AECOM Continues Commitment to Broad Employee Ownership

One of the major employee-owned companies whose employee ownership character has flown under the radar for some time is AECOM Technology Corp., a Los Angeles-based global architecture and engineering company with 41,000 employees in more than 60 countries. In 1990, an ESOP bought the company, which then had 11,000 employees. In 2007, the company went public and is now listed on the NYSE. Its ESOP now owns about 15% of the company.

At a presentation at the Global Equity Organization's annual conference, Rod Musser of AECOM and Heidi Wilson of HBOS Employee Equity Solutions talked about how they created a share plan for all employees as the company expanded its global operations. Employees get a 10% match for their purchases of AECOM shares. To minimize administrative and tax costs, the plan is operated through an offshore trust on the Isle of Jersey.