EOA congratulates Gripple on UK best employer award

The EOA is celebrating another of its members receiving a national accolade for business excellence.

Gripple which as been named as the UK’s Best Employer in the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) awards was the also winner of the UK Employee Owned Culture Award in 2018.

Deb Oxley OBE, Chief Executive of the Employee Ownership Association, said: “We are noticing a trend of employee owned businesses becoming recognised for business excellence in particular linked to employee engagement and empowering employees to drive business performance.

“We congratulate Gripple on its work to create excellent career options while growing its performance and profits.”

Below follows a press release from Gripple:

BRITISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AWARDS JUDGES PICK GRIPPLE AS THE UK’S BEST EMPLOYER

In the prestigious British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) awards scheme Gripple, the employee-owned and celebrated manufacturer of the iconic wire fastener, was named the UK’s Best Employer and also selected as a regional winner in the High Growth Business of the Year category.

In 2016 Gripple was voted Sheffield’s Best Employer by Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, with which the company works closely as a long-standing member.

Gripple is a 100% employee-owned company with every new employee required to buy £1,000 worth of shares after 12 months of employment. The company, which turned over £80m last year and aims to reach £100m by 2021, is part of the GLIDE Group, which has more than 700 staff worldwide and 550 employees based in South Yorkshire, with 350 working for Gripple.

Managing director, Ed Stubbs commented: “This award is well-earned by our people and we are all delighted with this prized accolade. Employee-ownership is a fantastic model to drive long-term performance in a business and to properly reward and engage employees. We all thank the BCC for this prestigious recognition.”

The BCC is the national representative body of 52 accredited chambers of commerce across the UK, representing 92,000 businesses. The Chamber Business Awards recognise and reward excellence in British business with the regional winners selected from hundreds of entries by regional judging panels.
Winner of five Queen’s Awards, Gripple sold its 650 millionth joiner and fastener last year to provide patented time-saving solutions within the construction, agriculture and viticultural markets.