DAI Pens Opinion Piece on Benefits of Employee Ownership

November 18, 2012

DAI’s Senior Vice President for Strategy and Marketing Jean Gilson wrote about employee ownership as a business model in the September 14­–20 edition of the Washington Business Journal.

In her words: “When employees own the business, workers’ interests align with the company’s, giving employees an extra incentive to perform, sometimes make hard choices, and do whatever they can to drive success.

“DAI’s more than 600 employee-owners have enabled the company to surpass its business goals, growing steadily over the past 40 years and helping build meaningful retirement savings for workers—savings funded wholly by our company—who otherwise would not have the opportunity to set aside those kinds of funds for the future.”

DAI is owned through an S corporation employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, which gives shares of the company’s stock to eligible employees and holds those shares in trust for them (in the ESOP). Workers accrue more shares with time at the company; shares accrue more value as the company charts its success.

To learn more about employee-owned companies, click here.