ESOPs provide job security, which in turn stimulates increased productivity

Due to the way ESOPs run, they provide a sense of security to employees looking for job stability. Since employees have a stake in the company's ownership, this makes it much more difficult to lay them off. Having employees in the room where executives make decisions would also keep them better informed, leading to fewer tensions between the two parties, ultimately driving firings and layoffs down. ESOPs have also proven to maintain job security even during economic downturns such as the housing market crash in 2018. ^[1] A survey conducted in 2014 by the General Social Survey showed that U.S. workers with employee stock ownership are less likely to be laid off than employees without employee stock ownership. More specifically, the survey found that only 1.3% of employees with employee stock ownership (including other forms of employee ownership too) got laid off in the last year. In comparison, employees without stock ownership saw a rate of 9.5% in layoffs. ^[2] All in all, employees afford ESOPs a resilience most other kinds of companies do not have, and in return, employees do not need to worry about their job situation.