The Big Benefits of Employee Ownership

數(shù)十年來，美國的貧富差距越來越嚴(yán)重。資源集中在頂部造成的影響遍及整個社會，從經(jīng)濟(jì)增長減慢到民主退化。在商業(yè)領(lǐng)域，與財(cái)富分配不均相關(guān)的問題嚴(yán)重得讓公司感到不得不采取行動。越來越多的企業(yè)為了在社會中發(fā)揮療愈作用，承諾不再只關(guān)注股東利益、會關(guān)注所有利益相關(guān)者。大部分人的疑問是，要怎么做？? ??

For decades now, the wealth?gap in?the United States has been growing wider. The effects of this concentration of resources at the top can be felt throughout society, from?slowed economic growth?to?the degradation of democracy itself. In the business world, the problems associated with wealth inequality are stark enough that companies increasingly feel compelled to act. More and more businesses are promising to look to the interests of stakeholders, not just shareholders, in an effort to play a healing role in society. The question for most is, How?

對于不平等問題的政策解決方案，如增稅，企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者影響力有限。不過，企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者依然可以讓員工獲得公司股權(quán)，借以產(chǎn)生直接、即時、有針對性的影響。??????

Business leaders have limited influence over potential policy solutions to inequality, such as tax increases. Still, they can have a direct, immediate, and targeted impact by giving employees ownership stakes in their companies.

員工持股并不是個新鮮的概念，但卻普遍被忽視——盡管這種模式已被證明對員工和企業(yè)主都有利。許多學(xué)術(shù)研究表明，公司若有30%以上的股份由廣泛的員工群體持有、所有員工都能持股且限制股權(quán)集中，效益就會更高、發(fā)展更快，而且出局的可能性低于其他對手。員工持股全國研究中心最近一項(xiàng)研究表明，與沒有持股的員工相比，股東員工的薪水和凈資產(chǎn)更高，獲得的福利更好，在經(jīng)濟(jì)下行時期由于裁員和外包而失業(yè)的可能性較低。? ? ?

Employee ownership isn’t a new idea, but it’s widely overlooked — surprisingly so, given how the model has been shown to benefit not just workers but also owners. According to?numerous academic studies, companies where at least 30% of the shares are owned by a broad-based group of employees, where all employees have access to ownership, and where the concentration of ownership is limited are?more productive,?grow faster, and are?less likely to go out of business?than their counterparts. According to recent research by the?National Center for Employee Ownership, employee-owners have higher wages and net worths, receive better benefits, and are less likely to lose jobs to cuts and outsourcing during a downturn, compared with workers who don’t have ownership stakes in their organizations.

員工持股被證明是有益的；不同于新的政策提案或新的ESG模型，員工持股的益處有數(shù)十年研究成果支持。希望轉(zhuǎn)為員工持股的企業(yè)可以在各行各業(yè)找到各種不同規(guī)模和年齡、不同所有權(quán)結(jié)構(gòu)的例子。如果更多的組織采用員工持股制度，即使是有限持股，也會產(chǎn)生深遠(yuǎn)的影響。根據(jù)我們的研究，企業(yè)若能廣泛采用由員工持有30%股份的模式，將能夠讓邊緣人群獲得足以改變生活的利益。

The benefits of employee ownership are proven; unlike new policy proposals or novel ESG models, decades of evidence back them up. Companies looking to convert to employee ownership can find examples across industries, firm sizes and ages, and ownership stakes. If more organizations adopted even limited employee ownership, the results could be profound. In fact, according to our research, broad adoption of the 30% employee-owned model could create life-changing gains for marginalized populations.

資本和財(cái)富不平等

Capital and Wealth Inequality

員工持股有何特殊之處？其一，可以實(shí)現(xiàn)其他許多旨在解決不平等問題的方案難以實(shí)現(xiàn)的效果：幫助更多的人通過積累資產(chǎn)來建立財(cái)富。企業(yè)所有權(quán)是美國財(cái)富最集中的形式之一，絕大部分企業(yè)財(cái)富掌握在最富裕的1%美國人手中，90%以上的財(cái)富集中在頂層10%的人群。底層的50%家庭平均持有的私有公司股份僅825美元，上市公司股份僅為522美元。最窮的一半人只持有全部企業(yè)所有權(quán)的約0.25%。? ? ?

