We have worked with many established employee owned businesses on reviews of their employee owned systems of governance. An employee ownership review can help you to ensure everything is working well, or to help you make things work better, and will be tailored to the requirements of your business.
An employee ownership review can look at the relationships between board, trust and employees and might also look at how key decisions are made, how information is communicated or whether employee participation and employee voice are effective.
Employee ownership reviews often take place after key milestones in the life of an employee owned business:
Once the debt to the previous owner is repaid, also known as financial freedom day
Before or after major changes to the Trust or Company Board
Employee ownership reviews can also be used to address problems:
Relationships between Trust and Company Board not functioning as it should or needs to be on a clearer footing
Ambiguity about relationships with stakeholders
Employees unengaged with employee ownership or unsure what it means for them
Our clients' experiences with us
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“We chose to partner with Baxendale because employee ownership is all they do, rather than other companies which were technically qualified to help but which did not have a great deal of employee ownership experience to fall back on.
We knew that working with them would be a speedy, watertight process and that they would be with us at every step
Rob Skinner - Founder, Skout PR”
Skout is a B2B PR agency which transitioned to 100% employee ownership via an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) in 2023.
“Baxendale Employee Ownership provided invaluable guidance throughout our transition to becoming a 100% Employee Owned Business. As a 105-year old family-owned company with no fifth generation coming through, it was vital to get the right employee owned model, and we couldn’t have asked for better advisors. From initial discussions around potential structures to devising the best ways to reward our team, they were with us every step of the way, hitting all the timescales perfectly. Their expertise and support made the entire process seamless, and we truly couldn’t have done it without them. Baxendale exceeded our expectations and made a complex transition straightforward.
Paul Hooker - Managing Director, Joe Davies (Manchester) Limited”
Manchester based giftware importer and distributor Joe Davies became a 100% employee-owned business on the 31st of January 2024. The shareholding of the business will be held by the Joe Davies Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) for the benefit of all employees.
“The transition to EO was an intense undertaking involving many long hours of discussions, forecasting and exploring new legal frameworks. It has not always been an easy path, but the shared vision of a future in which all employees have a say and can benefit from the success of the company has been a constant. We could not have achieved this without the amazing support of the EO specialists at Baxendale, so a big thanks to them all. As of July 2023, we have succeeded in these efforts, with 100% ownership transferring to a new Trust, and are proud to now be an Employee-owned business.
Harold Lockwood, Founder - Aguaconsult”
Aguaconsult is a specialist values led consultancy which provides support to public, private and third sector organisations to improve water, sanitation and environmental services for marginalised people in less developed countries. The company moved into employee ownership, with 100% of the shares transferring into an EOT in August 2023.
“After 30 years of being the owner of TBM Group I had reached the stage in my career where I needed to look at the next steps for me, and at the same time a way of facilitating an evolution for us as a group that meant we could continue our cultural growth in the best way. After weighing up the various options, it became more and more obvious that an EOT was the natural step that was best, not only for myself and the management group, but for the entire team. We have established such a strong ethos and culture over the last few years and the EOT ensures that this is now permanently in place for everyone here.
Chris Page - Founder, TBM Group”
TBM put their people and culture first by transitioning to Employee Ownership in November 2023