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MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 02:04 PM Apr 2013

100 Largest US Employee and Worker-Owned Companies

There are a lot of small companies that are worker or employee owned. Larger companies, not so much. However, here's a list of 100 of the largest employee and worker-owned companies. If you are associated with any of these, or if any operate where you are, please give your impressions of them.

The list is at this link:

http://www.nceo.org/articles/employee-ownership-100

It would be interesting to hear what it's like to work at one of these companies, and what it's like to be a customer, too.

Thanks.

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100 Largest US Employee and Worker-Owned Companies (Original Post) MineralMan Apr 2013 OP
Kick for replies. MineralMan Apr 2013 #1
Glad to see PUBLIX is at the top. Great store, great attitudes, cannot do enough for the customer. CurtEastPoint Apr 2013 #2
Thanks. I'm not familiar with those stores, since there MineralMan Apr 2013 #3
with one dirty little secret... Phentex Apr 2013 #18
One more try... MineralMan Apr 2013 #4
Give it up dude... tjwash Apr 2013 #5
Too bad. Here are companies that are actually doing it. MineralMan Apr 2013 #7
esop's generally don't give workers control of the company. not much different than other HiPointDem Apr 2013 #6
Then, can you show me the names of some companies MineralMan Apr 2013 #8
no hay camino. se hace camino al andar. HiPointDem Apr 2013 #13
Yes. The road is made by walking on it. MineralMan Apr 2013 #16
My favorite examples are in Europe, but I'll skip Mondragon because they are in Spain and Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #19
Thank you. I'll have to look further into that UK company. MineralMan Apr 2013 #21
not all huge, but a couple examples: Osiris Neits Apr 2013 #35
I work at a company with an ESOP wercal Apr 2013 #32
One of my favorite employee owned companies, in Oregon... DreamGypsy Apr 2013 #9
Sounds good, but small. I'd be interested to know how MineralMan Apr 2013 #11
Right. Sitting down and divvying up the company... DreamGypsy Apr 2013 #24
Thanks for that additional information. MineralMan Apr 2013 #26
The new way of thinking is not about scaling up and expansion so much as it is about Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #25
Yes, there are a lot of small breweries here in Minnesota, too. MineralMan Apr 2013 #28
I think moving away from the "scaling up" model is a part of the solution. antigone382 Apr 2013 #41
I've shopped at Publix and Hy-Vee. historylovr Apr 2013 #10
Thanks! MineralMan Apr 2013 #12
K&R Gravitycollapse Apr 2013 #14
Wawa (convenience store) is also employee owned tabbycat31 Apr 2013 #15
Do you have any experience with that company? MineralMan Apr 2013 #17
I only learned about it from this tabbycat31 Apr 2013 #22
Thanks. I'll see what I can find out. MineralMan Apr 2013 #23
A note: I'm self-employed, and have been since 1974. So, in a sense, I'm MineralMan Apr 2013 #20
Bought things from Graybar Electric - good stuff; shopped at Food Giant in the past, freshwest Apr 2013 #27
Thanks. I had heard of the Bob's Red Mill story, and know of some MineralMan Apr 2013 #30
We did pretty well with ESOP, but we weren't going to get enough shares to control the company. It freshwest Apr 2013 #33
I'm a huge advocate for worker-owned cooperatives... OneGrassRoot Apr 2013 #29
Thanks. Yes, Ag co-ops are an interesting model, and have MineralMan Apr 2013 #31
Super Mineral Man...thanks! Bookmarking for sure. nt snappyturtle Apr 2013 #34
Round Table Pizza WinniSkipper Apr 2013 #36
I like their pizzas, but know nothing about MineralMan Apr 2013 #37
I'll have to ask WinniSkipper Apr 2013 #43
I shop Hy-Vee regularly. They are helpful and offer decent value. Vincardog Apr 2013 #38
We must condemn this is creeping socialist tyranny! killbotfactory Apr 2013 #39
How cool. Wish some of these were located around here.. RedCappedBandit Apr 2013 #40
When did "profit sharing" come to mean "employee owned"? moondust Apr 2013 #42

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
1. Kick for replies.
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 02:20 PM
Apr 2013

Doesn't anyone have any experience with any of these? There's only one in Minnesota, and I don't know anything about them.

