PRIVATE EQUITY INNOVATION HELPS WORKERS & THEIR FAMILIES
Private equity-backed businesses are offering workers ownership in their companies, strong benefits, and the opportunity to build wealth for their families. Learn more here about how private equity benefits workers, drives innovation, and invests across America.
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Transformative Stories of Employee Ownership and Success
Explore how private equity-backed companies are empowering employees through ownership programs, creating wealth, and fostering professional growth. Watch these inspiring stories of workers benefiting directly from their companies¡¯ success.
TheRiverside
Company
Employees and leaders of
Riverside's portfolio companies,
PFB Corporation, siffron, and
SCRAM Systems, shared their
excitement about being part of a
shared ownership program that
gives employees a direct stake in
the success of the business
KKR
60 Minutes featured a story about KKR portfolio company C.H.I. Overhead Doors (C.H.I.) after it became part of an ownership program that made all 800 of C.H.I.¡¯s employees partial owners of the company. Employees experienced a ¡°culture of ownership¡± and received a payout on equity that averaged $175,000 on top of their regular salary, as well as approximately $9,000 in dividends since 2015.
Blackstone
Blackstone announced it wouldgrant ownership stakes to mostemployees at its portfolio
companies, which would apply toall new Blackstone investmentsgoing forward. This initiative willkick off by granting ownership to
roughly 18,000 employees of
Copeland,a manufacturer thatbuilds commercial heating and
cooling systems.
New Mountain
Capital
New Mountain Capital created over$1.3 billion of value for employeesat portfolio companies sold since2018. CEO Steven B. Klinsky seesprivate equity as a socially positivepursuit.
Leonard Green &Partners
Over 7,500 portfolio-companyemployees participate in profit-sharing or similar distributions in2021 alone, and over $1 billion wasshared with workers outside theexecutive suite.
Giving Workers
a Stake in Success
Many private equity firms have partnered with Ownership Works, a nonprofit initiative that builds employee wealth by expanding shared employee ownership of companies, enabling employees to directly benefit from the company¡¯s success. Since its founding in 2021, Ownership Works has impacted nearly 112,000 employees nationwide, generating over $130 million in payouts to low- and moderate-income workers.
$130M
generated in payouts to low- andmoderate-income workers by OwnershipWorks since 2021
112,000
employees impacted by sharedownership programs through OwnershipWorks nationwide
Key Statistics: Impact of
Private Equity on Employees
Opening Doors forEmployees
Private equity investments strengthen portfoliocompany employees'skills development andcareer outlooks. Operational improvements createprofessional development opportunities for workersthat enhance future job prospects.
Blackstone¡¯s Career Pathways program works withportfolio companies to "increase access" and"enable advancement" for diverse and historicallyunderrepresented potential hires. The program hasled 50 of Blackstone¡¯s portfolio companies towelcome 6,000 talent hires who might haveotherwise been untapped. Blackstone portfoliocompanies have also hired over 100,000 veteransveteran spouses, and caregivers since 2013 throughthe Veterans Hiring Initiative.
Supporting a Healthy Work Environment
Workers employed by private equity-backed businesses can depend upon strong wages and safe work environments. In 2022, the average U.S. private equity sector worker, both full- and part-time, earned around $80,000 in wages and benefits¡ªthe equivalent of about $41 per hour for a full-time worker and higher than the national average.
On top of a positive company culture and employee compensation, private equity investments help facilitate safer workplaces for employees, which helps protect workers and improve operational efficiency across portfolio companies. In fact, researchers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, University of Georgia, and University of Texas at Austin found that public companies bought by private equity experienced ¡°a large, sustained decline¡± in workplace injury rates ¨C indicating that private equity helps ¡°improve workplace safety.¡±
Driving Economic
Growth
Private equity employs 12 million workers,
generating over $1 trillion of U.S. GDP in 2022. Thesector is critical in supporting American workerslivelihoods and contributing to a strong U.S.economy.
A recent report by Ernst & Young LLP (EY) and theAmerican Investment Council (AlC) shows thatprivate equity-backed small businesses, theirsuppliers, and related consumerspending supported 4.4 million workers earning$360 billion in wages and benefits and $615 billionof GDP in 2022, driving economic growth andfostering entrepreneurship.
