ESOP Builders Inc. - Newsletter

A Decade of Public Policies for Employee Ownership in Europe - Past, Present, and Future

Back in 2001, "The Presidency of the European Union Supports Employee Ownership and Participation" was the theme of the conference held in Brussels. Ten years later, the new Belgian Presidency of the European Union comes at the right moment to crystallize new trends when the European Federation of Employee Share Ownership gathers this November in Brussels. (From July 1 to Dec. 31st, it is Belgium's turn to take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union).

The world financial crisis brings new political awareness about employee ownership which increasingly appears the best option for its contribution to healthier corporate governance, long term vision and stability. Furthermore, employee buyouts are multiplying for business transmission or rescue plans.

It is a fact that employee share ownership developed strongly among European companies during the last decade. 83% of all large companies have employee share plans now, compared to only 40% ten years ago. In most cases, such plans are now designed for all employees rather than just for a small number. This way, employee ownership is now in a strategic, determining or controlling position in over 25% of all largest European companies.

Two years ago, the European Federation of Employee Share Ownership (EFES) defined a "political roadmap for employee ownership in Europe" in the framework of the French Presidency of the European Union.

Proposals were later made by the EFES following the election of the new European Parliament. These proposals received positive attention from many Members of the Parliament from all political parties.

Finally, the EFES addressed its proposals to the new European Commissioners, encouraging them to take a wider vision of cross-disciplinary aspects of employee ownership within the European Commission.

-- EFES

Academic Interest in Employee Ownership Blooms

Due to the efforts of the Foundation for Enterprise Development, the Beyster Institute at the Rady School of Management, Professor Joseph Blasi at Rutgers, and the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, academic interest in employee ownership is finally coming of age after a long period of being largely ignored.

At a June gathering of researchers at the Second Annual Beyster Fellowship Symposium, more than 50 scholars reported on a variety of exciting new research projects under way.

The researchers came from business schools as well as from economics, history, organizational development, and philosophy departments. In general, the researchers agree that employee ownership has been shown to have significant positive effects for companies and employees, although there are important exceptions.

Much of the new research is looking to dig deeper to find what conditions are most conducive to employee ownership and why it is adopted in some firms but not others.

-- from the NCEO Newsletter

Not Rain, Nor Snow, Nor Sleet…Can Stop Employee Ownership

The new British government plans to privatize part or all of the country's Royal Mail Service in the fall, according to a recent report.

The plan calls for employees to own part of the company under a share ownership trust.

The idea has been floating around for some years, and now is likely to come to fruition, despite labor union opposition to any privatization.

The coalition agreement published last month committed the Government to seeking "to ensure an injection of private capital into Royal Mail, including opportunities for employee ownership". The Post Office will be kept in public hands, said the document.

-- from the NCEO Newsletter and The Belfast Telegraph

Tech Employees Rate Shared Capitalism as Key Benefit

ComputerWorld recently asked 38,000 employees in the information technology field what they believe is the best benefit of working for their company.

The employees all worked for the 100 companies ranked the best places to work for information technology workers. The table below shows that some form of shared capitalism ranks highly:

NEW PRODUCTS LAUNCHING SOON

Updated ESOP Book

The new book ESOPs in Canada will have a publication date of late September 2010. It will include new selections on Taxes, Financing, Human Resources, ESOP Culture, Leadership Succession, ESOP Design Strategies and Case Studies.

Ownership Thinking TM

A program which teaches employees how to act as owners. Based on the Ownership Thinking TM Program used successfully in the United States on over 800 companies. Metric based to allow ROI calculations on company financial value drivers.

ESOP Administration Software Program

This program will allow ESOP companies to outsource their ESOP administration to a web based system operated by ESOP Builders.

ESOP Culture Consciousness

A program to enhance the ESOP Culture of the Company by utilizing the ESOP team committee post implementation. Metric based to allow ROI calculations on company ESOP goals.

ESOP EXEC Financing Plan

Financing program to allow executives to purchase significant shares from owners to facilitate owner transition in a tax effective manner and at a lost capital cost basis.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

"Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning."
-- Thomas Edison

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