The year 2020 has tested company management to the limits and similar challenges continue in 2021. In line with expectations, the survival prospects for ESOP companies and companies planning to transfer ownership to employees are again better than for traditional companies. 

According to a recently published study (Blassi, 2020), ESOP companies outperformed non-employee-owned companies in terms of expectations during the pandemic. The results of the study show that employees of ESOP companies are generally more optimistic about returning to business as usual at some point. 

The study, carried out at Rutgers University in collaboration with The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago on the performance and behaviour of employee-owned businesses during the recession between 2008 and 2010 and further into 2020, concludes that the majority of companies with an ESOP structure: 

• significantly outperforms other companies in terms of job retention, 
• maintains the volume of working hours and the level of wages to a greater extent; during the period, 27% of ESOP companies reduced the wages of their employees, compared to 57% of non-ESOP companies. As regards the reduction in the volume of working hours, 16.4% of employees in ESOP companies had a reduction in the volume of working hours, compared to 26% of employees in non-ESOP companies. 26.4% of employees in non-ESOP companies had a reduction in the volume of working hours, compared to 26% of employees in ESOP companies. 
• ESOP companies are more likely than other companies to provide protective measures to their employees; 85 ESOP companies sent their employees to work from home compared to 67% of other companies, and more ESOP companies provided personal protective measures such as masks and gloves, as well as additional disinfection and professional cleaning to employees working on company premises. 

In addition, the results of the study show that when the decision to retain staff is at stake, ESOP companies attach a higher level of importance to maintaining employees' skills, links with customers and users of their services, a culture of teamwork and a sense of ownership. Furthermore, the study found that public policies that encourage long-term employee ownership provide greater job stability in times of crisis than various cash payments based on intervention measures. Employees in ESOP companies are more likely to expect their company to return to its previous level of performance after a crisis or epidemic than employees in traditional companies. 

Turning to some of the general findings of the survey, which are not specific to the crisis, we can see that Americans are very interested in working for employee-owned companies. Almost three quarters of respondents said they would rather work for an employee-owned company than for a company owned by outside shareholders or the government. The proportion of employees in the private sector who own shares or receive a share of the profits where they are employed is also not negligible. This is 47% or 59 million employees.