Ayers Saint Gross is a 185-person architecture and design firm. This piece in the Arch Daily highlights the firm’s approach to shared ownership.
Here's an excerpt:
Allison Wilson: We all own the firm. People earn shares in the firm each year as a portion of their income and over time become fully vested in those shares. It means that there is a financial incentive to stay with the firm long-term as well as shared value in accelerating operational efficiency. We all benefit from shared efficiencies and successes together and we all share the burden of leaner times together. The Comparing Campuses project ties in with us being an ESOP because we see the importance of information-gathering, record-keeping, and passing that knowledge along. A large part of the value of our firm is the knowledge that is held within. Investing in things like Comparing Campuses and other research efforts underpins part of that value proposition.
Luanne Greene: The decision to become an employee-owned firm was inspired in part because we’ve been around for more than 100 years and we want to be around for the long run. That doesn’t happen by accident. In our industry, we see enormous consolidation and we always want to control our destiny so that we can continuously serve our clients in meaningful ways. We created this employee ownership structure in part to bring the same level of stability and long-term thinking to ourselves that we are bringing to our clients.
Amelle Schultz: For me, it is pretty simple. Being part of an ESOP means we all, no matter what role or years of service with the firm, have a vested interest in Ayers Saint Gross’s success. Everyone's contributions and voices help to build toward a common vision.
