar Series. Some great ideas from the replays are below: 

If you are looking for inspiration to get started, the NCEO's 101 Ideas for Celebrating Employee Ownership Month offers a collection of ideas gathered from our Peer Networking Groups. 

For even more ideas, the ESOP Communications Sourcebook provides a jump-start to your ESOP communications with (1) chapters on communicating employee ownership and finances, (2) short documents (also included digitally) that you can customize and use as handouts, intranet resources, etc.; (3) a customizable PowerPoint on ESOP basics; and (4) sample communications from ESOP companies in digital form.

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Ready, Set, Game! Celebrate EO Month Now and Year-Round
Step into an EO-themed game show, followed by discussion on how to leverage communications opportunities to reinforce your culture.
Best EO Month Yet

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Your Best Employee Ownership Month Yet
Hear what NCEO member companies have determined makes for a great EOM, no matter your company culture or how long your company has been employee-owned. 
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Last-Minute EO Month Activities
Late start? Small wins still make a difference. Find ways to add education, celebration, and engagement to EOM.
Unpacking the Ownership Culture Survey

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Unpacking the Ownership Culture Survey
Learn how to build an effective ownership culture, why employee-owned companies measure culture, and what measures matter most. 

Sharing exciting new developments in the world of employee ownership can be an excellent way to connect your employee-owners to the impact of the broader community. This article discusses how partnering with their state employee ownership center has led to the successful conversion of ShopBot Tools into North Carolina’s first employee ownership trust (EOT). Ownership News, an ongoing section of our monthly newsletter The Employee Ownership Report, is a great resource to stay apprised of employee ownership happenings. In addition, sharing the latest statistics on ESOPs (in Spanish here) as well as the ESOP breakdown by state and industry can provide additional context to employee-owners.

Several states have now recognized Employee Ownership Month, including Indiana, Ohio, and Vermont, as well as cities such as Tampa, Florida. Enthusiastic local companies and advocates have also garnered public praise, have received visits from state senators like in Pennsylvania, and have helped launch government departments like in Colorado. Could your state be next? 

You can find additional information and ideas on how to engage public officials in the conversation in the NCEO’s Guide to Employee Ownership Month.

Recognition and Celebration

October is a great time to reflect on and celebrate the success and achievements of employee-owners. One way to do so is by establishing a fun theme for the month. Some company-member favorites include Fall Festivals, Halloween, and Oktoberfest or ESOP-tober.

Creativity and innovation remain a focus for many within the ever-evolving workplace. Regardless of your company structure, there are plenty of ways to show appreciation for your employee-owners and for employee ownership itself:

  • Send employees a gift or treat (e.g. cupcakes, mini bottles of prosecco, etc.) and have a Zoom party. Better yet, engage with other ESOP companies to help curate gift experiences to your employee-owners.
  • Food is always a crowd pleaser. Offer snack baskets in the breakroom. Host an outdoor company picnic with games and opportunities to connect. Serve an “E.S.O.P. breakfast” (with eggs, sausage, orange juice, and pancakes) or “E.S.O.P. lunch” (with enchiladas, salsa, oreos, and pizza).
  • Distribute company swag such as stickers highlighting the company logo and EO, customized water bottles or keychains, and the classic t-shirt.

Each of these options can also take on a different form, and this helpful Employee Engagement Rubric can be used to set engagement metrics.

EO Month is also a time when many companies celebrate the vesting of their employee-owners. Members often recognize fully vested employee-owners by presenting them with an actual vest. At Morrison-Maierle, they take this tradition one step further by presenting employee-owners with a different color vest for every additional six years of tenure. This handout offers additional ideas for vesting collected by members of the NCEO’s Innovative Communication Coalition (ICC).

Finally, consider reviewing pre-existing EO content, such as videos and publications, for more ideas and inspiration. For example, many employee-owned companies have created motivational or uplifting videos about employee ownership. The NCEO has published many books on employee ownership over the years; for instance, Beyond Engagement brings together the best ideas from the best companies that have engaged their employees in structured opportunities to identify problems and generate new ideas—and shows you how to make it happen in your own company. 

Employee Engagement Rubric

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Employee Engagement Rubric
A PDF guide highlighting how to gauge engagement levels for various EO Month activities. 
Vesting Ideas from ICC

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Vesting Ideas
Ideas for vesting from the Innovative Communication Coalition

Learn from Other Companies

Employee-owned companies are a gold mine of inspiration and ideas on how to create engaging content and activities.

For example, employee-owned KTA-Tator created a “Willy Wonka”-themed communication campaign and giveaway. Every Monday in October, employee-owners received a message with fast facts about employee ownership on a golden ticket. Everyone was then entered into a drawing for a golden ticket prize.

Games and contests are a frequent addition to EO month festivities. Black & Veatch created an ESOP “Family Feud”-style game, along with a guide. KTA-Tator hosts a scavenger hunt. The newsletter article “Playing Games to Communicate an ESOP at Morton Buildings” is all about concrete ways to gamify education. Members often host t-shirt design contests in which the winning design is printed and gifted to employee-owners in October.

For even more ideas, the following blogs and articles share several EOM practices from members:

How are you celebrating Employee Ownership Month? Use #EOMonth and #EOM2026 on social media to share!

Family Feud

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Black & Veatch ESOP Family Feud

Explore this Family Feud style game created by ESOP company Black & Veatch.
2023 KTA ESOP Scavenger Hunt (2)

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KTA Employee Ownership Scavenger Hunt
See how KTA celebrates EO Month with a scavenger hunt.