Employee ownership is a powerful growth strategy and a means of providing value to dedicated employees. Employee ownership can build lasting wealth, keep businesses open and thriving, and strengthen local communities. Employee ownership provides employees with a financial stake in their company’s success through broad-based structures like Employee Stock Ownership Plans, Worker Cooperatives, and Employee-Owned Trusts.
These models provide employees with a vehicle to share in the success of the businesses where they work and offer ownership opportunities to workers who do not otherwise have access to them.
Employee ownership can:
The SBAC supports legislation that will incentivize employee ownership by providing $500,000 for feasibility grants and $200,000 for administration and education. Feasibility grants will be capped at $20,000 per business.
The Illinois Center for Employee Ownership will oversee and administer this program. The ILCEO is the state’s leading resource for education, guidance, and support on employee ownership. The ILCEO serves as the state’s central hub for unbiased information about how business owners can transition to employee ownership. It has the expertise, partnerships, and infrastructure necessary to efficiently and effectively deliver this program.
By investing in employee ownership, this legislation will: