October 2024 | “When our clients succeed, we succeed,” so noted Contegra Construction Founder and CEO Eric Gowin when the firm became an employee-owned company in late 2022. Over the past year and a half, this transformative business strategy reinforced Contegra’s mission—to achieve mutual goals and create win-win situations for both clients and employee-owners—by leveraging the insights of each stakeholder.

To navigate the change to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), Contegra established an ESOP Committee comprised of representatives from every job type, with one significant exception: management is intentionally excluded. While the committee works with management, reporting questions, concerns, and ideas for growth, removing management from the detailed discussions has generated an authentic feeling of ownership across all levels of the company. Management executes the business plan with more insightful support from all stakeholders.

The committee is expanding employee onboarding and creating an in-house knowledge library to better educate and inform employees in ways that unite the ownership stake with the mission. A biproduct of these efforts is the establishment of mentors for future hires so they can more easily acclimate to Contegra’s unique ESOP culture.

Recognizing success is also critical to Contegra’s ESOP culture, with several planned celebratory events generating excitement and driving engagement. Contegra employees will come together as owners to revel in what has been accomplished through a united effort.

It was 22 years ago that Contegra was founded, working out of a single job site trailer in the vast expanse of the 2,300-acre Gateway Commerce Center in Edwardsville, Ill. Today, the firm is among the largest contractors in Metro St. Louis and the continued success of both the business and its clients comes from the dedication of the employees. Their reward is the company’s reward: a structured ESOP culture that unites, tapping the best ideas to fortify a bright future for Contegra and those they serve.

Article courtesy of Illinois Business Journal, October 2024 Print Edition