Hannah Welch from Baxendale Employee Ownership, Simon Davidson from The Sewell Group, and John Lister from RPC formed our EO panel to take questions from the floor.
On the topic of an Employee Trustee, Hannah believes in a “stagger period” to allow for personal training and to understand personal responsibilities around the role.
Simon from Sewell added that the business normally gives around three years for an Employee Trustee to adjust to the role so they can excel, and John cited training through the eoa’s eo Learn course is crucial for colleagues in the role.
The eoa hold examples of job descriptions for key roles in an EO business, including the Employee Trustee (which you’ll be able to access in the eo Hub).
Finally, EO businesses should be planning the continued professional development of their Employee Trustees so the insights and experiences gained are utilised.
In increasing understanding of what EO means, the team at Sewell Group refer to Four R’s; Rewards and Rights which Simon explained is quite simple to get across, but then Responsibilities and Risk, which requires more attention.
For new starters all three businesses spend time explaining what EO means, including time meeting with the Employee Trustees.
To support this Simon runs lunchtime learn sessions on financial literacy so everyone across the business has the opportunity to understand company financials.
Hannah and John also explained how they are very open and transparent with financial information, and the positive impact this has.
Using EO as your USP. The three panellists and others in the room shared how they externally shout about being EO for business development.
Being EO demonstrates to clients that the business is sustainable for the future, that you are dealing with owners, and there is a feeling of pride and motivation for the business to grow.