Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Basics

• Often Abbreviated as ESPP
  • Sometimes referred to as an “Employee Stock Ownership Plan” or ESOP
• An Employee Benefits system wherein Employees can Buy and/or Earn Stock in the Company
• If designed right it can give employees ownership as they work for a company so they actively have a stake in what they make rather than producing labor for some other group
• Also given they then have some stakes in the company that may make them care for it a bit more, although goals of avoiding someone being tied to a job they don’t want to be, or the whole Morale Can Only Be Cultivated or Bought, Not Demanded etc also apply so there is a balance to be had there

To-Do’s

• Can it be done with non-publicly traded companies (and ones that never plan on going public?, ie not an IOU for stock when it becomes available etc)
• How can this tie into Workplace Democracy etc
• How to reduce/prevent accumulation of Stocks such that certain individuals could wield outsize influence, or relinquish their stocks to someone who would

External Links

• The Wikipedia Page on ESPPs