BUSINESS OWNERS ARE GETTING OLDER, as is everybody. But as you near retirement age – whatever that’s going to look like – you’re going to be faced with the Big Question.

What does your exit mean to the future of the business?

Most owners would like to see the company survive, and even thrive. After all, you’ve put your heart and soul and passion into it for years, even decades.

You care about your employees. You care about customers. And your partners.

Fortunately, the path of having your employees take over the business has become easier with the Worker Ownership Bill, S. 2786. It just passed the US Senate on June 18, 2018.

This path is worth serious consideration, because it’s been shown to improve productivity, loyalty, and business health.

“Far too often, small businesses grow successfully year after year, only to falter soon after their founders retire and sell their shares to new owners. As baby-boomer business owners retire and their companies change hands, this legislation will make it easier for those business owners to exit their businesses by selling to a different kind of buyer — their employees. Instead of a multinational holding corporation or a distant financial buyer, the companies will still be rooted locally in their communities, and decades of research shows that employee-owned companies are not only more productive and more likely to create new jobs, but they also build up the assets and the job quality of working Americans. Employee-owners are not only active participants in the economy, they also general have dramatically higher household net worth, more job stability, and important benefits like flex time and tuition reimbursement. This legislation will spread the benefits of employee ownership to more workers, more companies, and more communities.” — Loren Rodgers, Executive Director of the National Center for Employee Ownership.

Of course, if you want business continuity and health, you’re still going to be identifying and training the future leaders. But Employee Ownership will give everyone a reason to be loyal and engaged.

And when employees care about customers, those customers will be taken care of and become loyal and engaged as well.

Letting you rest assured that your life’s work is in good hands.