Letter: Workers, companies win with employee ownership. On Labor Day, let’s build more of it in Indiana
A year after I started at Jasper Engines & Transmissions in 1986, they instituted a 401(k) with a company match. I remember thinking we were so fortunate because not a lot of companies around here offered that at the time. It was generally a great place to work. Our owners always told us that what we do—building engines for vehicles like fire trucks, ambulances and school buses—saves lives and folks took that to heart.
I got to grow from accounts receivable to billing to managing payroll. But nothing prepared me for the gift I got 24 years into my tenure.
The owners rented out a huge meeting room in a hotel and told us they had a major announcement. We all tried to guess what it would be. The leading theory was that Doug Bawel, one of the owners, was going to run for governor.
Boy, were we wrong. And as the country celebrates Labor Day, I find myself thinking back to what I heard that day and how it changed the lives of so many of us and our families. The big announcement turned out to be that they were selling the company. And that the new owners were me and my co-associates, via an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, a retirement plan that lets companies share ownership with workers.
At first, we had no idea what it meant to be owners. We already had a pretty good culture. But over time, ownership became a game changer. It changed our perception of the company. It was no longer the Bawels’ money, or the Schwenks’ (the other family that owned the company.) It was ours. And that realization pushed people to proactively come up with ways to work smarter, more efficiently and safer.
We started at $2.30 a share, but each year, the share value went up and people really started to adopt an ownership mentality. We were building wealth without contributing a penny—just for showing up and doing our jobs well. By year five or six, it was clear becoming owners was a financial game-changer.
I’m now 60 and that financial security is so comforting. It affects not just me, but my whole family. My husband worked decades in a stressful IT job and knowing the money is there for us enabled him to retire early. It’s allowed us to help pay for our kids’ college educations, with my daughter currently entering her junior year at Purdue University.
I’ve watched colleagues retire early and live with a peace of mind they would never be able to have were it not for the ESOP. Now in year 39 at Jasper, I’m creeping closer to my own retirement. I don’ t need to travel the globe or buy a vacation home, but to know I’ll be comfortable and not need to cut back or change our lifestyle is an incredible feeling.
Employee ownership has been so powerful for me and my co-associates. It’s made us wealthier, made our company more successful and provided great employment opportunities in Jasper and beyond. It’s such a win all around I’m surprised there isn’t more of it in Indiana and the rest of the country. There are only 194 ESOPs in the Hoosier State, but a new coalition, Expanding ESOPs, is working to change that by dramatically increasing employee ownership opportunities in Indiana and across the nation.
Nearly 40 years after I first got my 401(k), they’re no longer as rare. Many workers expect them when they’re looking for jobs. It would be great if ESOPs became just as common. On Labor Day, I’m proud to share my story and hope it builds momentum for many more workers to become owners. Let’s make the holiday more than a time for a symbolic pat on the back for America’s workers, but a celebration that they are sharing in the wealth they help create.
Alison Brandt is a payroll specialist at Jasper Engines & Transmissions, an employee-owned company based in Jasper.
The letter was submitted in conjunction with a national nonprofit, Expanding ESOPS.
