Polyguard Products Inc. said it recently held its 29th annual employee stock ownership plan dinner at Winding Brooks event venue where 22 new employees received their first account statement.
Polyguard’s ESOP is a broad-based ownership plan where employees become owners with no out-of-pocket contribution of their own. Polyguard is a 100 percent employee-owned ESOP and currently has two ESOP millionaires working with the company, with that number expected to grow in the coming years. An ESOP is a retirement plan which is in addition to the 401(k) and matching contribution already offered by the company. Its value is based on the stock price of the company, which is up 340 percent since 2010. This year’s ESOP contribution is roughly 20 percent of eligible employees’ salaries.
“Polyguard’s ESOP allows us to create a culture based on teamwork and pride,” Polyguard President Shawn Eastham said. “All the employees get a chance to share in the success of the company. Our employees act like owners because they are owners.”
Polyguard, with 23 consecutive years of sales growth, currently employees 12 owners who own 1 percent or more of the company and has more than 100 total employee owners.
Polyguard’s ESOP began in the mid-1980s after John and Kathy Muncaster bought the company and wanted to build the type of culture where employees have a direct impact in not only their own personal success but also that of the company.
