Tahlequah, OK, 2015-8-28— /EPR Retail News/ — The National Center for Employee Ownership has announced that the Reasor’s is the second largest majority employee owned company in Oklahoma and the 45th in the United States.
Reasor’s set up an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in 2007 and now employs more than 3000 employees. Since the first store in 1963, the foundation of Reasor’s was built on delivering unbeatable customer service. By transitioning to an ESOP, this has further motivated employees to maintain a superior level of customer service and aided in the continued growth of a favorite local Oklahoma Company.
The National Center for Employee Ownership’s 2015 Employee Ownership 100 list includes the nation’s largest companies that are at least 50% owned by an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) or other broad-based employee ownership plan. Many are 100% employee-owned. The great majority (90%) of the companies on this list have ESOPs, although a number of them have more than one plan. Other vehicles for employee ownership on this list include profit sharing plans invested in company stock, stock purchase plans, 401(k) plans, and a worker cooperative.
The companies on the list employ approximately 668,000 people worldwide
Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), the most common form of employee ownership for companies on the list, are an employer-sponsored benefit plan. Companies contribute stock or cash to buy stock to an employee stock ownership trust. Generally, all full-time employees who have worked for a year or more are in the plan and receive allocations of stock every year based on relative pay or a more level formula. They get their shares after they leave and can sell them back to the company at an appraised fair market value. Companies and their owners can get significant tax benefits from an ESOP, and they are particularly attractive as a means to buy out an owner or owners of a closely held company. Most of the ESOPs on this list were set up for that reason. ESOPs are only very rarely funded by employees themselves.
Research on ESOPs shows that:
- ESOP companies grow about 2.5% per year faster after an ESOP is set up than would have been expected based on their performance relative to peer companies prior to an ESOP.
- ESOP participants average about 2.5 times more in total retirement assets than do employees in non-ESOP companies.
- ESOP companies lay people off at one-third to one-fourth the rate of other companies.
About the National Center for Employee Ownership
The National Center for Employee Ownership is a non-profit information, and research organization on all forms of broad-based employee ownership. Details about the NCEO and employee ownership are available at www.nceo.org.
About Reasor’s®
Reasor’s® was founded 52 years ago at a single location in Tahlequah, Oklahoma by namesake, Larry Reasor. Today, the company has 19 locations and two convenience stores throughout northeastern Oklahoma. In 2007, Reasor’s® became employee-owned and now provides jobs for over 3,000 community members. In 2013, Supermarket News ranked the company #25 on its Top 50 Small Chains and Independents in the U.S. For more information about Reasor’s®, visit www.reasors.com.
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