Employee-owned Bridges Health ‘proud’ of national top 100 listing

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Oklahoma-based Bridges Health landed on the National Center for Employee Ownership’s 2023 top 100 list. The company manages 37 skilled nursing, long-term care and therapy facilities with more than 2,500 employees across the state.

“We are extremely proud to be named one of the top 100 employee-owned companies in the country, especially just three years into our employee ownership journey,” said Brett Coble, Bridges Health president and CEO. “We were pleasantly surprised to receive that recognition.”

Bridge Health is one of two Oklahoma employee-owned companies recognized by NCEO this year. NCEO reports Oklahoma has 70 ESOPs with 43,533 participants.

Homeland, Oklahoma’s largest locally owned grocery chain with 31 locations and 3,100 employees statewide, also made the list. It has been employee-owned since 2012.

The list features dozens of supermarkets and engineering, architecture and construction companies but only four companies in the post-acute, long-term care sector.

Of the 6,467 businesses with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) in the United States, 20% are manufacturing companies but only 2% are health care and social assistance companies, according to the most recent data from NCEO.

“It’s a unique ownership model (for nursing homes). It’s really been a delight to see our employee owners embrace that,” Coble said.

An ESOP is an employee benefit that gives workers ownership interest in the company in the form of shares of stock.

Bridges Health launched its ESOP in December 2020. Employees pay nothing to participate in the program. Their shares are held in a trust and a company-funded stock contribution is made to their retirement plan each year. When they retire or resign, the company “buys back” the shares. Employees are fully vested in the plan after six years of employment. Leaving sooner means leaving money behind.

In a market where many health care providers are vying for the same limited number of workers, Coble said the benefit is a great recruitment and retention tool.

“We absolutely attribute our success in recruiting and retaining workers to the ESOP model and our culture in general,” Coble said. “We hope it will continue to help us not just in the workforce arena, but it will allow us to continue to improve quality.”

Employee owners take pride in their work and are rewarded with an additional retirement benefit for delivering quality care, he said.

A 2020 study conducted by the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations and the Employee Ownership Foundation found that employee-owned companies outperformed other companies in job retention, pay, and workplace health safety throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study found that ESOP companies were 3 to 4 times more likely to retain staff and significantly less likely to make pay cuts (27% vs. 57.3%).

In a 2023 study conducted by NCEO with the support of the Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA), employee-owned companies reported voluntary quit rates of roughly one-third of the national average. Add the study found that employee owners have, on average, more than double the retirement savings (median ESOP account balance of $80,500) compared to non-ESOP counterparts (median of $30,000).

“The evidence continues to show that employee-owned businesses and their employees are faring better than most, positioning them to better withstand the challenges of a volatile economy,” ESCA President and CEO Stephanie Silverman said in the survey report. “As business leaders prepare for possible economic uncertainty ahead, ESOP-owned private firms offer a compelling model for positioning workers and companies alike.”