EO Day case study Cambridge Weight Plan

The sponsors of EO Day 2017, Cambridge Weight Plan, are planning to celebrate the day by officially opening a new building at their site in Corby.

The business has enjoyed growth of more than £6m over the last couple of years, which has generated a pre-tax profit of £10.1m and created 27 new jobs at its head office. The additional space is required to support the expansion of the business, and to sustain future growth.

It also underlines the business’ commitment to the local area and continued investment for the future of the Employee Owned Business.

The inventor of the Cambridge Diet, Dr Alan Howard, who the building is being named after, will do the honours of opening it. Local MP Tom Pursglove will also be in attendance, alongside all the employee stakeholders.

The business, which manufactures weight management products, has been employee owned for seven years after its three owner/directors decided to retire and set up an employee ownership trust. Three years ago the business became 100% employee owned and celebrated its first EO day.

When the company became fully employee owned it worked with J Gadd Associates to run a number of perception survey workshops to gain an understanding of the views held by everyone working within the business. Since then, Cambridge Weight Plan employee stakeholders have collectively identified company core values (accountability, communication, creativity, excellence, progress and respect) which all stakeholders are expected to demonstrate. These values are also used when recruiting new members of staff.

Also, being a direct selling organisation, Cambridge Weight Plan manages a network of over 3,500 Consultants in the UK, as well 32 international distributors who market in 42 countries around the world. The business is constantly growing and in the last year, has signed contracts with distributors in Egypt, Morocco and New Zealand.

The business has won numerous awards from health and safety to good business practice and has attained the Investors in People (IIP) Silver status. The IIP assessor said, “The senior leadership team have created a vision and purpose, which people can relate to and as a result believe that they make a positive difference to the lives of those that use the products…[employees] have a sense of ownership and pride and genuinely want to be part of a growing business”.

Cambridge Weight Plan Managing Director, Chris McDermott, said, “I am extremely proud of our company. We have won a large number of awards over the last few years, including the Queen’s Award for International Trade, but winning Corby Business of the Year in 2016 was especially important because Corby is our home and we care about the impact we have on the community here.

“It is important that as well as being profitable, the business does the best for its employee stakeholders, the community in which it operates, as well as transforming the lives of those who use or sell our products.”

http://www.cambridgeweightplan.com/about-us

@CambsWeightPlan