When most business owners think about employee ownership, they're often thinking about succession planning. RainTech was asking a different question.
In April 2026, the Colorado-based managed IT services company transitioned to 100% employee ownership through an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). But for CEO and People Person Andrew Jahnke, the transition wasn't primarily about preparing for retirement or stepping away from the business. It was about creating an ownership model that reflected how the company already operated.
"This company is now founded by everyone who is here in this moment," Andrew said. "It looks just night and day different between when I started it and now."
In this Owners Session, Common Trust CEO Zoe Schlag sat down with Andrew and Jefferson Black, RainTech's Service Delivery Manager and an employee-owner elected by his colleagues to serve on the company's board, to discuss culture, governance, AI, and what employee ownership looks like in practice.
Key takeaways:
Employee ownership can be an operating model, not just an exit strategy. RainTech pursued employee ownership while Andrew remained actively involved in leading the company.
Ownership is about more than economics. Profit sharing and employee voice were both intentional parts of the company's design.
Many employee-owned companies start building these habits long before a transaction. Transparency, participation, accountability, and shared responsibility can develop years before ownership changes hands.
AI and employee ownership can reinforce one another. When paired with employee ownership, AI becomes a tool to create more capacity for learning, innovation, and employee well-being that employees will directly benefit from, not a tactic to reduce headcount.
Ownership changes how people relate to the business. When employees participate directly in the company's success, they often become more invested in long-term outcomes and continuous improvement.
Building the foundation before the transition
By the time RainTech became employee-owned, many of the practices people associate with employee-owned companies were already in place. Long before the transition, the company had built its operations around a philosophy Andrew calls “People, PERIOD.®” — not people first, not people before profits, but people, full stop.
The philosophy shows up in practical ways throughout the business, from a 32-hour workweek and employee involvement in decision-making to a commitment to using technology to support employees rather than replace them. The company also operates around a set of core values (GUIDE: growth, understanding, integrity, diversity, and empowerment) that were developed collaboratively with the team.
Jefferson, who manages the company's largest department, said the philosophy took time to believe but proved itself through repeated experience.
"My knee-jerk reaction is, well, that's obviously not true," he said of first hearing the slogan. "I've had jobs for a long time. Everybody has some kind of slogan they attach to their culture. But over time, it's just like — oh, wow. I would not have made that decision. And then you continue and continue. Okay, no, this actually is a real thing."
Those decisions built a level of trust and participation that many companies spend years trying to create.
Employee ownership as an operating model
Andrew wasn't looking for an exit strategy. He was looking for an ownership structure that better reflected the company RainTech had already become. That meant broad-based financial participation, meaningful employee involvement in governance, and long-term independence for the business.
An EOT gave the team the flexibility to design an approach that fit those goals. It provided a way to share ownership broadly across the company, give employees a voice in the business's future, and begin sharing the benefits of ownership right away.
"If profit sharing doesn't happen for 10 years, then we're not really getting to the point where I really wanted to get," Andrew said.
In Andrew's view, ownership works best when employees can both share in the company's success and help shape its future. RainTech employees participate in profit sharing and elect representatives to serve on the board and Trust Stewardship Committee. Jefferson was elected by his fellow employee-owners to fill one of those board seats.
AI as a human amplifier, not a replacement
RainTech's approach to AI reflects its broader commitment to investing in people. Rather than focusing on workforce reduction, the company uses AI to automate routine administrative tasks and free up time for higher-value work. Combined with its employee ownership structure, those efficiency gains flow back to the people doing the work.
Andrew and Jefferson credited AI with helping to make the company's 32-hour workweek possible and reducing time spent on tasks like scheduling, ticket categorization, and operational follow-up.
The impact has been noticeable: improved morale, stronger customer service, and more time for learning and innovation that benefits both clients and the business.
Andrew believes this perspective is key to realizing AI's potential.
"If you look at AI as a human amplifier and not a human replacement," he said, "I've got almost 30 highly motivated, innovative people ready to solve long-term problems."
What employee ownership changed, and what stayed the same
Much of RainTech's operations remained intact after the transition. The company's values, leadership team, and approach to serving customers stayed largely the same.
The bigger change was employee engagement. Instead of a single announcement or milestone, ownership became real through the day-to-day experience of participating in the outcomes employees helped create — taking on new projects, pursuing certifications, and investing in improvements that would strengthen the company over time.
As Jefferson put it, "When you take the profit and share it equally, employees recognize: whoa, my work directly affects me, instead of it just going into some nebulous bucket."
Before the transition, the relationship between employees and the business could feel more transactional.
"When it's transactional, it's transactional on both sides," Jefferson said. "Why would I build that? It's not in my job description. That's not to say people are lazy — it's just, when it's transactional, it works both ways."
The transition has also strengthened something RainTech believes matters to clients: continuity. In an industry where ownership changes are common, employee ownership provides a way to keep the business independent and aligned with the people doing the work. For clients, that can mean greater stability, stronger relationships, and more consistency over time.
"When you call RainTech, you're always talking to an owner," Andrew said.
Employee ownership didn't change who RainTech was. It formalized many of the values and practices that were already part of how the company operated.
Continuing the conversation
Interested in what employee ownership might look like for your business? Schedule an advisory call or explore our Employee Ownership Trust resources, case studies, and Owners Session recordings to learn how business owners are using employee ownership to support succession planning, preserve independence, and strengthen company culture.
