Owners at Work

SUMMARY: In this episode of Owners at Work, we welcome back Mark Hand, researcher, educator, and founder of The Stakehold, to discuss the growing momentum behind employee ownership and what the future might hold for the field. We explore the rise of purpose and steward ownership, drawing on Mark's new report, What Is Your Organization For?, co-authored with Tiffany Vargas, which examines how businesses can structure ownership around questions of purpose, power, and financial participation. We also discuss what employee-owned companies can learn from these other ownership models, including approaches to protecting a company's mission and expanding employee participation in decision-making. Along the way, we explore the evolution of The Stakehold, opportunities to connect employee ownership with other movements, and what it will take to translate growing interest into more employee-owned businesses. OTHER RESOURCES: Join Mark Hand and Tiffany Vargas next Friday (yes, the 13th) for thier guidebook launch: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-is-your-organisation-for-redesigning-for-purpose-power-and-profit-tickets-2002425775398 GUEST INFO:  ·      LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markchand/  ·      Email: [email protected]  ·      Personal Website: https://markclaytonhand.com/  SUBSCRIBE TO THE STAKEHOLD! https://www.thestakehold.com/  SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.  WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at [email protected] 

SUMMARY In this episode of Owners at Work, we sit down with Liza Shifrin, researcher at the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), to discuss the findings of NCEO's first Recruitment and Retention Survey, which gathered responses from 433 ESOP companies. We explore how ESOP companies are attracting and retaining workers, including findings that suggest employee-owned companies experience substantially lower turnover than their conventional counterparts. We also examine some surprising results, including why employee ownership may be a stronger tool for retaining employees than recruiting them, and which recruitment strategies companies report as most effective. Along the way, we discuss how ESOP companies can better communicate the financial and cultural benefits of employee ownership to prospective and current employees.  JOIN THE OEOC AND LIZA SHIFRIN AT OUR SW OHIO EO FORUM: https://www.oeockent.org/resources-events/sw-ohio-employee-ownership-conference  GUEST INFO:   LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/liza-shifrin-phd-86747746/  Email: [email protected]   Website: https://www.nceo.org/research    OTHER RESOURCES:   NCEO Recruitment & Retention Report: https://www.nceo.org/research/data/retention-and-recruitment-survey   Retirement Savings Crisis and the Role of ESOPs: https://www.nceo.org/research/the-retirement-savings-crisis-and-the-role-of-esops     SUBSCRIBE TO THE STAKEHOLD! https://www.thestakehold.com/    SUPPORT THE PODCAST: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.     WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at [email protected]  

SUMMARY:  In this episode, we sit down with William Foley, a Ph.D. candidate at Rutgers University and fellow at the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing. We explore two of his research projects: one using a first-of-its-kind dataset to uncover what drives worker cooperative members to act and feel like owners, and another mapping the overlap between unions and ESOPs, including how union-member employee owners view management and the training they receive. GUEST INFO:  LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/william-j-foley Email: [email protected] OTHER RESOURCES:  Employee Ownership For Union Workers: Positive Outcomes & Negative Perceptions: https://cleo.rutgers.edu/articles/employee-ownership-for-union-workers-positive-outcomes-negative-perceptions/  An analysis of job quality experiences in worker cooperatives: The effects of ownership, participation, and control.  https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/76191/PDF/1/play/  SUBSCRIBE TO THE STAKEHOLD!https://www.thestakehold.com/  SUPPORT THE PODCAST: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at [email protected]

SUMMARY: Drew Larson and Brittany Brown of CoRise Capital join the Owners at Work podcast to break down their new investment fund's innovative approach to employee ownership: acquiring promising companies through traditional purchase deals, then transitioning them to ESOPs within three to five years. The catch? Their investors are exclusively 100% S-corp ESOPs. They explain how they support founders and employees through the transition, what sets their model apart from conventional private equity, and how they plan to engage selling owners, investors, and future employee owners. The conversation also touches on the succession planning crisis facing small business owners nationwide and the role they see CoRise playing to address it.   SUBSCRIBE TO THE STAKEHOLD HERE: https://www.thestakehold.com/  GUEST INFO:   Brittany Brown:  LinkedIn: Brittany Brown | LinkedIn   Email: [email protected]     CoRise LinkedIn : (2) CoRise Capital | Expanding Employee Ownership: Overview | LinkedIn    Drew Larson:  LinkedIn: Drew Larson | LinkedIn  Email: [email protected]    Website: Larson Firm: The Larson Firm — Boutique corporate and M&A law firm    SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going.   WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at [email protected]  

SUMMARY: In this episode of Owners at Work, we talk with Michael Darger, an economic development specialist with the University of Minnesota Extension, about business succession planning, ownership transition, and the growing importance of preserving locally owned businesses as Baby Boomer owners retire. Michael discusses the critical role economic developers can play in helping communities retain businesses, support ownership transitions, and build long-term local wealth. We also explore findings from the Minnesota Business Succession and Transition Study, including why many owners delay succession planning despite recognizing its importance, the role of advisory networks in successful transitions, and the barriers that continue to slow employee ownership adoption.   GUEST INFO: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldarger/ Email: [email protected] Website: https://extension.umn.edu/economic-development/supporting-business-succession-and-transition   OTHER RESOURCES:  Read the 2023 Business Transitions Study: https://z.umn.edu/bstresearch Read other work by Michael and the U of M Extension: https://sites.google.com/a/umn.edu/michaeldarger   SUPPORT THE SHOW: We make all episodes of Owners at Work free and never place them behind a paywall. But they take time and money to produce. Consider making a DONATION today to help keep our work going. WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU: We are always looking for new employee ownership stories to tell. Please contact us with your story at [email protected]