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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
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January/February 2019
THE EARLIEST DAYS OF EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP
In 2019 Davey employees celebrate the 40th anniversary
of the employee acquisition in 1979, when The Davey
Tree Expert Company became an employee-owned firm.
To celebrate, select Bulletins will highlight some of the
history of employee ownership at Davey.
At Davey we like to say employee ownership is in our
company's DNA, and that's a fact. The roots of employee
ownership trace all the way back to the company's earliest
days – not long after the founding in 1880.
Of course, the company truly did not become employee-
owned until the Davey family sold the company outright to a
group of employees, who established the original Employee
Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in 1979. But employees were
permitted to buy stock in Davey Tree in the early 1900s.
Martin L. Davey, Sr., rewarded a select few capable
employees who had climbed the Davey ladder by offering
them positions on the company board of directors – but
first, they had to buy stock in the business.
"We want them to realize they are part of the company,
are capable and aspiring, and who think of the future,"
Martin L. Davey, Sr., said in explaining his motivations.
These employee shareholders had a true say in
company operations.
By 1928, the company offered Class "B" non-voting stock
to other employees in the company. Offered at a discount,
the stock was available to salesmen and foremen who
were considered key personnel.
Unfortunately, due to the Great
Depression, the company
discontinued the stock purchase
plan in the 1930s.
Martin L. Davey, Sr., recognized that the
employees could be the only other viable owners of the
company aside from the Davey family. He clarified that
position in declining an offer from the Wall Street firm
Hornblower and Weeks, which proposed to take the
company public in 1927.
"We have no desire or reason to sell any portion of the
Davey Company, except to our own employees," Martin
Davey said. "We have a peculiar pride in the development
of a business which renders a high order of service to the
tree-owning public. The quality of service and technique
and personnel which we have built into this institution
as well as the steady upward progress of the profession
which we represent can only be maintained by the active
management of those who own it. For the benefit of our
business and its future, we should much prefer to have
a portion of the stock held by our responsible employees
who have helped to build the institution, and who ought
to have an opportunity to share in the profits."
Above: Attendees of the 1917 Annual Convention of Tree Surgeons
gather outside the Davey Tree headquarters in March. An employee
holds a portrait of John Davey from the second-floor window.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