Phentex

(16,330 posts)
18. with one dirty little secret...
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:10 PM
Apr 2013

I love Publix in general. Their customer service cannot be beat. The selection is good and the stores are well-kept.

Many of the stores in GA offer Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance for their employees. However, Publix itself denies coverage to children with certain special needs even though they are usually covered by BCBS. I wish the parents would get together and try to fight this as a group but I know they don't necessarily want to rock the boat with their employer. One of these days, I'm going to see if a news hound will expose this. I think it's pretty shameful for a company that does SO much for its employees and other groups of special needs people.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
4. One more try...
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 02:33 PM
Apr 2013

It seems to me that companies like these would be of great interest, since they operate on a basis that is more like what people who want to exit from the corporate business model would prefer.

tjwash

(8,219 posts)
5. Give it up dude...
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 02:44 PM
Apr 2013

...you're not hating on Obama, screaming about the impending doom of SS and Medicare, or telling everyone how generally the USA completely sucks because it isn't ran the way you envisioned in the middle of a wet-dream last night.

Of course it is gonna sink here.

Surprise of surprise - my company isn't on the list either

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
7. Too bad. Here are companies that are actually doing it.
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 02:46 PM
Apr 2013

I don't know anything about any of them, but they are employee-owned in one way or another. You'd think they'd be models for change, but nobody seems interested.

 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
6. esop's generally don't give workers control of the company. not much different than other
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 02:45 PM
Apr 2013


forms of company stock ownership.

no model to me.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
8. Then, can you show me the names of some companies
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 02:48 PM
Apr 2013

that are models for you? If there are to be changes, then certainly someone has to start those changes.

Before people will start making changes, there have to be models. If these aren't models, then what companies are models? That's the question, isn't it?

ETA: Not all of the companies in that list are ESOP ownership-based, either.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
16. Yes. The road is made by walking on it.
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:05 PM
Apr 2013

So, are you saying that nobody has trodden that road yet? You have no examples to offer? Yet, you say that is the road that should be built and traveled? While I understand Spanish, not everyone here does. Speak plainly in English and offer some examples or suggestions for how this is to be accomplished.

ETA: The reality is that pathways are made by walking on them. Roadways are more difficult. When you drive vehicles over raw terrain, you end up with ruts, not roads, as we learned in this country. Real roads require engineering and building in order to support the vehicles. How to do that has been known since Roman times, but building a road requires more than just walking in a specific direction. It takes much more.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
19. My favorite examples are in Europe, but I'll skip Mondragon because they are in Spain and
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:21 PM
Apr 2013

rather than go on about Spain's 7th largest company, I'll point you to a short and easy to read primer about John Lewis, which is a retailer in the UK and speaks mostly English. They have several methods and systems that other businesses could learn from.
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2012/05/31/why-we-need-more-employee-owned-businesses

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
21. Thank you. I'll have to look further into that UK company.
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:25 PM
Apr 2013

The article just outlines how it is set up and how it generates capital. I'll do some more research.

The article also mentions Publix, which is also on the list at my link. Again, though, there are many questions that aren't answered about capitalization and how ownership is conferred on employees. On going to the company websites, I'm not learning many details, so more research will be needed.

 

Osiris Neits

(7 posts)
35. not all huge, but a couple examples:
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 05:16 PM
Apr 2013
http://www.unioncab.com/

http://www.bobsredmill.com/about-bob.html (yeah, it's an ESOP, but Bob GAVE it to his employees on his 81st birthday, so yeah)

http://www.newdealcafe.com/ This company is owned not by employees or stockholders, but by the CONSUMERS. Obviously not making the top 100 list, but awesome, nevertheless.

http://www.nwdairy.coop/ 2b in dairy products a year.

I'm preferential to co-ops myself, but for an example of an outstanding corporate owned business, I would look at Costco.

