As a business owner, you know how important it is to attract and retain top talent, so you’ve created an employee share ownership plan; recognition and engagement are important. This can be a great strategy to offer recognition of employees’ efforts in order to increase engagement and retention.
Recognition and Engagement
I recently read an article in Benefits and Pensions Monitor called “How recognition bolsters engagement and shields employees from burnout”, which indicated a few things that align with ESOPs. A report from Workhuman and Gallup, ‘Empowering Workplace Culture Through Recognition’ shows employees who believe that recognition is an important part of their organization’s culture are 3.7 times as likely to be engaged, 3.8 times as likely to feel connected to their culture, and half as likely to experience frequent burnout as those who do not. ESOPs can lead to greater company performance if the company can engage their workforce (recognition and engagement). This comes down to what the report is saying about recognition and culture “the research highlights crucial considerations for leadership in reinforcing strong organizational cultures.” Without building a strong foundation in the culture, programs and initiatives like ESOPs or more traditional recognition plans likely won’t see the success you desire.
According to the article, a very small number (34 percent) of employees say their employer has a recognition program in place, only 13 percentage of which rate it as excellent. What seems to be the key here is aligning recognition program with the values of the organization as employees who perceive that to be the case are 4.9 times as likely believe they know what is expected of them at work. This is also a key element within ESOPs and the plan is more likely to be successful when employees understand why the ESOP was put in place, how it aligns with the company’s values, or how they individually impact company success in their everyday work (again recognition and engagement).
“Employee engagement is critical to the productivity, morale, development, and retention of every organization’s workforce.”
https://www.nceo.org/employee-ownership-data/academic-research
Making the most out of your plan can be challenging
We offer ESOPlus®, which is designed to provide detailed tools and resources to support the ESOP after it has launched. These are designed to improve activities that establish an ownership culture and drive Plan success such as engaging employees and establishing participative practices. It is ideal for Plans that are meant to be ongoing, drive higher engagement from employees, attract new talent, retain team members, and support succession planning.
ESOP companies that have established an ownership culture through participation and engagement are more likely to see positive results like higher productivity, innovation, retention, engagement, and profits.
What’s included in ESOPlus®?
- An engagement measurement tool (CORE4ESOP) to help you track and analyze Plan performance and ensure it is meeting its goals.
- Templates and guides that are detailed, clear, engaging, and customizable to help integrate your Plan into other company strategies such as attracting and retaining employees.
- Workshops along with direct access to an ESOP expert to assist the ESOP Committee and employee shareholders as a whole to truly engage and participate in ownership.
- A workbook with templates for you to establish your Plan Committee and communication strategy, and set them up for success long-term.
- Administration guides and third party portal access for employee visibility of company ownership
- Exclusive access to the most recent and relevant data specifically from small and medium sized private Canadian companies that have an employee ownership program.
All with access to your own ESOP advisor.
Learn more about the benefits of employee share ownership and how ESOPlus® can help you effectively administer your ESOP by visiting the ESOPlus® page or booking a call.
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