What 433 ESOP Companies Tell Us About Recruitment and Retention

Owners at Work · Oct 20, 2026 · 1h 1m

SUMMARY

In this episode of Owners at Work, we sit down with Liza Shifrin, researcher at the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), to discuss the findings of NCEO's first Recruitment and Retention Survey, which gathered responses from 433 ESOP companies. We explore how ESOP companies are attracting and retaining workers, including findings that suggest employee-owned companies experience substantially lower turnover than their conventional counterparts. We also examine some surprising results, including why employee ownership may be a stronger tool for retaining employees than…