Publix is pretty good, but they have had a lot of issues with the human rights of their produce suppliers. In December, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers marched from Ft.Myers Fl, to the Publix headquarters in Lakeland, Fl, in an effort to get them to recognize the Fair Food Program and not buy produce from farms who don't follow fair labor practices. Publix has been very resistant to FFP, and has basically said it isn't their problem if there are atrocities happening on other peoples farms, regardless of whether they buy produce from them.

wercal

(1,370 posts)
32. I work at a company with an ESOP
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:50 PM
Apr 2013

...I have for sixteen years. You are correct that its not much more democratic than other companies...but at least I get to reap some of the rewards as the company grows. The value of my stock is around ten percent of my compensation over the last sixteen years...so it could be viewed just as a raise - except we are motivated to keep doing well and keep tge ESOP going.

Also, it takes a long time, but as long time employees have left, the shares have been spread out more and more evenly.

There are really two types of ESOPs. Ours changed from the lesser version to the better version. The better version is an S corp...the esop owns one hundred percent of the company. In thelesser version the ESOP only owns part of the company, with other individual stock owmers holding the rest.

DreamGypsy

(2,252 posts)
9. One of my favorite employee owned companies, in Oregon...
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 02:49 PM
Apr 2013
Full Sail Brewing Co - doesn't make the largest 100, but makes great beers.

Then:

Much has been written about the day you drive off the lot in your first new car, but let us tell you, there’s nothing quite like taking delivery on your very first, brand new stainless steel mash tun. (Woo hoo!)

Determined to make world-class beer in our own backyard, one of our first, and perhaps best, decisions was to invest in new, state-of-the-art brewing equipment. Other micros had been brewing with varying degrees of success in open fermentation tanks or old, cast-aside dairy equipment. But we weren’t taking any chances: the beer had to be great or there was no point in brewing it. So we bit the bullet, laid down our borrowed cash, and spent the better part of 1987 installing the new system.




and Now:

A Massive Brewforce of 47

For years, we’d been thinking and talking and dreaming about the idea of becoming an employee-owned company. So many people had put so much work and love and dedication into Full Sail, and we wanted them to share the same pride of ownership we did. But that’s not the whole story. The reason we started Full Sail in the first place was to build a company that was completely different from the ones where we’d previously worked. It wasn’t about business as usual. It was about finding our calling in life -- about truly appreciating our “human resources,” and balancing work, life, family and friends in a way that makes life truly worth living. It was in that spirit that we became an independent, employee-owned company in 1999, divvying up the company between the 47 of us. Of all our accomplishments, this is the one that makes us most proud.




I am not associated with the brewery other than as a happy consumer, since April 16, 1988.

DreamGypsy

(2,252 posts)
24. Right. Sitting down and divvying up the company...
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:33 PM
Apr 2013

...among 10,000 employees could be challenging.

The criteria for employee ownership on the top 100 list is:

Companies must be at least 50% owned by an ESOP or other qualified plan or by one or more other kinds of plans in which at least 50% of full-time employees are eligible to participate. Companies marked by an asterisk in their names are 100% employee-owned.


The largest company with an * is

WinCo Foods* Boise ID ESOP Supermarkets 14,000


Most of the companies have ESOPs/other plans. Some are probably public companies where 50.xyzzy% of the stock is reserved for employees, so an employee's ownership is decided by the employee by whether she chooses to participate in the plan(s) and how much he want to buy. It would be interesting to know for each of these companies, what percentage of employees actually participate and how many participants own increasing sized chunks. For example, if there are a company has 10,000 employees with 5001 eligible to participate, and 50 own 40% of the shares, that may not represent a particularly equitable ownership of the company.

To me real employee ownership means that, in addition to owning a share in the company, there is a way to participate in management decisions if one wishes to do that. Small company models make that much more likely.

Thanks for the post and comments, MM.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
26. Thanks for that additional information.
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:40 PM
Apr 2013

It's interesting. As you say, if management employees own the bulk of the stock, then that presents its own set of problems. All of the employee-owned companies I'm familiar with are small, and operate as partnerships more or less. Some of those are not great places to work for employees with no equity in the company, in my experience.