What’s so special about employee ownership? For one, it can accomplish something that many other inequality solutions struggle to: helping more people build wealth through the accumulation of assets. Business ownership is among the most concentrated forms of wealth in the U.S., with the richest 1% of Americans owning a majority of all business wealth, and the top 10% owning more than 90%. Meanwhile, households in the bottom 50% own an average of just $825 in private company stock and $522 in public company stock. The poorest half of the population accounts for around just 0.25% of all business ownership.

股權(quán)集中可以解釋美國的財(cái)富不平等問題為何發(fā)展到前所未有的程度。富人擁有大量資產(chǎn)，資產(chǎn)回報(bào)令他們的財(cái)富以美國大部分人靠薪水無法企及的速度增長。??????

This concentration of ownership helps explain how wealth inequality in the United States has grown to levels that have rarely been seen in recorded history. The returns on the assets owned by the rich allow them to grow their wealth at rates that the majority of Americans cannot match when they are relying largely on wages.

美聯(lián)儲每三年開展一次的消費(fèi)者財(cái)務(wù)狀況調(diào)查（Survey of Consumer Finances，簡稱SCF）數(shù)據(jù)表明，富人的大部分資產(chǎn)是企業(yè)股權(quán)。根據(jù)SCF調(diào)查結(jié)果，美國最富有的1%平均資產(chǎn)為2840萬美元，其中1080萬是私有公司股權(quán)。另有平均至少510萬投資于上市公司股票。總體而言，在最富有的1%人的資產(chǎn)組合中，企業(yè)股權(quán)占56%以上。??????

Data from the?Survey of Consumer Finances?(SCF), a triennial survey of household wealth conducted by the Federal Reserve Board, shows that the rich’s largest asset is the ownership of businesses. According to the SCF, the richest 1% of Americans have an average of $28.4 million in assets, and $10.8 million of that is held in private companies. At least another $5.1 million, on average, is invested in shares of public companies. In total, business ownership tends to account for over 56% of the portfolio of the top 1% of households.

綜上所述，不難看出，大部分人被股東階級拒之門外，是推動財(cái)富不平等的一大因素。世界不平等數(shù)據(jù)庫（World Inequality Database）的數(shù)據(jù)表明，2019年，美國最富有的1%人控制著35%的財(cái)富，中間40%的人只有28%的財(cái)富。中間40%的人擁有的財(cái)富達(dá)到高峰是在1985年，當(dāng)時比例為35%，最富有的1%則只擁有24%的財(cái)富。倘若不加以干預(yù)，富人將會越來越富，其他人無法望其項(xiàng)背。

Given all this, it’s easy to see how wealth inequality is driven by the fact that most people are shut out of the ownership class. In 2019, the top 1% of the U.S. population controlled 35% of wealth, while the middle 40% of the population controlled just 28%, according to?the World Inequality Database. In 1985, the year in which the wealth held by the middle 40% peaked, this group controlled 35% of the wealth, with the top 1% controlling only 24%. Without intervention, the rich will continue to get richer, and everyone else will be unable to keep up.

員工持股30%的作用? ??

What 30% Employee Ownership Could Do

因?yàn)楣蓹?quán)對于建立財(cái)富具有重大意義，我們開展了一項(xiàng)實(shí)證思維實(shí)驗(yàn)：如果用一項(xiàng)員工持股計(jì)劃（ESOP）讓所有企業(yè)的30%股份都由員工持有會如何？

Knowing the significant role ownership stakes play in building wealth, we conducted an empirical thought experiment: What would happen if 30% of all businesses were owned by employees using an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)?

