EO Day case study Agilisys

Agilisys will celebrate with its 1,500 employee owners at its 17 sites across the UK on EO day 2017.

EO day will help raise awareness of the employee owned sector and will endorse Agilisys’ employee owned status.

Highlights from the day will include Agilisys West London  “Owners Day”, the launch of the South West Offices employee ownership week, volunteering in the local community in the North West and employee engagement activities in Scotland.

The West London “Owners Day” at Agilisys’ Hammersmith office will include over forty employees volunteering with Shelter in the local Hammersmith shop and collecting donations at local underground stations. In the evening there will be an awards ceremony celebrating and recognising success amongst employee owners.

Whilst in Agilisys’ North West offices, employee owners will support local charity, Willowbrook Hospice in their local shop with a lick of fresh paint. At the same time, employees in South West England will launch their Summer Employee Ownership Trust Festival, running from the 3rd until the 7th July. Each day will see employee owners volunteering with local charities including the RSPCA, Clevedon Pier, Weston Hospicecare, Kewstoke Youth and Community Farm and Brain Tumour Research.

Agilisys has almost two decades of experience using technology-driven transformation to help public sector partners to reduce cost, increase revenue and improve their services for millions of citizens across the UK.

Over two years ago, Agilisys’ Board considered alternative ownership structures as a means of preserving its employee-focused ethos and ensuring the future of the company remained firmly in the hands of those people who shared the same values and visions of its co-founders.

As a result of the comprehensive legal and financial advice delivered by Fieldfisher, Agilisys began to realise the potential benefits to be gained from a transition to employee owned status, welcoming the opportunity to align the common goals and share the successes of employees, shareholders and trustees alike.

Consequently, Agilisys made the decision to implement an indirect ownership structure, whereby 57% of the company’s shareholdings are held by an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) in April 2015.

The transition has had a transformative impact both internally and externally, moving the business’ brand profile from one which was very traditional in look and feel, to that which wholeheartedly embodies Agilisys’ three core values: innovation, integrity and passion.

Alongside this, Agilisys has invested in enhancing communications both internally and externally, by connecting with the wider employee ownership network and beginning to measure engagement through an inaugural annual employee engagement survey.

With the employee ownership sector receiving mounting government support, evidenced by the introduction of recent tax incentives, and continuing to grow at 10% per annum, it’s clear that Agilisys joined the EO community at an exciting time – and that the move is paying off.

As the first business in its market to adopt the EOT model, the company has found its EO status offers a real competitive advantage, appealing to local and central government and existing public sector clients, many of whom share the same ethos as EO businesses.

In light of it being one of the largest employee-owned businesses in the UK, with a revenue in excess of £144 million, Agilisys has made it into the EOA’s Top 50 rankings for 2016 – the highest new entry, at number 11.

The continued success of the business is testament to its commitment to employee ownership and one which looks sure to continue for the long-term, evolving with the business’ objectives and proving that employee ownership is not a destination in its own right but a journey on which to grow and evolve.

 www.agilisys.co.uk
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