Pros
I would like to respond to the author of Dishonest and Corrupt. I am a past Employee of MAP Communications and started out as a junior sales representative in 1994. Over the course of my 29 year tenure I retired as a Sr. Sales Executive and I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in the ESOP from the very beginning. The author here really does not have a full handle, if any, on how an ESOP works and I suspect was not employed at Map for very long. The MAP ESOP is far from a “farce” and I would like to lay out a few facts so people can understand the tremendous opportunities that an ESOP provides to employees. ESOP’s are 100% regulated by the US government and are audited with strict guidelines - and by design are a retirement plans Employees are given Employee Stock each year based on a few criteria; the performance of the company over the prior 12 months the employees tenure and the employees pay scale. Most important …. unlike a 401(k) plan, which MAP also offers, the employee never has to put a dime into the ESOP! I used to find that with new acquisitions not all of the new employees took the time to understand the ESOP, but let me tell you first-hand, that the ESOP is very real. I was able to retire from MAP at 54 years old after a fantastic career of 29 years, and the ESOP providing my family with generational wealth. I also have colleagues that have also retired from MAP (most early) over the past several years, and most with hundreds of thousands of dollars in payouts and even a few with millions. Better yet, payments are able to be rolled into an employee’s personal IRA account where the dollars sit (and hopefully grow) tax free, subject to tax only as dollars are withdrawn. I do hope this helps folks understand ESOP’s a bit better and from a perspective from a former ESOP participant.
Cons
Over my tenure at MAP I did not experience many Cons - I found that Management had open door policy to voice concerns and they were addressed fairly.
