News
Optimat is delighted to take part in this year’s UK Employee Ownership Day (EO Day), run by the Employee Ownership Association (EOA), which has the theme of #GrowEO. This is to celebrate and showcase how employee ownership has helped to grow our business and the economy as well as benefit our employee owners.
Formed over 30 years ago, we currently have 11 employees and we are proud to celebrate employee ownership alongside employee owned businesses across the UK. Since last year’s EO Day, our Founder, Angus Hunter, has retired but our new team of Directors is working hard to fill his shoes. We have also recruited new staff and helped an intern gain valuable experience in the workplace after graduation.
As Deborah Creamer a Director of Optimat explains:
‚ ‘Becoming an employee-owned business was a fantastic way for us to ensure that we continued to build on the success of our company founder and the previous shareholders as they started to look towards retirement. We now do not need to worry about the future of the business as we have a plan for succession in place and we can focus on developing our employees and delivering high quality consultancy services to our clients. That is why we are delighted to participate in EO Day.‚Äù
James de le Vingne, CEO for the Employee Ownership Association, said:
‚ ‘Companies such as Optimat are great examples of the economic and social benefits that can be achieved when employees have a stake and a say in the business in which they work.
‚ ‘Over the last ten years since we began celebrating EO Day, the UK employee-owned sector has grown significantly. This year we will be asking, how can we make it grow even more quickly in half the time?
‚ ‘By making as much noise as possible we can to help raise awareness with business owners, professional advisers and stakeholders to help #GrowEO.‚Äù
With numerous events running across the UK and the involvement of thousands of employee owners and other partners, EO Day is an integral part of the EOA’s events calendar and was introduced to raise awareness of employee ownership as an economically strong and balanced business model.
The benefits of employee ownership have been proven in EOA-led research, and include improving employee health and wellbeing, increasing productivity and fostering creativity and innovation across an array of industry sectors. In addition:
- UK employee-owned companies contribute over £30 billion to the UK economy annually
- Employee-owners have higher levels of job satisfaction, feel a greater sense of achievement and job security, and are more likely to recommend their workplace than employees in non-employee-owned businesses
- Employee-owned businesses operate in a range of sectors including healthcare, social care, education, transport, manufacturing, retail and professional services
For more details on the Employee Ownership Association, please contact:
Keely Lead, Head of Communications