(Dallas, TX) Austin Commercial, an Austin Industries company, was recently awarded first place in the Associated General Contractors of America’s Construction Safety Excellence Award at its recent convention in Honolulu, Hawaii. Austin Commercial is a 100 percent employee-owned company and attributes the continued growth and success in part to their structure as an employee-owned private company, or “S corporation employee stock ownership plan” (S ESOP).
Austin’s award came in the “Construction Manager with 500,000+ man-hours” category, marking the third occasion that Austin Commercial has received the industry’s national award for safety since 2001. In addition to their commitment to safety, Austin Commercial is also invested in the development and implementation of premier safety and loss prevention programs, which are achieved through management commitment, employee involvement and program innovation.
“The Safety Excellence Award is truly an honor that all Austin Commercial employee-owners can take pride in,” said David Wells, president of Austin Commercial. “I am proud of our company’s world-class safety program, an aspect of our company that would not be possible without the dedication of all of our employee-owners which stems from our strong S ESOP structure.”
Austin’s employee-owners share in the success of the company and are motivated to work hard because the company’s earnings go toward their retirement accounts. The result from an S ESOP corporate structure is a culture of ownership in which each employee-owner is invested equally. Austin Industries has more than 5,500 employee-owners nationwide.
According to a University of Pennsylvania study, S ESOP companies like Austin Commercial create not only employee motivation and success, but also $14 billion in new savings for workers each year that they otherwise would not have. In addition, a survey from the National Center for Employee Ownership reported that S ESOP employees can have retirement account balances three to five times higher than the average 401(k) or other defined contribution plans.
Austin Commercial (http://www.austin-ind.com/commercial/) is a construction manager/general contractor with operations in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, South Carolina, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Phoenix. The company has expertise in all types of commercial construction. Projects include corporate headquarters, sports facilities, health care, aviation, schools and universities, and advanced technology (semiconductor plants, computer/data centers, call centers and customer service centers).
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The Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (“ESCA”) is the Washington, DC voice for employee-owned S corporations. ESCA’s exclusive mission is to preserve and protect S corporation ESOPs and the benefits they provide to the employees who own them. These companies have an important story to tell policymakers about the tremendous success of the S ESOP structure in generating long-term retirement savings for working Americans and their families. ESCA provides the vehicle and the voice for these efforts. ESCA represents employee-owners in every state in the nation.