Today we're sharing insight from guest blogger Mary Josephs, Founder & CEO of Verit Advisors and Forbes Contributor with a focus on ESOPs. We hope you enjoy Mary's wisdom and perspective.
The concept of workplace ownership — “taking ownership,” “owning the problem,” “being the owner of the project,” “you’ve got to really own it,” and other phrases have become well-used office jargon – to my mind lacks a certain something: actual ownership.
Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Ray Korson, Client Executive at Gibson. We hope you enjoy Ray’s perspective on the GESOP.
On December 9th, 2014, I celebrated my 6-month work anniversary at Gibson and was welcomed as one of four new employee-owners. You may ask, “How is this possible?” and “What does this mean after only 6 months?”
In my last blog, I mentioned how we make a big deal of the month of October as National ESOP Month. We celebrated our GESOP, Gibson’s ESOP, all month long. It culminated with our major event: GESOPtoberFest!
Fall is my favorite time of the year. The crisp temperatures and awesome views of the changing leaves are just a couple of reasons. Fall also brings the month of October, which happens to be National ESOP Month. It might not technically be as good as Christmas, but October is a great month for us at Gibson! We celebrate our GESOP throughout the month.
Yes, we celebrate our GESOP in the other months as well, but typically we have one ownership-related activity each month. In October, we have an ownership activity each week. One week, we’re bringing in Dairy Queen treats with themes of “How Sweet It Is To Be An Employee Owner” and “It’s A Treat To Work At Gibson”. Another week, we’re playing GESOP bingo, where all winning cards will go into a drawing for a really cool prize.
Employee Engagement. Company Culture. Establishing a positive company culture matters. A company’s culture can be an incredible asset…but if not given the proper attention, it can become your greatest risk.
Culture is the values, beliefs, and the norms of a company. It’s not your policies and procedures; it’s the way you do things. It has many facets. Safety, employee wellness, employee wellbeing, and even the overall organizational health. And in order to establish a positive culture, you must engage your company leaders AND your employees.
We’re blessed at Gibson to have a great corporate culture, one that is welcomed enthusiastically by all our employee-owners. Make no mistake – we’re not perfect nor are we utopia. But I’ve been here over 14 years, and I can tell when it’s good and when it’s not as positive.
At Gibson, we are proud of the company culture we have established, but in order for our culture to stay strong, we must pay attention to how to we handle the integration of new employees. This is the onboarding process.
The goal of onboarding is to have engaged employees who feel valued and become a part of the company culture. Not only does onboarding teach an employee about the company and their role, but it helps them feel like a part of the organization, which in turn makes them a more engaged, empowered and productive employee.
How do you accomplish this? How do you successfully integrate new employees into your company culture?
It’s fair to say when we first started our GESOP back in 2010, not many people really understood what we were doing or what it meant to them. I’m not sure I even understood ALL the implications of the GESOP back then. But one thing was certainly clear: there was a buzz created when we let our employees, all of them, know they were now owners in Gibson.
Sure, they didn’t know exactly what that meant, but they knew they liked the sound of it. You could just tell there was something a little different in people. I called it the pride of being an owner. All of a sudden, Gibson was their company too. No doubt it was subtle, but it was definitely there.
Last week I had the privilege of attending our annual GESOP (Gibson’s ESOP) meeting. It was a great day (by my definition) spent with all our employee-owners.
We close down all four of our offices to give everyone a chance to attend. That’s a big deal for a firm in the client service business like Gibson. We only do this a few times each year, but it’s always great to see the folks I don’t get a chance to see that much, plus expose our new employees to the Gibson culture. I guess I’m a little old fashioned in feeling a paternalistic pride in what we’re building, our employees, and the lives we’re impacting in so many positive ways. But I digress…..
After being away from my blogging desk for the last several months doing what accountants do this time of year, I’m ready to get back on my keyboard to continue my mission of singing the praises of Employee Stock Ownership Plans in general, ours in particular.
Gibson’s employee stock ownership plan (the GESOP) definitely makes an impact on all of our employee-owners and our corporate culture. Culture is a tough thing to define – it’s kind of like when you find your soul mate, and you’re asked why you feel so strongly about that person. It’s often squishy and somewhat hard to label – but you know it when you feel it. Culture is the same way for me. I just know a positive culture when I see it – it just feels right.