為了探究這個問題，我們運(yùn)用最新的SCF數(shù)據(jù)，計(jì)算財(cái)富不平等狀況在企業(yè)持股發(fā)生變化后會出現(xiàn)怎樣的變化，借此得以一窺持有股份的影響力之大。我們以30%作為一個企業(yè)可以稱為“員工持股”的門檻，這是唯一一個相關(guān)的國家認(rèn)證項(xiàng)目“員工持股認(rèn)證”（Certified Employee-Owned）給出的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)（本文作者之一是該項(xiàng)目聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼CEO）。另外，這個標(biāo)準(zhǔn)與歷史上鼓勵員工持股的法規(guī)相一致。我們采用了ESOP的所有權(quán)模式，這個建立于40多年前的所有權(quán)結(jié)構(gòu)是現(xiàn)如今最常用的員工持股形式。? ?

To find out, we used the most recent SCF data to calculate how wealth inequality would change if the transfer in ownership was made overnight. This allowed us to see a snapshot of how significant the impact of ownership would be. We used 30% as the threshold for when a company can rightfully be called employee-owned, because it is the standard set by Certified Employee-Owned, the only national accreditation program for these kinds of companies. (One of us, Thomas, is its cofounder and CEO.) Additionally, this threshold is aligned with?historical legislation?to encourage employee ownership. For our model of ownership we used ESOP, an effective ownership structure established more than 40 years ago, because it’s the most common form of employee-owned company today. ?

我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，廣泛的員工持股能帶來方方面面的益處，所有90%以下的財(cái)富分位數(shù)都出現(xiàn)了提升。在最近勞動力和股票市場的增長中獲利微薄的員工狀況會發(fā)生很大的改變：底層50%的美國人持有的財(cái)富會增加四倍以上，占全美凈資產(chǎn)的比例從現(xiàn)在的1.4%躍升至6.4%。黑人家庭的財(cái)富中位數(shù)也會增加四倍以上，從2.4萬美元提升到10.6萬美元。沒有高中文憑的人受益同樣明顯，財(cái)富中位數(shù)從2.1萬美元提升到8.4萬美元。?????

We found that the benefits of widespread employee ownership are broad, with all wealth quantiles below 90% seeing an increase. Workers who have benefited least from the recent meteoric gains in the labor and stock markets would see dramatic changes: The share of wealth held by the bottom 50% of Americans would more than quadruple, jumping from just 1.4% of the total net worth of Americans to 6.4%. Median wealth among Black households would more than quadruple as well, from $24,000 to $106,000. Those without high school diplomas would see similar gains, with their median wealth increasing from $21,000 to $84,000.

頂部成本基本可以忽略不計(jì)，但最富有的人除外。百分位數(shù)值位于90%到99%的人群凈資產(chǎn)平均只會減少1%，只有最頂層的1%人財(cái)富會看到大幅下降，凈資產(chǎn)減少14%。? ?

The costs at the top would be negligible for all but the very richest. Those in the 90th to 99th percentiles of wealth would see an average decline of 1% of their net worth. It’s only the top 1% who would see any sort of substantial decline, with their net worth decreasing 14%.

以上數(shù)字引人矚目，不過我們也發(fā)現(xiàn)，較小的改變就能對數(shù)以千萬計(jì)的美國人造成巨大的影響。員工持股不是一個“全有或全無”的命題。假如所有公司僅10%股份轉(zhuǎn)為員工持有，底層50%的財(cái)富份額也會增加兩倍以上，黑人家庭的財(cái)富中位數(shù)亦然。

While these numbers are dramatic, we also found that smaller changes would have a huge impact for tens of millions of Americans. Employee ownership is not an all-or-nothing proposition. If just 10% of every business was employee-owned, the wealth share of the bottom 50% would more than double, as would the median wealth of Black households.

