What's the Best Way to Retain Your Employees?

Good employees are hard to come by. Unemployment rates are extremely low and the ability for employees to jump from one ship onto another has not been this strong since since the Dot Com Boom in the 90s.

So what’s a business owner to do to keep valued employees?

It’s easy — make the employees owners of the business. And doing so can help the business be more successful!

The National Center for Employee Ownership reports that its long term study of employee ownership showed that companies that with employee shareholders had better jobs, earnings, benefits and wealth. And when the employees are doing well, the companies do well. It’s a symbiotic relationship where both sides benefit.

This is not a new concept. ESOPs have been around for decades, but they’ve been declining in number and popularity for years. Creating and managing ESOPs is not terribly complicated, but even if select, key employees were offered a chance to own a piece of the company as part of their compensation package, companies end up investing in their employees by virtue of their employees investing in the companies.

And, looking long term, by getting employees on board as owners, business owners can begin to chart their path towards retirement. Recent changes in federal law have made it easier for the Small Business Administration to loan money to employees who wish to buy out the owners.

To read more on the concept of making employees owners, click here.