More Employees Should Be Encouraged to Own the Companies They Work For

At a time when there are more and more pushes happening to raise wages and a stock market that continues to perform well, I think more employees should be encouraged to invest in the very companies that they work for and participate in the opportunities for creating wealth that exists as a result of that.

Granted, many people will say that the stock market is too risky and that with inflation still at decades high levels, the path to entry for most lower-end spectrum earners is still a difficult challenge.

Education is key, I think, when it comes to promoting these ideas, because as I have long believed, it's these lower-end spectrum earners who are missing out the most and have the most to gain from being invested—not only in the companies they work for, but in the markets as a whole.

Beyond simply creating wealth, and even having employees share in the wealth created by these businesses, there is something to be said about employees having a sense of ownership and being partners with their bosses.

It actually helps the businesses.

Especially when it comes to workers who are on the front lines, directly interacting with customers, customer service could be greatly improved if workers have a sense that when they promote good practices that reflect well on the company, they have something personal to gain from offering a good experience.

When you have a personal stake in the business, you have a different attitude as to who gains financially through your own efforts. It's not just the boss. If you leave customers satisfied and happy when their experience is done, you're going to gain a little something from that as well.

But again, in order for an idea like this to work, employees need to be educated not only on the benefits of investing, but they need to be pulled away from commonly held beliefs among lower-end spectrum earners who have been led to believe that wealth opportunities and the stock market are only for the rich.

They need to know that the markets are for everyone, and everyone can share in the wealth generated by these businesses. It's not just a rich man's game. 

Beyond just investing, if companies could invest in their employee's knowledge regarding financial matters, it could also help them to become more satisfied with the wages they earn. Because the catalyst for wanting more money is typically because many people believe their financial troubles are the result of simply not making enough.

Offering regular financial advice such as on budgeting and planning, retirement, and the benefits of investing could go a long way in making employees smarter about their money and have a more positive attitude toward business in general, as well as their own financial futures.

Right now, when it comes to many fast food and retail workers, for example, there's a general belief among employees that they are simply being paid bottom dollar wages and being exploited so that rich fat cats can simply become richer and fatter, while they continue to be worked hard and can never seem to get ahead.

Walmart recently did a 3 for 1 stock split, and part of their aim in doing that, according to the company, was to make buying shares easier for their employees by lowering the cost per share. Chipotle followed suit and will be doing a 50 for 1 stock split in June and have expressed similar sentiments in their reasoning.

Whether or not these are actually interests these companies have can be debated. But I do think having lower points of entry does make it easier for employees to participate. But ultimately it won't accomplish the goal if the stigma among lower-end spectrum earners that markets are too risky, rigged, or only for the rich can be removed.

Regardless of the real motivations behind the stock splits, which ultimately offer no real gain to the companies themselves, I do think that now is a good time, more than ever, to fix some of the issues we have with workers demanding more in terms of wages, as well as to address some of the underlying reasons why customer service has suffered serious setbacks.

Companies need to understand that if workers feel like partners instead of just numbers or pawns in a game, they will be more encouraged to work more efficiently, and will have better interactions with the customers who ultimately pay their salaries and keep the companies running.

In other words, the more skin one has in the game, the more they are going to strive harder to win. On top of that, especially when a company pays a dividend, if employees have a sense that every dollar they collect means something will be shared with them as a result, they are going to be more encouraged to improve bottom lines for the company, because they know some of that money will also be passed down to them to more of a degree than simply receiving their paycheck.

I think more companies need to rethink their employee relationships and change attitudes from simple workers to partners. And if they do that, I think everyone has a better chance of ultimately succeeding in the primary goal.

Everyone makes more money.

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