How We Celebrate Employee Ownership

This month we’ve shared what being an ESOP company means, its advantages, and how it makes us different but now we want to share how we celebrate our employee ownership. Being an employee-owned company is something we don’t take for granted and taking the time to stop and celebrate it routinely is something we all look forward to. 

You’ll find us year-round hosting happy hours, golf outings, costume parties, luncheons, and tailgating (Iowa vs Iowa State) – we love it all! During employee ownership month, we also take the time to share with our employees the value of ESOP. Below are the ways we make this learning fun. 

E-ducation 

One of the most important parts of being employee-owned is educating our employees and making sure we all understand the details involved. We take time all year to educate, but we like to emphasize the education piece during this month.  Jeopardy and Game Shows are some of our favorite ways to sharpen our ESOP knowledge. Competitive spirits are at a high when prizes are involved! Our team also loves anything that also involves food – we host a Rise and Shine ESOP (Eggs, Sausage, Orange juice & Pancake) breakfast in our breakroom where ESOP facts decorate the walls. 

S-hout Outs 

We love to recognize and shout out our newly vested employees each year at our vesting lunch! This has been a special event for all of us, where we get to spend time with each other outside of the office and hear from our leaders. During this event, we recognize each employee that has reached fully vested status and honor them with a Palmer Group jacket. It’s become a tradition and a special finale to end our ESOP month. 

O-lympics 

Each year we host the ESOP Olympics! Whether it’s having a go at the dizzy bat or cheering on our teammates for the hula-hoop competition, it’s an event that is always memorable. Education is sprinkled throughout as ESOP questions must be answered correctly to move on to your next Olympic event.   

P-anel 

The past couple of years we’ve added an ESOP panel to our month-long education activities. We invite other communication team members from various Iowa ESOP Companies to come talk to us about how they operate as employee-owners, what it means to them, and ways that they celebrate. We love gaining ideas from other ESOP companies, the collaboration and partnership is something we have found is a cool perk of the ESOP Company “Club.” 

This year our panel is going to be our very own communications committee. An engaged and committed communication committee is something that is vital to keep the energy and culture going throughout the year.  Each year, we induct a new committee member to keep ideas fresh. The panel will highlight what the group is about, why we enjoy it, and why we encourage others to consider applying. 

ESOP 

Being an Employee Owner is a great advantage and responsibility. Celebrating everyone who makes our company unique and successful is what the month is all about to us! Learn more about our ESOP history and benefits here. 

By: Sarah Assman