1 / 31

The Employee-Owned  Experience

The Employee-Owned  Experience. New Belgium Brewing and Namasté Solar. We The Owners. Feature-length documentary film featuring employee owners from New Belgium Brewing, Namasté Solar and DPR Construction The film explores the important question, “What does it mean to be an owner ?”

odetta
Download Presentation

The Employee-Owned  Experience

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Employee-Owned Experience New Belgium Brewing and Namasté Solar

  2. We The Owners • Feature-length documentary film featuring employee owners from New Belgium Brewing, Namasté Solar and DPR Construction • The film explores the important question, “What does it mean to be an owner?” • Full film to be aired during lunch! • www.wetheowners.com

  3. About Namasté Solar • Employee-Owned Cooperative • ~70 people • 55 Co-Owners and Candidates (on ownership track) • 8 years old • Largest locally-owned PV company in Colorado • Offering commercial-scale services nationally • PV Systems Integrator • Homes • Businesses • Non-Profits/Government • 2,600+ installations • 22+ MW

  4. About New Belgium Brewing • 100% employee owned via an ESOP • 502 coworkers. Approximately 40% reside outside of Colorado • 22 years old • 3rd largest craft brewery in the US. One of 3 employee owned breweries • Makers of Fat Tire and ~ 30+ other great beers!

  5. Commonalities of Culture

  6. Transparency at Namasté Solar • Co-Ownership = all access pass • All meetings are open • All notes are accessible • All information on the shared server is available (except for legally-protected info) • Even salaries are public knowledge • Monthly, day-long “Big Picture Meetings” • Open Book Management

  7. Transparency at New Belgium • Monthly all-staff meetings produced on-line and recorded to ensure access • Annual all-staff planning designed to encourage input and influence on the future • Being a coworker at New Belgium inspires ownership thinking • All meetings are open • All notes are accessible • All information is available on the “Mothernet” (intranet)

  8. Community Giving at Namasté Solar • 20% of annual profit • % to Namasté Solar Foundation, % to “typical” community giving • Historically, most giving = solar PV systems to non-profits • The “gift that keeps on giving” • Since 2006: 42 solar PV systems / 200kW / $750k

  9. Community Giving at New Belgium • $1 per barrel of beer • Over $5 million donated to non-profits • 1% For The Planet program • Tour de Fat • Over $2 million from beer sales • Volunteer encouragement (1 hour of paid time off for every 2 hours of time donated) • 3,000 hours of time donated

  10. Environmental Stewardship at Namasté Solar • Buildings • Boulder office = LEED Gold Certified; Denver = LEED Certified • Vehicles • Fleet of plug-in hybrid Prii • Biodiesel Install vehicles • Public Transportation • All employees get free Eco-Pass for RTD buses and light rail • Encourage biking, carpooling, etc. over being SOV’s (showers in both offices) • Waste mitigation • Extensive Zero Waste and Hard-to-Recycle Program

  11. Environmental Stewardship at New Belgium • Measuring and publicizing our impact • Water use • Electric use • Natural gas use • Setting goals • Reduce energy intensity by 10% by 2018 • Smart Grid initiative – grid impact reduction and support • Fleet • Distribution in Fort Collins – biodiesel and electric • Borrowed vehicle option • Anniversary bike • Plug in vehicles and customer use

  12. Certified B Corps B-corps are certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. • Namasté Solar B-score: 145 • Best for the Environment, Best for the Workers, Best for the World • 2012, 2013

  13. Certified B Corps www.Bcorporation.net • New Belgium B-score: 120 • B Corp Best for Workers, Best for the Environment

  14. FUN! At Namasté Solar • CORE VALUE: Namastaliens like to play and have fun together, and we’re fond of engaging in pranks and tom-foolery. • Fun Committee – event planning • Pranks around office Yep, those are pallets.

  15. FUN! At New Belgium • CORE VALUE: Having fun • Building community • Play (rolle bolle, volleyball, tournaments, outings, etc.) • Social • Levity effect

  16. Differences of Structure

  17. Ownership Models New Belgium Brewing: 100% S-Corporation ESOP owned Beneficial ownership Shares dispersed pro-rata based on earnings One year, 1,000 hours, 7/1 & 1/1 Retirement wealth built with stock

  18. Ownership Models New Belgium Brewing: 100% S-Corporation ESOP owned Servant leadership Participation Influence Multiple decision making bodies Board of Directors Missionaries Compass Committees Teams

  19. Ownership Models New Belgium Brewing: 100% S-Corporation ESOP owned Profit motive Profit People Plant B-Corp enabled more than profit only decision making

  20. Ownership Models Namasté Solar: Employee-Owned Cooperative Direct ownership One person, one share, one vote Class A Common Stock One-year “Candidacy” period Two classes of Preferred Stock Class B and Class Z No voting rights

  21. Ownership Models Namasté Solar: Employee-Owned Cooperative Democratic decision-making Shareholder level Operational level (to an extent) Board of Directors 7 members 5 Employee-Owners, 2 External Directors

  22. Ownership Models Namasté Solar: Employee-Owned Cooperative Stakeholder Balancing Articles of Incorporation instruct the Board to consider all stakeholders, not just bottom line Employees Vendors/Partners Customers Community Environment Company

  23. Challenges

  24. New Belgium: Growth/Scaling • Becoming a national company • 24X7 production • 4 time zones • 2nd Brewery in Asheville, NC

  25. New Belgium: Participation and Influence • New tools for participation • New framework for participation • Communication and education • Capability of managers • Rights and Responsibility • Democratic framework

  26. New Belgium: Competition • More breweries • 409 openings in 2012 • 2,347 craft breweries • Craft scale vs. large brewery scale • Impacts on pricing/revenue • Competing for talent & stomachs • Supporting each other • Anchors of quality

  27. Namasté Solar: Growth/Scaling • 1/1/06: 5 Employee-Owners • 1/1/13: 80 E-O’s + non-E-O’s • Frequency of meetings • Information sharing • Decision making • Culture • Organizational structure/management

  28. Namasté Solar: Decision Making & Accountability • Full direct democracy  representational democracy • Decentralized decision-making  more centralized • Recent vote to empower CEO • Accountability • Through Transparency • Through FOH conversations • Through Self-discipline

  29. Namasté Solar: Industry challenges • Rapidly Changing Industry • Products • Incentives • Subject to politics and policy • Legislative and Regulatory arenas • Competition • 2005: 40 solar companies in state • 2010: 400 solar companies in state • 2013: 275 solar companies in state

  30. Resources • Rocky Mountain Employee Ownership Center www.rmeoc.org • National Center for Employee Ownership www.nceo.org • US Federation of Worker Cooperatives www.usworker.coop • We the Owners www.wetheowners.com

  31. Thank you! Amanda Bybee amanda.bybee@namastesolar.com 303-447-0300 Jenny Briggs jbriggs@newbelgium.com 970-221-0524

More Related