(St. Louis, MO) – McCarthy Holdings, Inc., parent company to McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and MC Industrial, Inc., has been recognized as the “Healthiest Employer” in St. Louis for companies with 1,500-4,999 employees. Healthiest Employers is an independent data company that recognizes organizations that proactively shape the health of their employees. McCarthy—which is a 100 percent employee-owned private company, or “S corporation employee stock ownership plan” (S ESOP)—credits the achievement to its employee-owners who operate with a vested interest in the company’s success and its ability to remain a high-performing business.
“McCarthy’s never-ending mission is to be The Best Builder in America, and as a 100 percent employee-owned company, our holistic approach to wellness flows logically from this mission,” commented McCarthy President and Chief Operating Officer Derek Glanvill. “As employee-owners, we understand that our own health has a direct impact on the health of our business, and we are committed to ensuring our wellness together.”
The award is based upon McCarthy’s “Build for Life” initiative, a comprehensive program designed to encourage all employees and their families to strive toward optimal mental, physical and emotional well-being. The program focuses on four key areas: Awareness, Prevention, Activity, and Lifestyle & Stress. To jump start the program in 2010, employees received a free pedometer and used an online step tracking program to log daily steps. More than 50% of employees participated in the program, logging 184,974,999 steps. The 2011 Activity Challenge, now including spouses and partners, was completed July 8, 2011 with participants logging 222,775,416 steps.
Other key program features, to name a few, include a rewards program that earns reduced medical insurance premiums; complimentary health screenings, including blood pressure, BMI/waist circumference checks, cholesterol/HDL/Glucose screenings, and Prostate Specific Antigen screenings; education initiatives; wellness areas in all main office locations; and a wide array of company-sponsored wellness events.
According to a University of Pennsylvania study, S ESOP companies like McCarthy create not only employee motivation and success, but also $14 billion in new savings for workers each year that they otherwise would not have. This is because profits of the company flow into the ESOP (retirement) accounts of the workers. Moreover, 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. This helps to explain why S ESOP company employees can be so successful, as compared with most working Americans who—an April 2011 Gallup poll found—think they will lack enough money to live comfortably in retirement.
“Employee-owners work smarter, harder, and as McCarthy has shown, healthier because of their commitment and investment in the business,” said Greg Klein, chairman of the board of directors of the Employee-Owned S Corporations of America. “McCarthy is a prime example of what S corporation ESOP companies can do for workers, for our communities, and for our economy.”
McCarthy is one of the nation’s oldest and largest American-owned commercial contractors. Headquartered in St. Louis, the firm has offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Diego, Newport Beach, San Francisco and Sacramento. Repeatedly honored as a Best Place to Work, McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.
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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.