Opinion | This Labor Day, let’s fuel Minnesota workers’ wealth with more ESOPs

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This Labor Day, I’ll be thinking of a phone call I got seven years ago that changed my life.

It was a friend who used to work with me. He knew my job was a grind and told me his company was hiring.

“What’s really neat is they’re an ESOP,” he told me.

I had never heard of an ESOP, but he said it was an employee stock ownership plan, a retirement plan that lets companies share ownership with workers. He said his company, Parman Energy Group, had transitioned to the ESOP three years earlier, and he was already starting to build wealth through it.

I did some research and learned that workers at ESOP companies have twice as much saved for retirement as non-ESOP workers, and that they tend to stay at jobs longer. I was unhappy at work, so I applied and was hired as operations manager for Parman’s northern region.

I probably first felt like an owner on “Piece-of-the-Pie” Day, an annual celebration where the ESOP share price is revealed. My first statement wasn’t anything to write home about, but it was still powerful to see that I was accumulating wealth, on top of my 401(k), without contributing anything but my hard work.

As the annual statements kept coming and the share price increased, we started to see we could have a direct impact on that price by working harder and smarter. Everyone became excited to dial in on the details of their jobs. Even little things, like doing routine maintenance on vehicles and making sure routes were run as efficiently as possible, could add to our bottom line and future wealth.

One example of the extra care is a driver who noticed we were duplicating a lot of miles on our routes. He suggested we combine Wednesday and Thursday routes and volunteered to overnight in a hotel to make it possible. We gave it a shot, and in efficiency and cost savings it’s been a home run.

It’s the kind of thing that happens every day when you’re an owner. You care more about your work. It isn’t just about collecting a paycheck every Friday. It’s about building wealth over the long haul.

I’m almost 50 and starting to think about retirement. The ESOP gives me a sense of security. It’s nearly tripled in value in my time here and it’s exciting to think about helping to make it grow even more in the next 10 or 15 years. It enables us to look to the future and feel optimistic instead of worried. My wife hates the cold, and with the ESOP, we can think about spending winters in warmer places.

I was excited to hear of a new coalition, Expanding ESOPs, which is working to dramatically expand employee ownership across the state and country. I’m sharing my story this Labor Day with the hope that it will fuel their efforts to give every worker a shot at ownership.

When my buddy first mentioned the ESOP, I had no idea it would change my life in so many ways. It’s brought meaning to my work, given me a voice on the job and allowed me to build wealth for my family. Those are things I hope every worker can one day enjoy.