Hallmark Cards on Thursday announced an overhaul of its employee profit-sharing plan.

Julie O’Dell, a spokeswoman for the company, which employs 830 workers in Lawrence, said the privately owned Kansas City firm was changing the makeup of its employee profit plan to include less Hallmark stock.

Currently, the plan includes about 75 percent Hallmark stock. The company hopes to reduce that amount to 30 percent to 40 percent in the next five years, she said.

O’Dell said the change was made, in part, after company officials and employees watched what happened at companies like Enron, which funded its 401(k) plan almost entirely with its own stock.

“It is not a lack of confidence on our part, but the last year has brought a lot of examples to the forefront,” O’Dell said. “Employees were saying they thought they needed more control in their investments, and we agreed.”

In addition to reducing Hallmark stock in the plan, the company will change the type of Hallmark stock it issues to its employees.

The company will begin issuing preferred stock, which O’Dell said should produce more stable returns for the workers.

She said the stock’s returns would track with long-term interest rates rather than the company’s profit.

Last year Hallmark’s profit-sharing plan produced a return of 0.2 percent, after producing an average annual return of 8.6 percent in the past 10 years.

Hallmark operates a production facility at 101 McDonald Drive and is the city’s largest private employer.