Reflections from the Employee Ownership Association Conference 2023

Well, Liverpool, you never disappoint and Employee Ownership Association and Cascade Productions you absolutely knocked it out of the park! 🏏

Our Co-Founder Allyson Glover, attended our first ever EO conference this week on a mission to answer 3 questions.❓

Are the employees/now owners of EO businesses happier? 🤨

It’s not easy to measure, but what we discovered is that ‘being valued’ is the thing that makes them happiest, having autonomy, recognition, freedom and empowerment are all really important. Thank you CLARASYS CONSULTANCY for an excellent workshop and particularly sharing your ‘Red Face’ expenses policy with the world. (In other words if you are a bit embarrassed about asking for it, don’t!)

Is it easier to build a thriving culture when your employees are truly invested? 👏

I saw some amazing example of this! Arabella Lewis-Smith at SaladCreative, ollywillans at Torchbox, Graeme Cameron and Mark Jones at Pennine Healthcare. Of course it takes a lot of effort, but when the staff are heavily invested, great strides are made.

Is EOT set to become the biggest no-brainer succession planning option for business owners wishing to exit? 🧠

Well, with over 1600 EO business in the UK and growing, an interesting overlap with the 1800 B Corp community, Founders who genuinely value the teams who have helped with their businesses success are going all in. 😁

It requires hard work, careful planning, brilliant professionals like Christian Wilson from Spencer West and the many other passionate EO lawyers, accountants, financiers and leadership specialists we’ve met in the last couple of days. 🎸

A special mention also to the fellow Cornish folks we met, Nathan Jarvis from ICE Trikes, nominated for the best EO Transition of the Year Award and Sam Moles from Stephens Scown for winning Employee Owner of the Year! Congratulations! 🥂🎉

We’re excited to be part of the Employee Ownership Association community, it’s a remarkable place and look forward to supporting many current and future clients on their EO journey! 💥