ESOP Builders Inc. - Testimonials

As Tamm approaches its tenth successful year in business, we are delighted to announce that we are in the process of creating an Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP). This plan will put 49% ownership of the company in employee hands over the next two years. Studies have proven that employee ownership is one of the best strategies you can employ to ensure long-term health and growth of a company. When employees feel they are true partners/ stakeholders in the business, not only does this give them an opportunity to create real personal equity, it changes how they view the company and their role. “When the staff can see and feel the direct benefit of their good work, good things happen,” says ESOP guru, Perry Phillips, who we have engaged to guide us through this complicated process.

At Tamm, we already believe we have a strong committed team of motivated experts. The ESOP will only enhance an already first-class team, which will naturally benefit our valued clients.

Tamm Communications

Our ESOP Adventure
Gayle Suderman, Director Human Resources, Chant Group
February 2009

I have to confess that when our company's management group started to discuss, in earnest, the topics of "Employee Ownership", "ESOP" and "shares" I was completely unprepared. I felt rather out of my element and somewhat intimidated by the fairly daunting task of putting all the pieces together and getting the answers our company needed. I was, however, motivated by the words our company president pronounced to me when I was first hired. He said, "My vision is that one day this will be an employee owned company."

The idea had always sat in the back of my mind, but in reality? At the outset, I had difficulty envisioning how a still-young company could possibly deliver a program for the organization that was both beneficial to the company and the employee. I well knew the possibilities with an ESOP; the prospective for increasing an employee's personal wealth, the increasing cash-flow for the company and the potential for employee attraction and retention but I still had uncertainties about the overall success. We certainly had more questions than answers.

We were very lucky to associate ourselves early with ESOP Builders Inc. - more importantly Perry Phillips - who came into our office to initiate the discussions. What impressed us at the time was the attention and care that ESOP Builders put into actually understanding our company structure, our personality and our vision. ESOP Builders was there for us, every step of the way, coaching us through many of the hurdles we faced. It's difficult to describe in writing how many meetings, conference calls, scrap-paper calculations, spreadsheets and both-hands-to-the-sides-of-my-head discussions and that occurred during this phase!

After a year (yes, a year) of unending questions and struggles to overcome some internal barriers we were finally ready to roll out the plan to the employees.

At the "Town Hall" held at our Annual General Meeting, the plan was greeted warmly by employees and we were happy to observe that we had very close to 100% enrollment in the plan. Our administration and finance team were very busy for the weeks following, preparing the Shareholders Agreements and continuing to explain the program. It seems strange now to look back on that time and realize that our finance team was so absorbed in the paper-work that we didn't at first see what was happening around us.

Something very strange was occurring. Meetings would begin with many employees at various levels uttering words like, "As an employee-owner I think we should examine this issue a little closer", or, "How will this decision affect our bottom line?" Shareholders started to extend levels of effort and take responsibility for tasks and outcomes previously unimagined. Staff became more inspired and truly interested in the mechanics of the business. People started to "get it." Although it may sound rather dramatic, it really was almost like magic. Everyone became engaged, enthused, passionate, involved and connected to the organization on an individual level.

As an HR professional, I have been exposed to a variety of management gurus who claim that their "tried and true" methods of organizational management will make the difference between business success and failure. What I now know through this experience is the real key is finding something that becomes intrinsic to employees. When someone shows up for work but also feels an absolute connection to the organization and truly feels that their ideas and efforts have worth and they are, in fact, part of the company's success, a difference emerges. ESOP, for us, has made that difference.

The Chant Group