The March 2025 Employee Owners Knowledge Share focused on the topic: what makes a great ‘employee owner’? We were fortunate to be joined by guest speaker Tracey Calderwood to discuss this topic, and below we share our five key takeaways from the discussion.
When a business transitions to employee ownership it turns its ‘employees’ into ‘owners’. That can create a lot of opportunity for both the business and the individuals within it. Employees and owners think and act differently though, so energy and consideration are needed to unlock the potential of creating a new business worth of owners.
Leadership, communication, strategy, time and a willingness to change are all required to reach the level of ‘Great EO’. So, what practically needs to be put in place for employees to become great employee owners?
Tracey Calderwood, Manufacturing/Hygiene Manager and Employee Trust Director at The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan, joined our March event to share her wisdom and experience as the winner of the 2024 Employee Owner of the Year award. Tracey is a fantastic example of an employee who has been on the journey to become a great employee owner, and through her influence and advocacy is a leader for EO for her colleagues and business.
Our five key takeaways from the March knowledge share are:
1. A great ‘Employee Owner’ has a voice in their business
By changing the ownership structure of the business, the employees are now joint owners. This presents a great opportunity to raise their voice and for them and the business to benefit from it.
But what employees use their voice to say can present challenges rather than benefits if it is not made clear what type of voice will benefit the business.
Instead of talking about tea and toilets (or bogs and bike sheds, or coffee and cake), businesses should encourage employees to focus less on the direct and immediate work experiences they have, and more on initiatives that will increase the longevity of the business they now own and stand to benefit from.
That’s not to say that small wins in the workplace have no benefit to the business, more that it is only scratching the surface of the opportunity.
Having documented processes and structures in the form of governance, and regular and clear communications on what employee ownership is (and is not), can help to ensure everyone is pulling in the same direction.
2. A great ‘Employee Owner’ understands that it’s all about the business.
When a business seeks ideas from its employees, the “push approach” (where the business asks employees for a solution to a specific problem) can be more effective than the “pull approach” (where the business asks a broad and open question to employees on what ideas they have). This is because employees may not yet be aware of the areas of the business they can have an impact on, which can result in the bulk of ideas being about employee benefits, than overall commercial benefits.
And in either case, consideration beyond ‘how does this benefit me’ needs to be baked in and communicated. Employees have a journey to go on as they learn how to be owners of a business. Ideas need to be suggested with considerations and challenges included, not just benefits. What is the cost? What is the administration? How does this fit with our strategy or culture? These are examples of questions that need to be answered by employee owners before the idea progresses to a leadership team.
3. A great ‘Employee Owner’ has accountability.
When an employee owner brings forward an idea they are passionate about, they take responsibility for seeing that idea through to fruition. One issue though is whether ideas being submitted should be anonymous or not? Anonymity can lead to more honest feedback from employees, but it can also lead to negative comments as employees see it as an opportunity to vent rather than put forward constructive ideas. But if employee suggestions are public, it may deter employees from putting forward constructive criticism and solutions because they fear the impact this will have on them from the management team.
A solution for this can be having the submissions only visible to the staff council (if the business has one) so that the council can engage with the employee concerned and encourage them to take their idea forward and be held accountable, but without the operational or trustee board knowing who has made the submission.
4. A great ‘Employee Owner’ is an ambassador for their business, as they truly believe in its purpose.
When you choose to own something, you gain benefits from your ownership, and you also hold responsibilities towards it. You are tied to it, you care about it, you change your behaviour to match the belief you hold towards it.
Whereas an owner who does not believe in the thing they own might not have its best interests as a priority. In the context of an employee owned business, this lack of interest can be detrimental to more than that sole individual, as the business represents and benefits a collective. So, making someone think and act like a true owner is important to get right.
EO often gets overfocused on the profit share, which is understandable given it’s a fantastic way to benefit those who are helping make the business a success. But only focusing on the profit share limits the other benefits that can come from employee ownership. For example, encouraging employees to feel and act like owners encourages people to feel a greater purpose for the work they are doing, which is important given we all spend a sizeable portion of our life working.
To have the purpose of a business align with the purpose of its people, undertaking a values exercise across all levels of the organisation can be extremely helpful. In doing so, everyone contributes their beliefs and when the output is generated, they are far more likely to alter their behaviour to meet the belief, as it is authentic to them.
This can be a clear way to indicate that a business is engaging with their employee ownership credentials and even helps a leadership team to truly know what people would like from the business, rather than guessing.
5. A great ‘Employee Owner’ need to know the framework they are operating in.
Governance isn’t seen as a sexy topic – but it should be. If the employee owners, staff council, operational board and trust board are to operate in harmony, they need to know what they can and can’t do (and what the other stakeholders can and can’t do).
Where there are no terms of reference setting out each stakeholders’ role, it can lead to tensions where one group feels another group is exceeding its authority and not ‘playing by the rules’. But if no rules have been set different stakeholders cannot hold each other to account. On the other hand, a lack of structure can lead to apathy and inaction particularly among employees or the staff council – if they are unclear what their remit is, it’s easier to simply do nothing rather than risk stepping on toes.
Stephens Scown hosts the Employee Owners Knowledge Share monthly to help create a community space for employee owners, and those looking to transition. If you are interested in joining future sessions, please visit our Events page.
This article was co-written by Dave Robbins (Associate in our Corporate team) and Sam Moles (Digital Marketing Manager) who are both former employee ownership trustees, and currently sit on the firm’s Strategy Board.