This Barrie 360 content is brought to you by Mortgage Wellness
When it comes to compensating employees, businesses have tons of different options from improved wages and bonuses to extended vacations and health benefits. But these days, more and more companies are choosing to give their employees a share of the business as a way of saying “thank you” for their hard work.
Offering staff a share in the company can be an incredibly powerful tool for improving overall morale and well-being. It helps employees feel more valued and more connected to the business and their colleagues, which creates a culture of mutual respect and appreciation. It can also provide them with a degree of financial security, knowing that as the company grows, so does their investment in it.
One local business recognized the benefits of offering their employees a share in the company and has nothing but good things to say about it.
Mortgage Wellness Makes Their Long-Time Staff Partners Of The Business
Mortgage Wellness is a family-run brokerage founded by Nick L’Ecuyer in 2011 with offices in Barrie, Angus, Orillia, and Elmvale. Priding themselves on serving clients as if they were family, it comes as no surprise that those values would extend to their employees as well.
That’s why Mortgage Wellness recently announced that their long-time staff would become partners with L'Ecuyer selling 49% of the business through an Employee Share Ownership Plan (ESOP).
L’Ecuyer shares, “Our growth over the past decade has been amazing, and I owe it to each and every one of our wonderful staff. Bringing on those who were responsible for building Mortgage Wellness into what it is, was a very proud moment and long-time dream.
Much of our success is due to our family focus, treating every client like family, making the process seamless, and helping people live better. I hope that by making partners out of those who share those values, will ensure that we don’t lose our focus.”
Benefits Of Offering Employees A Stake In Their Company
Offering employees a share in their company doesn't just benefit employees. It is also an excellent move for the business itself and its customers.
1. Increased Loyalty - When employees have an ownership stake in the company, they are much more likely to feel invested in its success and have a vested interest in its long-term prosperity.
2. Better Talent Retention - Employees with a financial stake in the company are much less likely to leave. This can help to create a culture of stability and consistency, which can help businesses attract and retain top talent.
3. Improved Accountability - When employees have a stake in the company, it can help create a culture where everyone is held accountable for their performance. This can result in greater success for everyone.
4. Increased Customer Satisfaction - Employees with a vested interest in the success of the company will do their best to ensure that customers are happy and satisfied.
Since implementing the ESOP, the team at Mortgage Wellness is already seeing the benefits.
Shawna Harrison, Senior Mortgage Planner and one of the company's new partners shares, “I joined Mortgage Wellness almost 13 years ago as a new mortgage agent and am so proud to have now joined the ownership team. To have found a career I love, and now to be part of a company that changes lives in the very community I was born and raised in, is such a blessing.”
Ashley Leng, Financial Controller and one of Mortgage Wellness's newest partners agrees. “So many positive outcomes have come throughout this process. We now work towards the companies’ goals together. We prosper individually and as a collective unit.”
With such positivity coming from L'Ecuyer's decision to sell a share of the company, he's confident he made the right choice for himself, his business, the staff, and their customers.
“It’s done a lot for me and for our new partners.” He continues, “You can see the pride they feel when I introduce them as a partner, and I feel pride too. It felt like the right thing to do, to acknowledge they are a huge part of who and where Mortgage Wellness is today.”
Currently, the largest mortgage brokerage in Simcoe County, L'Ecuyer, and all of the partners hope to expand their reach across the county so that they can help more people live better.
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