The article from the San Francisco Chronicle discusses the fact that baby boomers own half of the privately held businesses that have employees. In every year, nearly 4,000,000 across the United States retire.
Selling isn’t always an option. According to the report, only 20% of small businesses that list themselves for sale actually find a buyer. More than 85% of business owners do not have a succession plan which outlines who will take over the business when they no longer want to (or are no longer able to) run the company according to a report released by Project Equity last week. Passing the small business onto other family members (family/generational succession) may be possible (about 15% of the owners actually do this) but it’s not always viable. In many cases, the companies simply close.
Employee ownership often works “it’s not as big a shift as people sometimes assume” due to the fact that it’s a shared form of entrepreneurship and differing skills amongst employees actually helps. The structure is designed to protect the employees (from each other and external issues) and provide certainty about how the plan works and what rules the owners operate under.
"Employee share ownership may help businesses stay open as boomers retire."
San Francisco Chronicle Click to Tweet
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