Loren Rodgers
Sandy Kostouros’ (Morton Buildings) 2021 NCEO Annual Conference presentation inspired Lori Atone (TVF) to ask the NCEO to establish a creative coalition for employee-owners to collaborate on usable, replicable ideas and resources on communications while creating community and employee involvement.
NCEO
Making employee ownership thrive includes increasing the number of employee-owners. As part of our mission, we produce events and disseminate information about establishing employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) to businesses across the U.S. We took a bit of a break to reimagine this outreach and look forward to relaunching bigger and better in 2022.
Corey Rosen
The NCEO now has three documents for use when working with state legislators on prospective legislation to help move employee ownership forward.
Dallan Guzinski
You might be surprised by just how many employee-owned companies that use our Ownership Culture Survey are shocked when receiving employee feedback about their workplaces and ESOPs. Thankfully, all the companies we work with are eager to get that feedback because it gives them insights into the experiences of their fellow employee-owners. With the critical feedback and input they need, companies identify their strengths, but more importantly, they identify important aspects of company culture in need of improvement. Over the next few months, the NCEO will bring ESOP companies together for its first Ownership Culture Survey Networking program to collect feedback concerning employee attitudes and work collaboratively to build an effective action plan.
Loren Rodgers
The Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing is the academic home for the largest collection of scholars on employee ownership. On November 11, the Institute announced the 25 scholars who will have fellowships for the 2021–2022 academic year.
NCEO
A former communications committee member at a mature ESOP company recently told me that her participation gave her the tools to apply for an plan administration position that had opened at the company. Prior to participating on the committee, she had not gained the education or experience necessary for the role. She noted that being in a position to educate and communicate technical information to her colleagues made her a better learner in the process, but that the learning never stops. Whether you're new to employee-ownership or ESOP communications or you need a refresh, there's always more to be shared and ideas to be had when working with other employee-owners in all 50 states.
Corey Rosen
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) included an appropriation of $10 billion for another round of funding for the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), a program that has been in place since 2010. SSBCI funds might make it easier for lenders to ESOPs to provide larger and less collateralized ESOP loans or for mezzanine lenders to loan at lower rates.
Corey Rosen
The IRS announced COLA (cost of living adjustment) changes for 2022 retirement plan limits (see Notice 2021-61 and the IRS's summary table with links to more information). Changes of special interest for ESOPs include:
Corey Rosen
A new NCEO analysis of ESOP litigation in closely held companies over the last 10 years shows that of 74 lawsuits involving trustees, 54 were for issues dealing with a transaction. The large majority of these concerned the ESOP’s initial purchase of shares from a seller, with the remainder dealing with either a second-stage transaction (1 lawsuit) or the sale of the company (5 lawsuits).
