Rep. Courtney, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor Visit CT Employer-Owned Business
NORWICH, CT – Rep. Joe Courtney and the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Assistant Secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Lisa M. Gomez, visited Proponent, an aerospace manufacturer, and a worker-owned business, to discuss their ongoing efforts to promote employee ownership.
The visit comes after EBSA recently launched the Division of Employee Ownership at DOL as a result of Congressman Courtney’s legislation, the WORK Act, which will help more people start worker-owned companies.
Worker-owned companies have a strong track record of improving workers’ benefits and helping businesses grow. ESOPs, or Employee Stock Ownership Plans, are a type of retirement plan structure that gives workers an ownership interest in their company. ESOP businesses are proven to have better retention, higher wages, and stronger retirement benefits for their workers, as well as high employee engagement and satisfaction. A 2018 survey found that ESOP workers have more almost three times the retirement assets compared to similar workers in non-ESOP companies.
“Worker-owned businesses lead to a better bottom-line for workers and the company—and that’s what we heard from employees at Proponent. Connecticut is home to quite a few worker-owned companies and, thanks to legislation I led and Assistant Secretary Gomez implemented, her office is opening a new division so more workers across the nation can take advantage of the benefits that come with employee ownership,” said Rep. Joe Courtney.
As of 2018, there were more than 60 employee-owned companies in Connecticut that accounted for $7.8 billion in assets.
“I am thankful for Representative Courtney’s invitation to visit Connecticut and hear directly from workers on how the Employee Benefits Security Administration’s new Division of Employee Ownership can help support the creation and expansion of worker-owned businesses,” said Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security Lisa M. Gomez. “By launching this initiative, the Employee Benefits Security Administration is working to help balance the distribution of power in America’s workplaces and empower the workers who fuel their employers’ ability to be successful day in, day out, while educating employers about how worker ownership can be good for business.”
The division will support the creation and expansion of worker-owned businesses by:
- Supporting existing programs designed to promote employee ownership and facilitating the formation of new programs.
- Developing a clearinghouse of techniques applied by new and existing state programs and sharing information about these techniques with states.
- Providing education, outreach, and training to inform employees and employers about the possibilities and benefits of worker ownership and business ownership succession planning.
- Providing technical assistance for employee’s efforts to become business owners and helping employers and employees explore the feasibility of transferring full or partial ownership to employees.