Liza Shifrin
2024 Executive and Board Comp Survey Results Now Available
The 2024 ESOP Executive and Board Compensation Survey report is now available. Thank you to all of the survey respondents for making this survey possible.
Employee Ownership Blog
Nancy Wiefek
2024 Employee Ownership 100: Largest ESOP Companies Listed
We've just released this year's EO 100, our annual list of the largest broad-based employee-owned companies in the US. Most are ESOP-owned, and one is a cooperative. To be on the list, companies must be at least 50% employee-owned; most on the list are 100%. Collectively, these broad-based plans cover over 655,000 people.
Corey Rosen
IRS Announces 2025 COLA Plan Limits
On November 1, the IRS announced its annual cost-of-living allowance (COLA) increases to plan limits for 2025, which are provided in detail in Notice 2024-80 (PDF). The most important figures for ESOPs are:
Madelyn Hammack
Democracy at Work Institute Releases Its 2023 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector Report
The Democracy at Work Institute (DAWI) recently released its 2023 Worker Cooperative State of the Sector Report. The report, which covers two years of business progress among worker-owned and democratic workplaces in the US, takes into account the latest developments in the worker cooperative space and aims to increase understanding of the sector as a whole.
Corey Rosen
New Research and Employment Opportunities in Employee Ownership
New Fellowships Available in Employee Ownership Research
The Institute for Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University will offer approximately 10 competitive research fellowships for the 2025–2026 academic year. Several $50,000, $25,000, and $10,000 fellowships will be offered. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2025.
Corey Rosen
New Research and Employment Opportunities in Employee Ownership
New Fellowships Available in Employee Ownership Research
The Institute for Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University will offer approximately 10 competitive research fellowships for the 2025–2026 academic year. Several $50,000, $25,000, and $10,000 fellowships will be offered. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2025.
Corey Rosen
What Will the Trump Administration Mean for ESOPs?
President-elect Donald Trump has not said anything we are aware of about employee ownership during his political career, so it is difficult to know what approach he will take to the issue. Many of his former advisors and other people with similar views were involved with Project 2025, however, although he and his campaign have distanced themselves from it. Project 2025's proposed 180-day transition playbook, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, states (pp. 610-11):
Matt Scott
DOD Rule Incentivizes Contracting with 100% ESOP-Owned Companies
On October 10, 2024, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) published a final rule to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement Section 874 of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as well as improvements contained in Section 872 of the 2024 NDAA. The rule is set to take effect on November 25, 2024.
Corey Rosen
Study Finds Employee Ownership Provides Best Worker Outcomes in Business Transitions
A new study by the Brookings Institution and Washington University’s Olin Business School finds that employees are significantly more likely to remain working for their employer and to be satisfied with their jobs in companies that transition ownership through ESOPs and other employee ownership models compared to other business transition models. The study also recommends that Congress pass the Promotion and Expansion of Private Employee Ownership Act of 2023 and support efforts of private equity firms, such as those involved with Ownership Works, to include employee ownership in business transitions.