Other companies I know about directly are also partnership based, and have low employee counts. In most of those cases, someone has brought capital into the company as part of gaining equity ownership. Most expand by adding partners/shareholders, based on the equity brought into the company and the value added by that person's skills and expertise.

Other forms of employee ownership are more confusing to me, and there usually isn't a lot of public information available that's easy to access. Someone's sweeping the floors at those companies, so I'm interested in learning how one benefits from employee ownership at that level. I assume that advancement is part of it, but not everyone is suited for advancement to a management type of job.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
25. The new way of thinking is not about scaling up and expansion so much as it is about
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:35 PM
Apr 2013

splitting off and replicating. With products that really do excel in smaller production this is the wave o' the future.
Currently 169 brewing operations owned by 135 companies employ 5,560 Oregonians. A 2.4 billion dollar industry.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
28. Yes, there are a lot of small breweries here in Minnesota, too.
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:45 PM
Apr 2013

That model seems to work pretty well for other businesses dealing with food and drink. We have several employee-owned bakeries, restaurants, and similar in my area. All are small, though, and even in the aggregate don't make up a huge part of total employment. Since manufacturing and other such businesses seem to be in the vanguard of major employers, that would have to be based on a completely different model, I'd think.

Agriculture, too, has a broad employee ownership basis, via co-ops and other associations. The medical profession, too, has a bunch of physician-owned businesses, but I'm not sure whether equity ownership trickles down in them below that level.

antigone382

(3,682 posts)
41. I think moving away from the "scaling up" model is a part of the solution.
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 09:41 PM
Apr 2013

If you haven't read him yet, check out some of the works by economist and local-biz advocate Michael Shuman (and double check my spelling on that ). I have read "The Small-Mart Revolution" but he has come out with another book since then that probably better reflects current possibilities. In any case, one of the points he makes is that businesses that are rooted in their own community are more accountable to that community and tend to result in a better "multiplier effect."

Granted, the small-town shop doesn't work for everything. However, small, locally- and/or collectively-owned operations can link together in "flexible manufacturing networks"; one oft-cited example is found in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, but there are others.

You've brought up a topic I'm very interested in, but it has been a couple of years since I really focused on it in my research and I'm currently in the last week of my undergraduate career, so I can't devote as much time and energy as I would like to responding to you. Thanks for the thread though!

As to your question, the only company on that list which I am particularly familiar with is Piggly Wiggly, although it kind of seems that the ESOP aspect may only be in the Carolinas (though I could be misinterpreting what is presented at your link). I know that "the Pig" seems quite open to selling locally produced food products, including bread, granola, coffee, etc. It's pretty expensive, but that could be because it serves a higher end clientele, and it is on top of a mountain where gas and possibly some goods are more expensive because of the cost to get stuff up the hill.

I think I might have heard that the owners of the company have a connection to the college town where I am from, and they have been described to me as nice people, but I could be getting that confused. The bottom line is that I shop there when I need something most of the time, although if I'm short on cash I might hit the Save-A-Lot instead.

historylovr

(1,557 posts)
10. I've shopped at Publix and Hy-Vee.
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 02:50 PM
Apr 2013

Both stores have been good places to shop on the customer service side and they have great selections too.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
17. Do you have any experience with that company?
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:05 PM
Apr 2013

I've not heard of it before now.

ETA: I went to their website, and didn't find any info on employee ownership. How does it work?

tabbycat31

(6,336 posts)
22. I only learned about it from this
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:30 PM
Apr 2013
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/reasons-why-wawa-is-gas-station-heaven

Wawa is a Mid-Atlantic gas station/convenience store chain that has a cult like following. I've never worked for them, but my experience with them is that they have very competitive gas prices and THE BEST COFFEE. Everytime I go there (every day for the above mentioned coffee) their employees are very friendly and seem happy to be there.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
20. A note: I'm self-employed, and have been since 1974. So, in a sense, I'm
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:21 PM
Apr 2013

an employee-owned company. Several companies, over the years, actually. All of the employee-owned companies I know of are relatively small. It's tough to put that model into play in a larger company. Most of the prospective employee/owners have no capital to contribute, so their ownership comes from working at the company. Typically, that comes through stock in the company being awarded to employees over time.

