Here at ESCA, we are excited to announce employee-owned and ESCA member company, Burns & McDonnell, plans to hire some 600 new employees next year. What’s even more exciting is Burns & McDonnell’s commitment to the success of its employees, including these recent hires.
Upon announcing its expansion, Burns & McDonnell CEO Greg Graves, discussed the importance of employee-ownership in the success of both the company and individual employee-owners. “As an employee-owned company, everyone has ‘skin in the game’ and our successes are shared. This shared success creates a work ethic and cooperation that leads to greater results for our clients which is the ultimate goal.”
In addition to the direct benefits for employee-owners, such as secure retirement accounts and shared successes, S ESOP companies are also hitting high marks in job and revenue growth. Last year a study by economist Alex Brill found that S ESOPs in particular have been shown to lead to higher wage growth, job stability, employment, and sales than would otherwise have been anticipated. And total direct and indirect output from these companies is nearly 2% of GDP. The employee-ownership business model has produced incredible success for the engineering, architecture, and construction firm. Last year, Burns & McDonnell employed 4,300 people and had $2.3 billion in total sales. And the company expects a 15% increase in 2014.
The combination of both financial and personal success makes Burns & McDonnell the perfect illustration of the benefits of employee ownership. We congratulate Burns & McDonnell on their growth and another incredibly successful year. It is great to have companies like Burns & McDonnell as the face of employee-ownership and ESCA.