Which Technology Companies Are Employee Owned in 2022?

In this article, we’ll be examining some of the leading technology companies which are employee owned in 2022.

10:19 25 October 2022

In 2022, a lot of employers are struggling to retain great, skilled employees. Many of these employers are looking to new business models, such as employee ownership and employee share plans.

 

Employee ownership is an incredibly popular business model across the globe and many business owners are turning to this model in order to improve staff retention. In this article, we’ll be looking at some of the leading employee owned companies in 2022.

 

What is Employee Ownership?

This term refers to companies who allow their employees to have shares in the company, thereby sharing the ownership of the business. These shares can either be bought by or gifted to employees, and are often offered as performance incentives. 

 

Employee ownership is considered to be an effective model as, by allowing employees to own a small part of the company, those people will usually be more productive. This is due to the fact that they are directly affected by how successful the company is.

 

This simple equation means that staff working for employee owned companies believe that the harder they work, the more the company makes and, therefore, the more their own shares are worth.

 

Employee-Owned Technology Companies

Technology makes up a huge part of our lives in 2022. As a result, technology companies are extremely desirable to job hunters. In this section, we’re going to look at some of the leading employee owned technology companies: 

 

Tesla

 

A name that is familiar to most people around the world, Tesla was launched by entrepreneur, Elon Musk, in 2003. The company, which produces electric cars and renewable energy solutions for homes, allows employees to buy stock with up to 15% of their total compensation - at 85% of the prevailing stock price.

 

For example, an employee would pay approximately $790.50 for stocks which are traded at around $930. This has been extremely lucrative for Tesla’s employees, although none have quite achieved the wealth of owner, Musk, who is thought to be worth around $214 billion. 

 

Microsoft

Tech giant, Microsoft, has been around since 1975 and is the brainchild of tech genius, Bill Gates. Known for being employee-centric, Microsoft offers its staff a specified number of stocks at a highly discounted price based on the current stock price.

 

Microsoft stocks are granted in line with employee performance and, while this is a great incentive for staff, the discount is, unfortunately, classed as taxable income. This doesn’t, however, seem to put anybody off working for the company as Microsoft currently has around 221,000 employees. 

 

Amazon

 

 

Amazon is often in the headlines for the wrong reasons, including the low wages paid to staff. If you fancy being employed by the shopping giant, you may get access to company shares - but you’ll be expected to work for them. Although Amazon does offer a share scheme, this is only available to employees who show long term loyalty to the company and who work extremely hard.

 

Parsons

American company, Parsons, employs over 16,000 employees and has been in business since 1974. Parsons provides defence technology, security, and intelligence, and offers a share scheme to its employees based on performance. 

 

Google

With almost 134,000 employees, Google is the world’s favourite search engine and is used by a staggering 4.3 billion people. Google often states its commitment to employee ownership, and all employees have stock options and stock purchase plans.

 

Google’s founder, Larry Page, says, "The significant employee ownership of Google has made us what we are today. Because of our employee talent, Google is doing exciting work in nearly every area of computer science.

 

“We are in a very competitive industry where the quality of our product is paramount. Talented people are attracted to Google because we empower them to change the world; Google has large computational resources and distribution that enables individuals to make a difference.

 

“Our main benefit is a workplace with important projects, where employees can contribute and grow. We are focused on providing an environment where talented, hard working people are rewarded for their contributions to Google and for making the world a better place."

 

Driving the Future of Employment

As employees become more and more demanding, offering a basic salary and annual bonus is no longer enough to attract and retain talent. Many technology companies are, therefore, taking a leaf out of the books of well-established companies like John Lewis, which has been running an employee ownership model for its staff for many decades and has, thus, created a loyal and productive workforce. 

 

While employee ownership may not be a good fit for every company or every industry, it tends to lend itself perfectly to the technical world which relies on qualified, talented, and passionate staff to drive the business toward the future. 

 

As we’ve highlighted in this article, while some companies offer employee ownership shares to all of their staff, others do so only in exchange for commitment and hard work. So, it’s always worth checking out the terms and conditions before signing on the dotted line for a new tech role.