Above, someone explained to me that ESOP programs aren't really employee-owned companies, so the question is: How do employees gain ownership in a large company otherwise? I understand how it works for small companies, but not for large ones.

I've thought, several times, about expanding companies I've started to a larger scale, but have always backed away from that. All were bootstrapped into existence and grew at a slow pace, with me doing every job. To expand would have required capital I did not have and was unwilling to borrow. So, all of them stayed as sole proprietorships with just me as the owner and employee. They worked, and I made a living, but expansion was something entirely different, and never made any sense to me.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
27. Bought things from Graybar Electric - good stuff; shopped at Food Giant in the past,
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:45 PM
Apr 2013
which did have better prices.

One that is not on the list that I do buy from often is named Bob's Red Mill.

Very high quality goods at low prices, which can be bought in stores or through Amazon. It's since been turned over to the employees when he retired, but it was in the works longer:

In February 2010, owner Bob Moore announced plans to give the whole company to his employees using an employee stock ownership plan.[2]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob%27s_Red_Mill

Where I once worked we had an ESOP to buy stock, with the company matching per share. We knew it wasn't going to lead to having control of the company, it was way too big. We had a union and it was in our contract.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
30. Thanks. I had heard of the Bob's Red Mill story, and know of some
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:47 PM
Apr 2013

other similar situations. The ESOP thing is interesting, too, but also is limited in equity ownership for most employees, and their prosperity is often determined by management decisions. There have been a number of failures.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
33. We did pretty well with ESOP, but we weren't going to get enough shares to control the company. It
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 04:00 PM
Apr 2013
was publicly traded and we couldn't compete with the big money coming in.

They never failed to give a dividend, no matter how small. The major windfall for us was when the share price rose to close to twice the value of what we bought them. Then they'd split the shares in two automatically, which could pay off in time.

We bought shares through our payroll deductions, but to cash the money out we had to go to Charles Schwab and pay them a brokerage fee. So for most of us it was just a savings account.

The company was managed with an eye to profits and dividends, which could make working there a bit tough. But be being union and having a defined pension benefit plan in place, we felt 'invested' in making profits, and felt a sense of ownership, if you will.

I don't think that is what you mean here, though.

OneGrassRoot

(22,917 posts)
29. I'm a huge advocate for worker-owned cooperatives...
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:47 PM
Apr 2013

I've posted frequently on DU about the possibilities with this structure. I realize the companies at the list aren't structured as a truly democratic co-op, but it's going in the right direction, at least.

I would LOVE to brainstorm and explore this option with others who are even slightly interested. It seems many people still envision the local organic gardening co-op and don't realize the potential here.

Evergreen Cooperatives is a GREAT model. http://evergreencooperatives.com/

This approach is what can save us, imho.

K&R and bookmarked.



MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
31. Thanks. Yes, Ag co-ops are an interesting model, and have
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 03:49 PM
Apr 2013

a long history. My parents, who grow citrus and avocados, have been members of a co-op. However, it ended up acting like a typical middleman, spending huge amounts on administrative and other functions, while the individual farmers saw very little benefit. My parents withdrew, eventually and contracted for the packing and distribution. They made more money that way.

 

WinniSkipper

(363 posts)
36. Round Table Pizza
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 05:34 PM
Apr 2013

Is pretty good - varies from store to store just a bit. We had one close to work - good lunch specials. Delivery service - not complaints

killbotfactory

(13,566 posts)
39. We must condemn this is creeping socialist tyranny!
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 09:24 PM
Apr 2013

Don't be fooled! These worker owned companies will never succeed because the profits that they make rightfully belong to obscenely rich venture capitalists, wall street investors, and golden-parachute equipped ceo's. Workers having a stake in the company they work for, beyond their wages (which should be sufficiently meager)?? Hogwash!



moondust

(19,917 posts)
42. When did "profit sharing" come to mean "employee owned"?
Sun Apr 28, 2013, 09:53 PM
Apr 2013

Do employees share 100% of the profits or something? How is that different from a coop?

I think quite a few corporations used to have profit sharing as an employee benefit but they were still traded on Wall Street and not employee owned.

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