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Today marks the UK's first Employee Ownership Day, as Employee Ownership Association (EOA) members across the UK celebrate the successes of the employee owned business model.
A number of Fieldfisher's employee owned clients will be holding events to mark the day. The John Lewis Partnership, Scott Bader, Arup and Gripple will be among those taking part. Highlights will include Arup hosting a Ministerial visit.
In addition, the EOA and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) are holding a conference in London, prior to the annual EOA Summer Dinner in Parliament this evening. The conference will launch various new resources to promote employee ownership, including Acas endorsed BIS guidance for employees who want to request a move to employee ownership and model documentation on a move to employee ownership with accompanying BIS and HMRC guidance. These publications implement recommendations made by Fieldfisher partner Graeme Nuttall in his Government report "Sharing Success: The Nuttall Review of Employee Ownership".
Other successes in increasing the resources available to promote employee ownership include today's publication by the EOA of 'How To Get Started', a guide to getting started as an employee owned business and the launch of an employee ownership educational course by the University of Oxford. The online course, which will run from October 2nd and is recruiting now, is called Employee Ownership for the 21st Century and will give an overview of the issues around employee ownership. Graeme Nuttall will be contributing material to the course.
Graeme Nuttall and other partners from Fieldfisher's Mutuals and Employee Ownership Team will be in attendance at the Employee Ownership Day conference in London as part of the firm's ongoing commitment to the employee ownership. Graeme will be appearing alongside Business Minister Jo Swinson as part of a panel discussion on issues surrounding employee ownership.
Graeme Nuttall said:
"In the long term employee owned companies perform better and continue to be a successful business model. The Government supports employee ownership and is committed to acting on recommendations put forward in the Nuttall Review, which provides a framework to move this model into the mainstream of the economy. Employee Ownership Day 2013 is an opportunity to celebrate the success to date of employee ownership, as well as to raise awareness and hopefully inspire others to adopt the model."
Employee Ownership Association Chief Executive Iain Hasdell added:
"Employee owned businesses contribute around £30bn to the UK economy each year and I am delighted that the importance of employee ownership has been recognised. By publishing today's 'How To Get Started' guide for businesses interested in becoming employee owned we are shining a light on how easy it is to implement employee ownership in the UK."