Over several weeks in 2020, we completed a series of blog articles on how to correctly launch and relaunch your company’s employee stock ownership plan. This requires some strategic planning, which should not be confused with a business plan. The major fundamental difference between the two is a business plan is about short to mid-term goals and strategic goals are about long-term goals for the company’s success.
Growing an Employee-Ownership culture means making many decisions about the ways you want to proactively educate, empower, and engage your employee-owners about this unique benefit we call employee-ownership.
The first step in the process of launching your Employee Stock Ownership Plan is to celebrate by making an announcement to all your newly titled employee-owners. This message can be delivered in an email or could take place in a large venue to ensure all the employee-owners hear the same message at the same time.
Newly Formed ESOPs
The initial ESOP announcement for a newly formed ESOP should be personalized from the previous owner highlighting the following items:
- Why did the owner transition to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan?
- What does this mean for each of the newly appointed employee-owners?
- How does this transition impact each of these employee-owners?
- When did the company sell to an ESOP Trust?
- What is the current and ongoing role for the business owner that sold the business?
- How will selling to an ESOP change the company’s culture for each of the employees?
- Does selling to an ESOP affect employee jobs in the future?
- How does selling to an ESOP affect the tax obligation for the company?
Stay tuned for more One-Stop Blogs on launching and relaunching your ESOP!