The EOA Podcast

Episode 19 of the EOA Podcast is all about how being employee owned can be transformational for workers at all levels of an EO business, especially those in traditionally low-paid sectors. Hear from Russell Brown, the Chief Executive at Shaw Healthcare, on the impact employee ownership has had at the largest employee owned care provider in the UK, which employs more than 3,000 people working in care homes, community hospitals and on care schemes. The podcast also paid a visit to the Watford headquarters of employee owned commercial cleaning specialist CleanTEC. CleanTEC is the UK’s largest employee owned cleaning company, with almost 2,000 employees, many of whom are part-time cleaners. In the EOA’s press release for EO Day 2023, it stated that “EO can be transformational for workers in traditionally low-paid sectors, such as cleaning”. Hear from members of the CleanTEC team who give their perspectives on this theme. Find out more about the EOA and employee ownership at https://employeeownership.co.uk/

Episode 18 of the EOA Podcast is all about #TheEOeffect – the theme of EO Day 2023, our annual national celebration of all things employee ownership. The purpose of this theme is to showcase the impact employee ownership has on employees, businesses, the wider economy and communities. To help us highlight this impact, Episode 18 features an employee owned business headquartered in Bolton, an employee from a Scottish EO business, an employee ownership adviser, and a not-for-profit organisation that is all about helping communities thrive. Find out more about employee ownership and the EOA on our site here: https://employeeownership.co.uk

Listen to Episode 17 of the EOA Podcast, which focuses on how to communicate an employee ownership transition to your team and why it’s important to factor internal comms into your planning as part of the journey to becoming employee owned. We know from speaking to members that the transition process goes more smoothly when communications are planned out and well thought through, ensuring the message really hits home with employees about why the decision has been made, and to help build understanding and increase engagement. To explore this further, this episode showcases three businesses of different sizes and from different sectors that have transitioned to employee ownership more recently to hear how they went about communicating the news, the challenges they faced and lessons they learnt, as well as tips they have for other companies embarking on their own EO journey. Find out more about employee ownership here: Employee Ownership Association | EOA | Representing UK EO

Episode 16 of the EOA Podcast focuses on how to embed an employee ownership culture globally when a UK business has international operations. This episode showcases how businesses of different sizes, and with different employee ownership models, go about doing this in a practical and operational context. Hear from Glide and partner company Gripple, Aber Instruments, and Scott Bader on some of the lessons learnt, challenges faced and tips they have for ensuring EO is embraced and fully understood among employees based in overseas sites. Find out more about the EOA and about employee ownership here >> https://employeeownership.co.uk

Episode 15 of the EOA Podcast explores the link between employee ownership and putting people front and centre of your business strategy and purpose. We find out how becoming employee owned supports businesses to focus on their people. We also look at how, for some companies, transitioning to employee ownership is a natural fit because of the people-centric culture already embedded in the business. Hear three case studies from businesses in the EOA membership, namely Pennine Healthcare, Richmond & Towers, and White Ink Architects, on how they put their people first. Find out more about employee ownership and the EOA at www.employeeownership.co.uk

Episode 14 of the EOA Podcast goes behind the scenes at one of our EOA members to hear first hand from its employees about what it feels like to own a company and to share some of the lessons learned in its first two years EO. Inspired by EOA President Patrick Lewis challenging the employee ownership sector to tell their stories during his speech at the 2022 EOA Annual Conference, the EOA was invited to Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire, to visit an employee-owned company that transitioned in February 2021. Haremi is a global learning company with a network of customers in Europe, Asia, Africa, and both North and South America. It was founded in 2006, and has grown to become one of the UK’s leading educational content creation services, working across the educational publishing, awarding body and professional membership sectors. In this behind-the-scenes episode, find out more about why Haremi became employee owned, how these first two years have gone, and hear from some of its almost 50 employees from all levels of the business on how they feel being employee owners. Find out more about employee ownership here: https://employeeownership.co.uk

Episode 13 of the EOA Podcast showcases how some of our members are bringing good employee ownership (or 'Good EO') to life. There are three pillars that we feel are essential to deliver an excellent employee ownership culture – good communications and engagement, good leadership, and good governance. In this episode, we hear from people at four employee-owned businesses who were recognised during our 2022 EO Stories competition for delivering ‘Good EO’, through either good leadership, engagement, governance, or an outstanding EO culture. Find out more about the EOA on our website here.

Episode 12 of the EOA Podcast explores the theme of empowering employees to act like owners. In this episode, you will hear tips on how to empower employees to make an impact in an employee-owned business; how one of our members has gone about empowering its employees in its first two years being EO; and also from the chair of an employee voice group on how she and her colleagues have become empowered. Find out more about the EOA here >> https://employeeownership.co.uk/about-the-employee-ownership-association/ 

Episode 11 of the EOA Podcast explores the growing trend of employee-owned businesses gaining or applying for B Corp certification. There are now more than 950 B Corp-certified businesses in the UK and almost 10 per cent of these are employee owned. In this episode you will hear all about the B Corp movement from the not-for-profit organisation that started the accreditation scheme, while three employee-owned businesses at different stages of their B Corp journey also share why becoming certified was important to them and the benefits they are reaping. Our podcast guests also offer insights into why they believe there is a growing trend of EO businesses applying, and the synergy that exists between employee ownership and B Corp, before ending with tips for anyone thinking of exploring this for their company. To find out more about employee ownership or the EOA visit: www.employeeownership.co.uk 

Episode 10 of the EOA Podcast focuses on the value of bringing the EO sector together. Three years after our last in-person EOA Conference, we were all back together again as 670 delegates from across the sector turned out at the ACC in Liverpool on October 3 and 4, 2022, to explore the conference theme of ‘unlocking potential’. And the EOA Podcast was there to hear first-hand from members what value they get from travelling from different corners of the UK to share their experiences and celebrate all things employee ownership. This episode hears from a specialist advisor in the sector who has attended every EOA Conference; the Chair of a Trust Board who has been a speaker at both a virtual and an in-person conference; and the Operations Director of a newly transitioned employee-owned business attending the event for the first time. To find out more about employee ownership or the EOA visit: www.employeeownership.co.uk