員工持股的現(xiàn)狀（及其益處）

The Current State of Employee Ownership (and Its Benefits)

廣泛的員工持股在美國普遍存在——而且很多企業(yè)的實(shí)績證明，這是一種富有活力的成功模式。據(jù)員工持股認(rèn)證項(xiàng)目資料，5000多家公司達(dá)到了員工持股30%的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，供職于這些公司的員工人數(shù)超過150萬（此處數(shù)據(jù)是根據(jù)員工持股認(rèn)證項(xiàng)目資料以及經(jīng)過認(rèn)證的員工持股公司數(shù)據(jù)庫做出的保守估計(jì)）。大部分公司規(guī)模較小，員工人數(shù)在50至1000人之間。不過還有一些是面向消費(fèi)者的大型公司，如Wawa、Davey Tree、Litehouse Foods和Publix Supermarkets等；Publix Supermarkets是美國最大的員工持股企業(yè)，員工人數(shù)超過22.5萬。員工持股公司遍及各行各業(yè)，如建筑、物流、工程、制造、專業(yè)服務(wù)以及金融等。

Broad-based employee ownership is prevalent throughout the United States — and has proven a robust, successful model for many companies. According to Certified Employee-Owned, more than?5,000 companies?meet the 30% threshold, and more than 1.5 million Americans work for them. (These numbers are conservative estimates based on Certified Employee-Owned’s work with the companies, as well as on a growing database of employee-owned companies identified by the firm.) Most of these companies are small, employing between 50 and 1,000 people. Some, however, are large consumer-facing firms such as Wawa, Davey Tree, Litehouse Foods, and Publix Supermarkets; the latter is the largest employee-owned company in America, with more than 225,000 workers. Employee-owned companies operate in a diverse array of industries, including construction, distribution, engineering, manufacturing, professional services, and finance.

不過，這些公司幾乎都不是一開始就有員工持股制度。大部分公司之前由創(chuàng)始人或創(chuàng)始人的家族所有。后來原本的所有者逐漸將公司轉(zhuǎn)為部分或全部由員工持股，而非出售給私募基金或戰(zhàn)略買主。這種轉(zhuǎn)變令所有者得以將公司更廣泛的使命寫入其DNA，許多B認(rèn)證企業(yè)決定轉(zhuǎn)為員工持股，就能看出這一點(diǎn)。轉(zhuǎn)為員工持股還有明顯的稅收優(yōu)惠，比如1042展期條款，允許企業(yè)所有者將至少30%的公司股份出售給ESOP就可以延期支付資本利得稅。

But few employee-owned companies start as such. Most were formerly owned by their founder or their founder’s family. Over time the original owners converted the company to partially or fully employee-owned rather than selling to private equity or a strategic buyer. The shift allows owners to hardcode the company’s broader mission into its DNA, which is evident in the decision by many B Corps to become employee-owned. There are also significant tax benefits to the conversion, such as the 1042 rollover, which allows owners selling at least 30% of their company to an ESOP to defer capital gains taxes.

很多公司已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)，將員工的財(cái)務(wù)激勵和業(yè)務(wù)統(tǒng)一起來，可以提升公司表現(xiàn)。原先的企業(yè)所有者持有的股權(quán)份額降低了，但員工更加敬業(yè)，把公司業(yè)績的餡餅做大了，每個人都更加富裕。私人股權(quán)收購公司KKR最近開始采用廣泛持股制作為其工業(yè)集團(tuán)交易的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)部分，因?yàn)榘l(fā)現(xiàn)這樣可以獲得更好的回報(bào)。在其中的CHI Overhead Doors公司，一名卡車司機(jī)的可選套餐（包括無條件授予股權(quán)和可自愿購買的價(jià)值5000美元的更多選項(xiàng)）在公司的基本案例情境中可達(dá)到20萬美元。公司此前由另一家私募股權(quán)公司所有，轉(zhuǎn)為廣泛持股模式后僅三年，息稅折舊攤銷前利潤（評估績效的一個常見指標(biāo)）便從21%提升到29%。

Many firms have found that aligning the financial incentives of workers and the business increases company performance. The original owners might have a smaller stake than before, but the increased employee engagement grows the pie, leaving everyone better off. The private equity buyout firm?KKR recently adopted?broad-based ownership as a standard part of deals in its industrials group because?it found doing so produced better returns. At one of its companies, CHI Overhead Doors, a truck driver’s total option package (including grants and a voluntary $5,000 purchase of more options) is expected to be worth $200,000 under the company’s base case scenario. The company, which was previously owned by another private equity firm, has seen its EBITDA margin (a common metric for measuring performance) grow from 21% to 29% in just three years under this model.

