Midwest Equipment Company is proud to be 100% employee owned!
What It Means to Be 100% Employee Owned
Midwest Equipment Company became 100% employee owned in the Fall of 2018. What does that mean—to the company, to our employees, and to our customers?
Employee-owned companies are companies in which the staff owns a majority of the stock shares, giving them a stronger voice in management decision-making. Most, including Midwest Equipment Company, are run according to an ESOP, or Employee Stock Ownership Plan, which works like an employee benefit plan that includes shares of stock.
We continuously work toward an organization comprised entirely of energized and empowered business owners and entrepreneurs.
Being 100% employee owned means that everyone has a vested interest in the success of the company. Every single employee cares about the health and success of the entire company, not just their job or the projects they are involved in. We all help each other to ensure success across the board.
Employee ownership also offers more stability, financial and otherwise. Instead of paying corporate taxes, the tax liability will be put back into the company, which strengthens its ability to serve clients, and employee-owned companies are less likely to be acquired, creating an environment focused on long-term relationships for both employees and clients.
Midwest Equipment Company’s employees work hard to delight customers—they always have and always will. Owning a stake in the company just makes it that much more fun and gratifying to be a part of a great team. We are Midwest Equipment Company…and we own our story.
2021 Employee Ownership Month Celebrations
Meet Our Employee Owners!
Knowing that my work performance every day affects not only my paycheck, my fellow employee owners’ financial well-being, and the reputation of our company is enough to drive each of us to strive to take care of the customer. Every employee owner makes decisions every day and each decision affects profitability and profitability is the fuel needed to grow each and every year.
To me, it means putting in the effort on each service call to both try and fix the equipment correctly and to show the customer that we care about their establishment.
Being employee owned to me, makes the employees take more pride in the work they are doing. I feel like everyone here always goes to the extra step to do whatever is possible to service the customers.
It means taking pride in what I do because, ultimately, I’m doing for the benefit of not only the company, but for myself.
Ownership (of the company) to me is sharing responsibility with my co-workers while also having the autonomy to determine the best way to benefit our customers and the company.
ESOP is added incentive to do a better job. As employees, we are now more invested in this company.
Taking ownership to me means being able to have a piece of what I have helped to make a strong and reliable company.
Ownership, to me, is taking pride in any, and every task I do, no matter how small. When something goes wrong, looking for ways that would’ve given a better outcome and apply what I learn in the future.
To be employee owned means that all customers are my customers. I leave an impression with my customers that makes them want to talk about MEC in a positive connotation. It says a lot when you receive great feedback from happy customers that have just had a machine malfunction that negatively impacted their own business. We serve my customers so that they can serve their customers.
Since becoming an ESOP company, I’ve seen the culture start to evolve to become more collaborative where everyone is pulling for the same goals.
ESOP has helped push the mind set of “customer first.” Take care of the customer and everything else will follow. It really helps create this sort of bigger picture.
It means an awesome responsibility that has the potential to reap incredible results. It means that we are all in this together, and we have the opportunity to create a more secure future for ourselves, just by doing what we do on an everyday basis.
