My Company. My Voice.
My American Dream.

When we look at our peers outside VGM Group, hardly anyone stays at their employer longer than five years. No one is thinking about retirement. They are putting off big life decisions or still relying on their parents. We’re on a different path. I expect to have enough saved to retire early, just like my mom.

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.

Employee ownership has changed my life. I hope someday soon every worker can proudly say they own a piece of the company where they work.

You know you’re an owner, so you’re going to see the value of your work.

An ownership mindset changes the way everyone works. Whether we’re on the registers or stocking supplies or in the back office, everyone’s voice matters.

As owners, people are more invested.

This is my company

We know if we do something that makes us work more quickly or safely, we all benefit.

Employee stock ownership programs make capitalism work for everybody

As we celebrate Labor Day, I’ve been thinking about how lucky I am to have stumbled upon employee ownership. Many of my friends are hopping between jobs, trying to find that place where they can have a voice and grow.

Building North River’s ESOP has been the most impactful accomplishment of my career.

I remember what it’s like to not have my voice heard at work and feel so lucky and grateful, that I now work – and own – a company where everyone has a say in its success.

Compared to other places I’ve worked, the teamwork employee ownership engenders is second to none. When I succeed, my co-owners succeed. Our clients also feel the difference when every single person in our firm has direct financial interest in the outcomes. We have a 92% retention rate because the longer we stay at the company, the more our ESOP accounts grow. For clients, this means they can trust us to deeply understand and absorb the nuances of their businesses.

Most importantly, it’s not just people with college degrees who are building generational wealth. Whether we’re working with spreadsheets, driving delivery trucks or loading equipment in the warehouse, we have the same opportunity to change the trajectory of our financial futures.

Working at a large corporation can feel like you’re grinding away for the benefit of somebody else, but at an employee-owned company everyone is on an equal playing field. That accountability makes me want to succeed not just for myself, but for all of my coworkers.

For me, it’s made possible a life my parents and many of their peers had, but which I long believed was impossible for me and my generation. Pensions, supplemental health care via union membership, solidly-funded social safety nets like Medicare, and home ownership provided security for my parents’ generation. For my age group – early 40s and younger – those avenues to a funded and financially-cared-for retirement flat out don’t exist.

The money, and security, is life changing. I have two kids. College tuition is through the roof. Without the ESOP, I don’t think I’d ever be able to retire. But with it, I can imagine a future where I don’t have to work forever.

I have a wife, two grown kids and four grandchildren and that ESOP account provides a sense of security for all of us.

Employee ownership has been a game changer not only for the company and our associates, but for the Southern Indiana town of Jasper.

I’d been struggling for so many years. I didn’t finish college. I didn’t have any direction, but now I realized, this is a career. I can build on this. These guys believe in me.

I wasn’t giving up on the American Dream. I just wasn’t sure how I was going to build it. Then I found DSG’s distribution development trainee program on LinkedIn…and it changed the direction of my career.

More Americans should know how it feels to have a voice, a shared purpose, and a real stake in their companies.

Because we’re all getting a tangible share of the profits our labor makes possible, we go the extra mile to deliver the absolute best for our customers.

When people have a voice at work and a tangible stake in the company’s future, they become more invested in its success. They stay longer, contribute more, and feel a stronger sense of purpose. I see the results firsthand in HR. Our employee retention rate is 95 percent, a level of stability I never experienced at any previous employer. At a time when many organizations struggle with turnover and workers frequently move from job to job, employee ownership creates stability that benefits both employees and the business.

I’m 60 and it’s incredible to know I won’t have to work forever. I’ll be able to retire and enjoy the next stage of my life.

Initially, I saw the ESOP as a valuable retirement benefit. What I could not have understood then was how profoundly employee ownership would shape my career, leadership perspective and understanding of what it means to have a genuine stake in your company.

We’re producing something special here. Yes, we’re making high-quality metal building parts, but we’re also building wealth and security for families across Arkansas and beyond.

For me, ownership has meant a sense of belonging, a positive work culture experience, good pay, and the ability to provide more secure finances for my family than I experienced growing up.

When everyone has an ownership stake, people are aligned around a common outcome. They step in where needed, even outside their usual responsibilities. They favor long-term decisions because the business is not being managed to meet an outside investor’s quarterly target.

In an industry often challenged by high turnover, the combination of a strong ownership culture and the tangible benefits of an ESOP creates a workplace where people want to stay. Great retention gives us experienced co-owners, and experienced co-owners give our students the best care

Becoming an employee owner changed my life. It gave my family more security and it has put retirement in reach in a way that I never could have dreamed.

We’re all working towards a common goal. We’re working for ourselves even though we’re working for a company. We’re working to build our future wealth.

Each year, there is a celebration punctuated by a surprise announcement of the value of our stock. That’s when my eyes first really started to open. I thought to myself, ‘Wow, this can really mean something.

