Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are employee retirement plans that invest in company stock on behalf of employees, holding either all or part of the company. Participating employees own internal shares assigned to individual capital accounts they gradually accumulate, and they eventually receive a payout (based on their stock’s performance) through the repurchase of shares when employees leave the company. ESOPs typically exercise control rights through a trustee rather than through employee voting, but many ESOPs have adopted participatory management practices.
Across the ESOP companies, employees described meaningful, though sometimes uneven, experiences of worker voice and agency. While many felt empowered to speak up and make decisions, others noted that participation could vary across roles and departments.
“I think our craft folks could be more involved when it comes down to company benefits because they’re not, unfortunately,” said an employee at SkyBlue Builders, an early-stage ESOP, highlighting how some voices remain underrepresented. Jeff, a middle manager at SkyBlue, expressed optimism about bridging that gap: he feels he has a say—“I don’t know if everybody else would say that, but that’s what we’re hoping to bridge”—through the ESOP and related initiatives.
Kaitlyn at GHPhipps, described a balance between structure and openness: “nothing gets approved without the board, but all of our executives are very receptive to listening to an employee.” Similarly, Lisa (also GHPhipps) noted, “I believe, from what I’ve seen of our leadership team, they have a very positive open working relationship and I think people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, ideas, and questioning.”
Several participants pointed to formal mechanisms for voice, such as the continuous improvement process that StoneAge has implemented. “One of the things I look to the most is the continuous improvement process that they have here. I’ve never seen that anywhere else in any of my jobs that I’ve ever worked. That in itself gives somebody like me, coming in new, the ability to see progress,” said Eli. Mel elaborated: “continuous improvement is a great program that we use where we can improve our systems, cost effective, time effective … you can submit an idea for those, you can submit a change you've made it any time. So we are again, that's owning it. That's really owning, ‘Hey, I see that this particular task is taking me this much time. My time is worth money. This is going to cost us this much if I change this way on how I do it.’ We're allowed to do that. You can change how you do something to improve your day. And then you can log it and they even give you a bonus for it. If your team gets the most or the best continuous improvement for a month, it's $150 extra on your paycheck. So again, that financial dangling of the carrot, you're like, Hey, I want to work harder. I want to grab that carrot and eat it.”
Haley at StoneAge summarized the prevailing sentiment: “We have a lot of say, we have a lot of voice, and it’s listened to. If there’s an issue, we can absolutely bring it up and it gets dealt with in one form or another.”
Transparency and trust were key enablers of agency. “We’re all getting the same information so I think that’s slowly starting to build trust with the employees,” said Aaryn at Colorado Pool and Spa Scapes. For Tim, another employee at GHPhipps, agency meant autonomy in daily work: “There’s a sense of pride in what we do everyday … the ability to not feel like you are looking to another entity, your boss or whatever, saying can I agree to this? Am I allowed to do this? And instead feeling like I’ve got a lot of that authority given to me.”
Employees described flatter decision-making structures. “Generally, everybody makes decisions on their own. It doesn’t have to go to the top. In fact, most decisions don’t go to the top,” said Don (GHPhipps). Flexibility was another form of agency: “Not having that restriction of you have to work nine to five, being able to own your hours and work life balance, that’s really made a huge change for me,” said Mel (StoneAge).
Ron emphasized that agency also comes with responsibility: “The information is there (on the intranet) we put the ownership, though on the individuals to act like an owner and be informed.” Haley echoed this connection between autonomy and accountability: “The agency that you have knowing that what you do on a daily basis affects the larger picture, whether that’s financially or just an individual person. I think that’s huge.”
Haley also described the cultural shift that supports this sense of empowerment: “We are treated like adults, and because we’re treated like adults and like individual human beings rather than just a number, that flows into the fact that the decisions we make affect our job.” She added, “If that affects the bottom line, that affects me and my coworkers, and we’re not just beholden to this nebulous group of people calling the shots in the background. We have agency. We have the ability to be like, this really doesn’t make sense.”
Ultimately, this sense of ownership and contribution gives meaning to daily work. “People feel like what they do on a daily basis means something rather than just filling out a spreadsheet, sending it off, and not caring,” said Haley.
Employees across the ESOP companies described a strong sense of humanity in their workplaces—an environment where people are treated as whole individuals rather than just workers. This culture of care showed up in policies, interpersonal relationships, and everyday practices that prioritize well-being and empathy.
“Any job I do, I want to have that work-life balance, StoneAge provides that. I want to be able to, if my daughter is sick, take that time to be there to look after her … I know I can leave for a couple of hours … I’ve got that work-life parenting balance here,” said Mel. She also described the company’s investment in relational development: “Every quarter we do a training, how to be a good teammate, how to communicate expectations and things like that. That side of this is fantastic.”