另一個例子是樹木養(yǎng)護(hù)及景觀公司Davey Tree。該公司創(chuàng)立于1880年，于1979年轉(zhuǎn)為員工持股制，因?yàn)閯?chuàng)始人戴維家族覺得員工最適合將公司的文化傳統(tǒng)延續(xù)下去。之后，公司營收從6000萬美元增長到12億美元以上。隨著公司發(fā)展，所有新員工都有機(jī)會通過ESOP的自動授予股權(quán)成為企業(yè)股東，并且可以通過員工股票購買項(xiàng)目購買更多股份。于是，員工股東的數(shù)量從原本的400人增加到6500人以上。幾百名一線員工持有價(jià)值幾十萬美元的公司股份。

Davey Tree, a tree care and landscaping company, provides another illustration. Founded in 1880, it converted to employee ownership in 1979 because the Davey family felt the employees were best suited to continue the company’s cultural legacy. Since then, revenues have risen from $60 million to more than $1.2 billion. As the company has grown, all new employees have been given the opportunity to become owners through automatic stock grants via an ESOP and the ability to buy more shares through an employee stock purchase program. As a result, the number of employee-owners has expanded from an original group of 400 to more than 6,500. Hundreds of Davey’s frontline field employees have built up hundreds of thousands of dollars of company stock.

要注意，員工持股企業(yè)在員工以股東的方式思考和行動時才會獲得最大的績效提升。因此，很多組織致力于建立股東思維文化，還會實(shí)行開放式管理或自下而上的創(chuàng)意系統(tǒng)。

One important caveat here is that employee-owned companies tend to see the biggest performance advantages when employees think and act like owners. For this reason, many organizations work to create a culture of ownership and often implement some sort of open-book management or bottom-up idea-generation system.

SRC Holdings是建立股東思維文化的典范。該公司是1983年陷入困境的萬國收割機(jī)公司（International Harvester）拆分而來。萬國收割機(jī)公司像其他許多歷史悠久的制造商一樣，在20世紀(jì)80年代初期嚴(yán)重受到經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)沖擊，兩年間每周解雇1000名員工。密蘇里州斯普林菲爾德工廠的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者知道工廠即將被關(guān)閉，組織起高杠桿管理層收購，建立了斯普林菲爾德再制造公司（Springfield Remanufacturing Company）。最終協(xié)議——貸款890萬美元，利率18%，10萬美元股本——令新成立的公司陷入艱難的財(cái)務(wù)狀況。

SRC Holdings is a prime example of creating a culture of ownership. SRC began in 1983 as a spinout from struggling International Harvester. Like many legacy manufacturers, International Harvester was hit hard by the recession of the early 1980s; for two years it laid off 1,000 employees a week. Knowing their plant was going to be cut, the leaders of the Springfield, Missouri, factory organized a highly leveraged management buyout to create the Springfield Remanufacturing Company. The final deal — funded by an $8.9 million loan with an 18% interest rate and $100,000 in equity — put the new company in a tough financial position.

SRC需要員工貢獻(xiàn)一切力量還上下一筆貸款，于是采取開放式管理，不僅還清了第一筆貸款，還成了讓公司脫穎而出的一大關(guān)鍵要素，令其發(fā)展成為有各個業(yè)務(wù)部門的2000多名員工持股的廣泛持股企業(yè)，還設(shè)立了開放式管理輔導(dǎo)機(jī)構(gòu)The Great Game of Business，根據(jù)實(shí)績指導(dǎo)其他公司開展相應(yīng)項(xiàng)目。

SRC needed employees to do everything in their power to help meet the next loan payment. It turned to open-book management, which not only helped SRC pay off its initial loan but also became a key source of differentiation, helping it grow to over 2,000 employee-owners working across multiple lines of business. This includes?The Great Game of Business, an open-book management coaching firm that SRC started to teach other companies to implement its proven program.

