On November 17th and 18th I attended the Employee Ownership Association’s Annual Conference in Nottingham with John Palmer our Employee Director, Michelle Quadrelli Business Manager and John Lupton, our CEO and keynote speaker for the event.
The event was extremely popular with nearly 500 people in attendance, highlighting the rising popularity of employee ownership in the UK. It was also very interesting to see the diverse range of sectors that have chosen to become employee owned using the various ownership models that are available. The variety of employee ownership models available is I believe, one of the keys to its success as it ensures that there is a model to suit every company considering making this exciting step.
Throughout the event it was clear to see the benefits that the move can make, some of which are highlighted in the above infographic from the Employee Ownership Association .
The award ceremony was a great part of the first day; we saw many worthy companies receive awards for their efforts and triumphs in the move to employee ownership. Each of the winners stories were inspiring and it was great seeing other innovative companies being highly commended for their contribution. It showed the best of what the future can hold for those of us who want to succeed. The awards included, Employee Ownership Champion, Employee Engagement, Employee Innovation, Rising Star, Public Service, EO Business of the year and the Philip Baxendale award.
The keynote speakers provided many stories and examples of their own experiences of Employee Ownership. These were really interesting to hear, as were the individual seminars that took place through out the day. Our CEO, John was one of the final keynote speakers and his presentation went down very well as was clear to see through twitter. A quote from his presentation that I feel sums it up for us very well for us as a business is:
“At Scott & Fyfe we were galvanised by the growing influence of Employee Ownership
in both terms of performance and engagement.”
All in all the day was full of enthusiastic and positive people with inspiring and thought provoking tales to tell. It has since been really interesting for us to compare the other companies experiences to our own as many were not dissimilar to ours, proving that it is not just a case of ticking the boxes.
For those who could not make it to the event here is one key take away from each of us from the day:
“An effective and consistent induction programme in line with company vision is
essential for success in employee owned organisations."
John Palmer, Employee Elected Director
"It was encouraging seeing how the different employee owned companies were
working through the different stages of their own journeys.”
Michelle Quadrelli, Business Manager
As for me, I think one of the key takeaways is that employee engagement is the
catalyst for a successful Employee Owned Company.
If you want to discuss this more or see us in action as an employee owned company then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
