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| Photo by Windows on Unsplash |
{This is a collaborative post}
It has been an entire decade since the Employee Ownership Association launched EO Day, or ‘Employee Ownership Day’, in celebration of the benefits of employee-owned businesses.
There are, of course, a lot of
benefits to celebrate. It is clear that, within the UK, there are strong
economic benefits being felt not just by the individual employees themselves,
but by the business and regional economies. It’s also clear to see that
employee ownership represents one of the cornerstones of preparing for a future
of increased automation and using artificial intelligence to streamline
significant portions of the UK workforce.
In all likelihood, businesses
opting to spread ownership throughout the
economy are something we should see a lot more of over the coming years. But, to
that end, what has happened already?
Businesses are ready and willing to explore the benefits
Since 2019, the employee ownership sector has doubled – a
fact which is testament to just how ready shareholders and directors are to
spread ownership and reap the benefits of a workforce that have a much more
significant stake in the business – and its growth – than they did before.
This has been aided by the formation of the Employee
Ownership Trust, or EOT, first established in 2014. Recent research into employee ownership in SMEs
has already paved the way for further studies into the true extent of the
benefits brought by employee ownership.
Businesses that take on employee ownership are generally thought to be directed toward more meaningful roles and relationships
One of the strongest examples of this stems from the impact
of Covid-19, which coincides with the rapid surge in companies turning toward
employee ownership. As everyone was forced to confront their own mortality –
and the impacts of a global crisis – more businesses and advisors sought to
instate strong succession plans for their business, and to create a meaningful
path forward not just for the business itself, but for its employees, too.
Employee ownership gives employees a more meaningful say in
the business, which tends to have a strong impact on their levels of happiness
and satisfaction at work.
The emphasis on nurturing the workforce is very strong
A recent survey showed that 96% of employee-owned
businesses say that looking after the workforce is key to the success of the
business, and more than two-thirds claimed that employee ownership was a matter
of social responsibility.
Obviously, as with any significant change to the business,
there will inevitably be a period of ‘settling in’ as everyone gets to grips
with the new order. For that reason, and despite the strong rewards waiting for
businesses who can navigate this process, working closely with corporate solicitors
on setting up or running an employee-owned business can only help as they
have worked with similar clients and know how to handle a change of this
proportion.
There are, of course, a variety of ways to instate employee
ownership within a business, but utilising the EOT has proven to be the most
popular so far, and is well worth exploring if you’re interested in your
employees having a stake in the future of your business.