Employee Ownership Boosts Corporate Horsepower, New Study Says

A study by the University of Washington for the state Department of Community Development has found that giving employees a piece of the action is good business.

Evidence of this, says Jim Keogh, the state’s expert on such matters, is Spokane’s own experience with company buyouts by employees.

October is “Employee Ownership Month” in Washington by proclamation of the governor, Keogh observes, and this community is in the forefront of the movement, thanks in large part to Spokane consultant Richard Phenneger.

Phenneger & Morgan, the firm he founded 15 years ago to design, finance and implement company buyouts through employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), has been a major player not just in Spokane, but regionally and nationally.

Nationwide, thousands of firms employing millions of workers have adopted some form of employee ownership structure. Company employees now own stock in nearly one-third of the Fortune Industrial 500 and one-fifth of the Fortune Service 500, including such companies as United Airlines.

There are no records kept of the number of employee-owned firms, Keogh says. He knows of about 150 in Washington and 18 in Spokane. “But I’m sure there are many, many more,” he says.

The obvious ones here, of course, include the three big supermarket chains - Rosauers, Yokes and Tidymans - plus Humanix personnel service, and manufacturers CXT Inc. and Accra-Fab.

“Our studies show that employee ownership and participation in management are powerful motivators to make companies stronger competitors,” says Keogh. “Active participation is more than just taking care to turn off the lights when you leave - it’s figuring out ways to increase sales, win customers, enhance profits. Comparing employee owned enterprises with the competition, our studies found a very strong correlation between these types of activities and company success.

“This can be an unbeatable combination when it comes to increasing the number of jobs in locally owned enterprises,” said Keogh. “Sometimes, it’s the only way to save local jobs which otherwise would be lost to the community due to changes in ownership, or simply because the corporation wants to get out of the business.”

Play explores impact of violence

A free stage play about the effects of domestic violence in the workplace will be offered tomorrow at the Spokane Civic Theater.

The contemporary theatrical production, co-sponsored by the Spokane County Domestic Violence Consortium and Gov. Mike Lowry, will be open to the public without charge from 10 a.m. to noon, on a first come, first served basis.

“Lily Loves Charlie, OK?” is a production of Municipal Light & Theater Co. of Seattle. The play was created by a cast of professional actors in collaboration with agencies and individuals actively involved with domestic violence.

Surveillance reveals lax care

Three out of four people fire their baby sitter or nanny after seeing what goes on behind their backs.

That has been the experience of Kid View Inc., a New York-based video surveillance service, founder Damon Sleicher told me.

His 18-month-old firm enables parents of the very young and children of the very old to see how their loved ones are being treated by home baby sitters or nursing home attendants when nobody else is looking. “We bring a camera concealed in a clock or a radio or other object into the room and it transmits to a VCR located somewhere nearby which records what happens,” Sleicher explains.

People presumably would not avail themselves of the service if they were not already suspicious or concerned, Sleicher concedes. Even so, the outcomes he reports are alarming. But do they this justify this type of surreptitious surveillance?

It’s not “spying,” insists the entrepreneur. The sitter or nursing attendant is not monitored 24 hours a day. Instead, an eight-hour picture is taken of what happens in the room while the person is on duty and at work.

It costs $220 to rent the equipment for three days, or $1,395 to buy it. The firm is about to launch a national marketing push to establish distributorships for the service.

Sleicher contacted me after an Internet search turned up the Sunday column I write on retirement for this newspaper which is also published in The Spokesman-Review’s on-line newspaper, Virtually Northwest.

Kid View’s mailing address is 29 Park Ave.; Suite 203; Manhasset, N.Y. 11030.

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes a notes column each Wednesday. If you have business items of regional interest for future columns, call 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

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