Employee-owned S corporation WinCo is making news in a new region, opening two new grocery stores in the Phoenix area.
As the story that ran recently on KTVK/KASW Phoenix news highlights, WinCo’s structure as an employee-owned business makes them unlike any of the current grocery stores in the area. Idaho-based WinCo’s ESOP enables its workers to amass significant retirement savings and to have a tremendous, positive impact on the culture of the company.
Watch the short clip here: WinCo Foods Opening in the Valley
Congress authorized this structure to encourage and expand retirement savings and give American workers equity in the companies in which they work. But beyond that, this approach at companies like WinCo sets them apart from their industry competitors because as owners, their workers are more motivated and invested in every day’s success.
In a 2010 Georgetown University/McDonough School of Business study, two leading tax economists reviewed the performance of a cross-section of S corporation ESOP companies during the recent recession and found that these companies performed better than other companies in job creation, revenue growth, and providing for workers’ retirement security.
Specifically, the study found that companies that are S corporation ESOPs are proven job-creators, even during tough times. While overall U.S. private employment in 2008 fell by 2.8 percent, employment in surveyed S corporation ESOP companies rose by two percent. Meanwhile, 2008 wages per worker in surveyed S corporation ESOP companies rose by six percent, while overall U.S. earnings per worker grew only half that much.
These two new stores in Phoenix show a lot of promise, adding more employee-owners and bringing the American Dream at Work to more Arizonans.
Would you be encouraged to shop at a grocery store where the employees own the company? Let us know in the comments.