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100% Employee-Owned

Lerch Bates is 100% employee-owned via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, or ESOP.

What Is An ESOP?

An ESOP, or Employee Stock Ownership Plan, is a unique employee benefit program where a company contributes shares of its stock to a trust on behalf of its employees. Although it is a retirement plan similar to a 401k, in an ESOP plan, you don’t make any personal contributions to your stock ownership. While this is the basis of an ESOP, companies can have varying percentages of the company that are owned by the employees.

 

How did Lerch Bates become an ESOP?

In 1986, Quentin Bates, former CEO and co-founder, first established the ESOP at our company, and Lerch Bates became 100% employee-owned in 1994. Our ESOP invests primarily in the stock of Lerch Bates, Inc. which doesn’t trade on public markets. Employee-owners bring a ‘we own what we do’ mindset in everything we do because we are all owners of the company and its success.

 

What Are the Benefits of an ESOP?

Contributions

  • Every year Lerch Bates contributes to your ESOP account. Your account grows from the annual contributions and from the reallocation of any forfeitures (the non-vested balances) of employees who leave Lerch Bates.
  • The annual contribution is a certain percent of pay (which is the same % for all ESOP participants).

Retirement

  • Participants in the plan can receive significant retirement benefits at no monetary cost to them.
  • Employees at ESOPs have 2.5x greater retirement accounts than non-employee owners and on average earn 5-12% more in wages.

Team Focus

  • Over 75% of ESOP companies report that employee-ownership improved overall employee productivity.
  • Company success results in your success.

 

More ESOP Facts:

  • There are more than 6,500 ESOPs nationwide, holding a total of $2.1 trillion in total assets.
  • In 2021, 283 new ESOPs were created in the United States, providing 36,355 new participants with ownership stakes.
  • Of the 14 million ESOP participants, there are 10.7 million that are actively working in ESOP companies.
  • Although most ESOP companies are private, there are about 450 public ESOPs.