Over time, as my ESOP account has grown, that little perk I barely understood at first has turned out to be life changing. I’m planning on retiring at 62. How many Americans can say the same?

Everyone wants the company to do better, because when it does, their ESOP accounts grow in value

One of the best things about the ESOP is it encourages everyone, no matter the job title, to proactively solve problems because we all own the company

I know I’m important, but it made me feel really important, like I was worth more, like I had a stake in something

Going to work usually feels like you are there to help someone else, but at an employee-owned company like Web, the experience is very different. We are there to make our fellow owners’ lives better now and in the future.

I never expected I’d be at the same company, Swinerton, for 28 years. I’ve stayed because of our culture, which all comes down to the fact that my colleagues and I own the company.

It isn’t just the financial rewards that have been life changing. Being an owner has given me a sense of initiative and drive that have changed the way I think about myself.

In past jobs, my co-workers and I would clock in, complete our tasks and clock out. Most people I know stay just a few years at any company before moving on. But at Stone Age, we’ve got a completely different mindset. We’re in this for the long haul because when we do what’s best for the company, more money goes back into our pockets.

The ESOP gives us hope. It means that when I finally hang up my boots, I’ll be taken care of — and, if I play my cards right, the rest of my family will be OK, too. It’s an unbelievable feeling.

For the first time in my career, I felt like my voice mattered and my decisions had a real impact. I wasn’t just working for a company but helping build it

You hear about people in my age group still living at home or delaying having a family because of affordability issues. The ESOP has positioned me so that I no longer have to be concerned about my needs and can truly build towards what many consider the traditional American Dream.

Employee ownership helps create a workplace where people are trained, engaged, and looking out for one another. Every worker deserves the same opportunity to share in the success, stability, and safety of the company they help build.

The financial benefit of being an owner was more than I ever imagined

The harder and smarter we work, the more we’re going to make. We’re working for ourselves and our co-workers as much as anything.

You can’t push off accountability because we are all owners and responsible for what we put out.

One of the most powerful things about an ESOP is how it fosters an ownership mindset—where every employee is motivated to make the company succeed, because it directly impacts all of us.

Being owners brought on a whole different view of our jobs. When you’re part of something, you’re just going to work harder.

If more workers had the opportunity to own the companies they help build, we’d have stronger communities and a stronger economy.

With my ESOP account growing in the background, I have more financial freedom in my day-to-day life. Two years ago, I was able to buy a house in a beautiful neighborhood. A lot of my co-workers in the same age group are out buying houses, too. I got married last year, and my wife and I welcomed our baby home in December. Because our finances are secure, my wife was able to stay home for the last seven months. All of this has completely changed my mindset about work. I’m not just working for a paycheck, I’m building a career.

I feel like we’re all living the American Dream through employee ownership, of being an entrepreneur, of owning a business and seeing what you can do to help it grow.

Multiple people in my division have retired recently with a million dollars in their ESOP accounts. I know three people who just retired early because of their ESOP. I’m still some years away, but I feel confident that I’ll be able to comfortably retire when I’m ready. When we work hard and help our company thrive, it’s not just another corporation or CEO that gets to line their pockets. That success gets invested back into all of us.

As our ESOP accounts grow, we no longer feel like we have to save every cent. Some of our co-owners have been able to buy houses. While many Americans have no idea how they’ll save enough to ever stop working, we expect to retire on time, without contributing a penny to the ESOP.

Most Americans have nothing, or next to nothing, saved for retirement, let alone think of retiring early. My brother-in-law just told me he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to retire. We can, and should, do better, and ESOPs can play a huge role.

We all take pride in being owners. We want to work safer and cleaner and faster and build more product. The smarter we work, the better we all do. We all feel like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves.

Employee ownership shares the rewards of capitalism with the workers who help build that value.Who wouldn’t want more of that

I had no idea [the ESOP] would change my life in so many ways. It’s brought meaning to my work, given me a voice on the job and allowed me to build wealth for my family.

As the power of the ESOP sunk in, we started to act like owners. You learn that what you do counts, what everybody does counts.

It’s a life-changing benefit that provides peace of mind for my family’s future and I get it just for coming to work and doing my job.

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It’s all so simple. And wonderful. And all too rare in today’s America.

We all have a true stake in the company, so are extra motivated to help it succeed.

I’m building wealth that extends not just to me, but to my kids and grandkids. I never had a chance to go to college, but my ESOP account means I won’t have to work forever. I can think about retiring in a few years, without worry.

The more Johnny’s grows, the more successful Johnny’s is, the more successful we all are.

The first ESOP statement I got blew my mind. It was a year after I started and my balance was already more than my 401(k) after years of working. And it’s kept growing each year, each statement providing a sense of security for me and my family I never thought possible.

They understood that the harder and smarter we worked, the better the company would do, and the more secure we would all be when we retire

I have a firm belief that the regularity of good work, at a good wage, is a foundation to a good life.