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The 2007 Innovations in Employee Ownership Award:
It's Time to Share This Year’s Best Practices
By Emily Meyertholen, Beyster Institute Staff
  Has your company found a new or creative way to harness the power of employee ownership? Maybe you know of another employee-owned company whose extraordinary culture or unique plan caught your attention. It’s time to share it with the rest of the world and celebrate the innovations that make employee-owned companies a step ahead of the rest.
At last year’s Employee Ownership Annual Conference, the Beyster Institute and the National Center for Employee Ownership unveiled a new way to recognize the exceptional companies who take their employee ownership programs to the next level: The Innovations in Employee Ownership Award, sponsored by TEOCO Corporation of Fairfax, Virginia. Applications for the 2007 award will be accepted starting next month.
In 2006, the award committee reviewed submittals from companies who created and implemented a variety of initiatives, programs, and even contests designed to engage and educate employees, promote the entrepreneurial spirit, enhance communication, and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of plan administration.
Besides being recognized within the employee ownership world, receiving the Innovations Award can be a great way to show clients, customers and even competitors your dedication to employee ownership and its unique ability to create dynamic companies. The 2006 award even led to a major New York Times article featuring two of the honored companies.
Although the award can recognize anything from plan design to culture, there is just one grand prize winner. At the 2006 Employee Ownership Conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, TEOCO Chairman and CEO Atul Jain awarded Reflexite Corporation of Avon, Connecticut with the inaugural award for its unique combination of short-, medium- and long-term ownership programs complemented by an extensive education and information-sharing system and ambitious employee involvement activities. Also recognized were CALIBRE of Alexandria, Virginia; HDOS Enterprises of Carlsbad, California; and SmithBucklin Corporation of Chicago, Illinois.
The Innovations in Employee Ownership Award is open to any employee ownership company that promotes the spread of employee ownership plans or the development of best practices in employee ownership. Applications for the 2007 Innovations Award will be available in November on the Beyster Institute or NCEO websites. Companies are welcome to nominate themselves, and service providers are invited to nominate clients.
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