實(shí)行員工持股? ??

Becoming Employee-Owned

如果考慮在自己的公司實(shí)行員工持股，你會從何處入手？一般而言，轉(zhuǎn)型過程有四個步驟：探討各種股權(quán)模式、設(shè)計(jì)轉(zhuǎn)型流程、實(shí)行，最后是與新的股東共同努力實(shí)現(xiàn)業(yè)績提升。? ? ?

If you were considering employee ownership at your company, where would you start? Generally, there are four steps to the transition: exploring the various ownership models, designing the transaction, executing the deal, and working with your new owners to build engagement and harness the performance advantages.

首先，找到與你的目標(biāo)一致的所有權(quán)結(jié)構(gòu)。

私有企業(yè)和上市企業(yè)都可以采用員工持股制，但私有企業(yè)通常規(guī)模較小，所以更容易。如果你的公司員工超過30人，目標(biāo)是將來（可能要到多年以后）實(shí)現(xiàn)30%以上的員工持股，那么ESOP可能是最合適的選擇。這種模式有稅收優(yōu)惠，十分吸引希望實(shí)現(xiàn)大部分乃至100%員工持股的企業(yè)。如果你只希望將公司的一小部分轉(zhuǎn)為員工持股，或者公司成立不久、員工人數(shù)很少，那么可以選擇股票期權(quán)授予等廣泛股權(quán)薪酬計(jì)劃。不過，如果你希望員工不只在財(cái)務(wù)方面持有股權(quán)，還會直接參與公司治理，效果最好的可能是職工合作或永久信托。

First, identify the ownership model that aligns with your goals.

While both private and public companies can become employee-owned, it’s often easier for private companies, which tend to be smaller. If your company has at least 30 employees and your goal is to have at least 30% of the company owned by employees over time (even years down the road), then an ESOP will likely be the best fit. Tax benefits make this model especially popular among companies looking to become majority or 100% employee-owned. If you want to transfer a smaller portion of the company, or if the company is new and has few employees, a broad-based equity compensation plan, such as stock option grants, might be your path forward. On the other hand, if you want employees to have not only a financial ownership interest but also a direct role in company governance, then a worker cooperative or a perpetual trust might work best.

記住，轉(zhuǎn)為員工持股制的方法有很多，可以只分出一部分份額，也可以100%轉(zhuǎn)為員工持股。大部分模式允許所有者有一定的余地可以逐漸過渡，或者為員工提供少數(shù)股權(quán)、足以獲得持股帶來的利潤，而控制權(quán)仍在原本的所有者手里。

Keep in mind that there are many different ways of converting to employee ownership, from offering a relatively modest share of ownership to becoming 100% employee-owned. Most models allow selling owners the flexibility to make the transition gradually, or to offer employees a minority role to access the benefits of ownership while the original owners maintain control.

其次，考慮時機(jī)。

轉(zhuǎn)為員工所有制，可以與所有者或創(chuàng)始人的繼任計(jì)劃選在同一時期，雖然所有者想放手的話什么時候都可以。員工所有制可以帶來靈活性，讓所有者依然以部分持股的方式參與企業(yè)運(yùn)營、保留公司傳統(tǒng)和對社區(qū)的承諾。? ??

Second, consider timing.

The shift to employee ownership can coincide with when an owner or founder is creating their succession plan, although it can also be done at any time if the owner is considering liquidating holdings in the business. Converting to employee ownership can provide liquidity, allow the owner to remain involved through a partial stake, and preserve the company’s legacy and commitment to its community.

第三，組建一支團(tuán)隊(duì)負(fù)責(zé)設(shè)計(jì)轉(zhuǎn)型過程。通常由咨詢顧問負(fù)責(zé)指導(dǎo)公司完成轉(zhuǎn)型，過程可能包括確定正式估值、方案設(shè)計(jì)、新的信托角色和融資來源。雖然投資銀行家可以提供融資支持，ESOP模式尤其如此，不過許多企業(yè)所有者是自行籌集資金或利用已有的銀行合作關(guān)系籌資，或者這兩種方式綜合起來。? ?

