I think all of the publicly traded Big Oil companies and McDonald's offer ESSPs to eligible employees. Almost all of the gas stations we all visit are under the franchise model, so people that work for the mom and pop gas station or the franchised McDonald's are not eligible. Offering the ESSP is an expense.
I would say most of these employees, even if eligible, would not participate since they are transitional and don't have a lot left over to buy shares anyway.
These companies don't have any say in the hiring practice of the employees that work at the franchise locations, but these people should be eligible to participate in an ESSP? I don't know that you can buy fractional shares with McDonald's ESSP, but if you can't, does the person flipping burgers have an extra $310 in their paycheck that they can allocate to buy a share of MCD?
@hbbigdaddy wrote:
@maverick1
Of course the small businesses (private) do not have the stock incentives that major companies do. But all of the places we are shopping whether it's big oil, fast food, etc are publicly traded as far as I know. The only exception would be In N Out. But somehow they keep happy employees without an "ownership" stake. Even if they are not happy, they are remarkable at faking they care compared to most other fast food places.
Even if McD or JITB or another fast food place is franchised, corp could allow some provision or incentive for an employee of a franchised location to be able to get in on the overall success of the brand.
If you have some ownership, you care more for it. Just like a homeowner cares more for the property than a renter does. People take care of their cars better (generally) than someone using a rental car. I get that some people probably don't do either, but most people who own something care more about it than someone who is not an owner.