NORTH CAROLINA EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP MONTH
2024
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, employee ownership is a business model that gives employees equity in their place of work, either through full or partial ownership, at no cost to themselves; and
WHEREAS, employee ownership drives the creation of wealth and helps to close the wealth gap for North Carolinians, as employee owners are shown to have more than twice the retirement savings as their peers and greater financial assets overall; and
WHEREAS, employee-owned businesses are more likely to provide on-the-job training and development opportunities, contributing to a highly skilled workforce with greater rates of satisfaction; and
WHEREAS, employee ownership has demonstrated many benefits, including increased productivity, increased employee engagement, and increased employee recruitment and retention; and
WHEREAS, employee-owned businesses provide greater long-term stability for employees and their families, as well as for the communities in which they operate; and
WHEREAS, North Carolina is home to more than 150 employee-owned companies that represent the broad spectrum of employee ownership models including Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs), and worker cooperatives; and
WHEREAS, the State of North Carolina believes employee ownership is a growth engine that helps create and maintain jobs here in our great state;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROY COOPER, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim October, 2024, as “NORTH CAROLINA EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP MONTH” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.
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Roy Cooper
Governor
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this twenty-fifth day of September in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.