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. 

Times are changing though.  There’s no shortage of news items reporting the quest of Millennials (or Gen Y) for work with meaning, ideally within a purpose driven organisation, rather than seeking the role that offers the biggest return come pay day.  We’ve always felt intuitively that working for an employee-owned organisation could be the key to Millennials achieving this goal; the deeper connection that is established with a company by a person that co-owns it rather than “just” being an employee can go a long way to making work for that company meaningful.  And there are plenty of examples of employee-owned organisations being driven by purpose as well as profit.

So we were not surprised when a recent survey, carried out by the law firm Shakespeare Martineau, concluded that employee-ownership is a key driver in the career decisions of many graduates and that millennials love employee ownership and is a powerful driver in deciding who to work for.  However, the fact that a whopping eight out of ten of the 150 graduates surveyed by the firm responded that the employee-ownership of a potential employer would positively influence their decision to join an organisation surprised even us, but it’s clearly a strong talent attraction offering! When compared to other influencing factors including a good reputation (34%) and specialist expertise (36%), employee-ownership is a clear differentiator.

We are working with more and more businesses as they transition to employee-ownership. A good proportion of the early adopters of this business model have been graduate-heavy professional services firms (including architects, consultant engineers, accountants and even lawyers like ourselves!).  It’s heartening to think that the ownership structure of these companies stands out in the ever-present battle for talent.

One more reason to consider employee-ownership for your company.

Interested in finding out more about options for Employee Ownership in your organisation? Emma Wise at Postlethwaite Solicitors would be delighted to hear from you.  They offer a free no-obligation initial call or meeting with companies exploring employee share ownership, and promise not to bamboozle you with the many acronyms the industry is famous for!

Remember to tell Postlethwaites we sent you to guarantee your free consultation and be sure to come back to E&P when you need support in starting those employee conversations and communications, it’s a good idea to start engaging around those values and behaviours and individual motivations way before any change.

 

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Engage & Prosper is a UK based privately owned Employee Engagement Consultancy and Social Enterprise, on a mission to help organisations develop a highly productive and fulfilling workplace culture, with their people, through enhanced employee engagement strategies, fabulous and effective internal communications platforms and tailored reward and recognition programmes.

For more information on Engage & Prosper or to discover how we can help you achieve your organisational and people goals please call +44 (0) 330 223 0464 or find out more at www.engageandprosper.com