Third, assemble a team to design the transaction.

Consultants are traditionally responsible for guiding the company through the process, which may include determining a formal valuation, plan design, new fiduciary roles, and the best source of financing. While investment bankers are available to support the financing side, especially for ESOPs, many owners self-finance, use existing bank relationships to finance the transfer, or both.

最后，建立股東思維的文化。

一般先是舉辦典禮，宣布新的持股機(jī)會。不過，企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者應(yīng)該都知道，文化上的改變并非易事。要幫助員工培養(yǎng)股東思維和相應(yīng)的行為，公司可以采取的方式很多。常見的方法有開展關(guān)于股東權(quán)力及責(zé)任的教育、財(cái)務(wù)知識培訓(xùn)、對以股東思維采取行動的人予以認(rèn)可，以及調(diào)整組織流程、讓員工股東更多地參與日常決策。幫助員工理解這種參與企業(yè)運(yùn)營的新方法，需要投入時間和精力，但可以帶來巨大的回報(bào)，促使公司獲得成功，并對員工生活產(chǎn)生積極影響。? ?

Finally, build an ownership culture.

Typically, this begins with a celebration announcing the new ownership opportunity. But as all business leaders know, cultural change requires dedication. There are many ways that employee-owned companies can help their people think and act like owners. Common activities include regular education on the rights and responsibilities of ownership, financial literacy training, recognizing individuals who act with an ownership mentality, and changing organizational processes to give employee-owners an increased role in day-to-day decision-making. Helping your people understand this new approach to business requires regular time and effort, but it offers huge rewards in terms of company success and the impacts on employees’ lives.

如果高管現(xiàn)在還不能促成此類轉(zhuǎn)變，也有其他間接的方法。比方說，管理者可以精心設(shè)計(jì)員工獎金制度，建立綜合持股模式；采購經(jīng)理可以有意識地選擇與員工持股制的公司合作。前者可以讓公司發(fā)展出與員工持股制相似的文化，后者則是明確為站在重視員工的前沿上的公司提供支持。? ?

For those not in a position to make the transition now, there are other opportunities to encourage it. Managers can create synthetic ownership through the thoughtful design of employee bonus structures, for example, or purchasing managers can make the conscious choice to do business with employee-owned companies. The former allows firms to develop an employee-ownership-like culture, while the latter provides explicit support for companies that are at the forefront of putting their employees first.

轉(zhuǎn)為員工持股制，可以簡單有效地鞏固企業(yè)對社區(qū)的長期承諾，還可以對員工和整個社會產(chǎn)生深遠(yuǎn)影響。若能廣泛應(yīng)用，員工持股制可以減慢乃至扭轉(zhuǎn)愈演愈烈的財(cái)富不平等的趨勢，令社會邊緣人獲得足以改變生活的財(cái)富積累，并且建立起有利于提升企業(yè)績效的強(qiáng)大企業(yè)文化。如果希望協(xié)助建立更公平的世界，將企業(yè)轉(zhuǎn)為全體員工持股，就是一個很好的起點(diǎn)。

Given its simplicity, converting to employee ownership is a way to solidify an owner’s legacy to their community. It also creates a lasting impact on employees and society at large. Applied broadly, employee ownership can slow or even reverse the trend of growing wealth inequality, offer life-changing wealth accumulation for marginalized members of society, and build a strong corporate culture that can improve the business’s performance. For companies looking to help build a fairer, more just world, making owners of all employees is a great place to start.

托馬斯·達(dá)德利是員工持股認(rèn)證項(xiàng)目聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼CEO。

伊?！敯菏枪鹕虒W(xué)院助理教授、影響權(quán)重項(xiàng)目聯(lián)合主席。

本文有刪節(jié)，原文參見《哈佛商業(yè)評論》中文版2021年8月刊。