Blog by Allison Pepper, Associate Director & Road Traffic Accident Solicitor at Oliver & Co Solicitors
Last week I was fortunate enough to meet up with friends, who I had not seen in a long while. We discussed, kids, family, and work over a beer and whilst discussing work, I mentioned that the firm had become employee owned and how we were really noticing beneficial changes in the office. He was taken aback when I told him how we had changed.
His comments were that he could never understand why employees worked so hard to make profit for a business, yet in most cases don’t reap the financial benefits and that those more junior members of teams were as valuable to the business as those at senior levels and that so often fairness is lost in business.
I went on the explain that being a part of an employee-owned company was not just about each qualifying employee, who had made the business what it was, receiving a share of the profit which had been made by all employees, but that there were also non-monetary benefits to celebrate.
I explained that all employees have a say in how things are run and that employee representatives have been appointed by vote to take suggestions for improvements to the management board and trustees, who of course have the ultimate best interests of the business at heart. This has resulted much better communication with all employees and management and a feeling of ownership, teamwork, and self-accountability.
I explained that we had also engaged new instructions, after clients had read that we had become employee owned and that we had also noticed benefits of our new status when it came to recruitment and had regularly been informed by candidates that they had chosen us over other firms because of the positive messages that had come from staff in their blogs following employee ownership.
As a professional and senior member of a business, he was astounded that more businesses did not consider this approach when it came to succession planning.
It made me realise how lucky I am to be a part of a such a progressive enterprise and how much I am looking forward to seeing what will come next.
