CHARENTON-LE-PONT, France—Essilor (Reuters: ESSI.PA) announced that employee shareholding worldwide is set to surpass 50 percent, exceeding the goal of 35 percent that had initially been set for 2020. With a record subscription by international employees to the group’s latest plan, the number of employees with a financial participation in the company rises to over 35,000.

Hubert Sagnieres, Essilor’s chairman and CEO, remarked, “This extraordinary result is a strong endorsement by our employees of the Group’s mission and strategy and I would like to thank them all. It also adds to our responsibility to keep pursuing our fight against poor vision around the world. Active employee shareholding plays an important role in our governance model, and helps to further consolidate our employees’ sense of commitment to the Group’s development. Alongside relentless innovation and our ongoing strategy of acquisitions and partnerships, employee shareholding is a key factor of our long-term growth. Going forward, Essilor’s ambition is to continue strengthening the Group’s shareholding culture among all its employees across the world.”

Essilor launched a new International Employee Shareholding Plan in September 2017 to consolidate and further expand employees’ involvement in the Group’s continuous growth story. Sixty-eight percent of employees in 14 key countries outside France have subscribed to the plan, bringing the percentage of employee shareholders to over 50 percent worldwide by Nov. 30, compared to 21 percent in 2016.