Millennials love employee ownership 

Since the early 1960’s when Schultz first introduced us to the phrase ‘Human Capital’, companies have defined their workforce in economic terms. In other words, the profitability that their people bring to the company and the demonstrable return on the investment for the Board.

And in some senses, employees themselves have underpinned that connection, historically selecting jobs based largely on the salary and benefits offered by an employer.  Read more…

Much Maligned Millennials, Time to Drop the Labels?

Millennials are a much discussed sector of the workforce, who are often subject to less than flattering commentary and stereotypes (lazy, snowflakes, dreamers anyone?); however, is the maligned Millennial simply misunderstood and as such misplaced in a workplace setting?

If you look (as the recent Eaga Trust-Field Fisher report did) at ‘what Millennials want’, their aspirations are not so different to any other generation.  They want to feel valued, to develop themselves personally and professionally, to make a real difference, to have feedback they can work on.  Read more…

10 Top tips for implementing a successful employee share scheme

Having implemented hundreds of employee share schemes over the years, as well as operating schemes for their own employees, Postlethwaite Solicitors is one of just a handful of law firms that specialise purely in employee share ownership advice.  In this blog, kindly reproduced with permission from Postlethwaites, we share their top tips for implementing a successful employee share scheme – essential reading for any business owner venturing in to employee ownership schemes and in particular, considering embarking on a new share scheme.

Get some clarity – be clear about your objectives behind the creation of a new employee share scheme: what do you want to achieve?  Rewarding talent?  Attracting or retaining talent? Growth of the company?  Financial reward for your staff? Better employee engagement? Succession planning?  Once you have a clear picture of the ‘whys’ then you can tailor your scheme around them. Read more…

Employee Ownership Explained

What is Employee Ownership?

Employee ownership is a form of company ownership in which the majority or a significant part of the company is owned by or on behalf of its employees.
Reportedly the fastest growing form of business ownership in the UK, employee ownership has seen an increasing number of business owners who are looking towards retirement and succession planning changing their structures to enable their employees to take over the ownership of their business. It’s not just those looking to retire who are attracted to this form of ownership; entrepreneurs creating new businesses are seeing the advantages that employee ownership can bring to business growth. Whilst large businesses such as John Lewis and Arup are high profile examples of successful employee-owned companies, there are a large and growing legion of smaller companies – in diverse sectors from manufacturing to professional services – that are also employee-owned.

 

Between 2014 and 2016, the combined sales of the Top 50 employee owned companies have increased by 10.2%, compared to UK GDP which grew at just 7.7% over the same period. Added to this, they are shown to benefit from greater resilience when times are hard with productivity growing year on year. Employee-owned businesses invest heavily in employee engagement, engendering a culture of collective responsibility by involving staff in decision making, giving them a powerful voice and sharing success more widely. Read more…