Curtins Shortlisted for Employee-Owned Business of the Year

We’re four and a half years into our employee ownership and last week I joined 800 other like-minded individuals and businesses at the Employee Ownership Association Conference in Telford, where we took the opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come and what lies ahead.

July 2021 marked our official transition to 100% employee ownership, but we’ve been proudly independent since our inception, with shares held by a small number of Curtins employees before this.

Understanding EO Models

One surprising conference takeaway for me was learning that not all employee-owned businesses operate at 100% ownership. I’ve been on the EO journey with my fellow Curtins’ co-owners since the beginning and presently sit as Chair of our Employee Forum.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, here’s the Curtins’ Employee Forum lowdown: It comprises up to 2 democratically elected people from each of our offices, voted into their seat by office colleagues to represent their voices across a two-year term. Two members of the Forum are subsequently elected to sit on Curtins’ Trust Board, alongside two board representatives and an independent advisor, ensuring that the interests of employees are considered in business decisions. So - a continual, formal and active channel for colleague consultation across all offices, departments and perspectives.

My understanding of employee-ownership is very much formed by this experience here at Curtins - a business that is well established in its EO journey having gone straight in at 100% employee ownership.

Representation and equity are something we’ve always considered fundamental at Curtins and our EO model ensures that diverse voices are heard and help to shape our future.

Engaging Co-Owners in Employee Ownership

On day two, a discussion on how to engage co-owners had panellists sitting on either side of full transparency; from democracy and consultation, through to a more limited one-way communication of EO updates.

At Curtins, we’ve found a balance. Our Employee Forum acts as a powerful channel for suggestions and a test bed for new initiatives. The principles of our Hybrid Working policy were shaped, in part, by these voices as we returned to office working 2020 – enabling Curtins to be at the forefront of adoption in the industry – and it has remained robust ever since. Whilst I learned that not every EO business adopts forums or colleague councils, we’ve seen first hand how valuable they are in amplifying employee voices.

Transparency matters, but so does clarity. We aim to keep our co-owners informed without overwhelming them, while ensuring operational decisions remain with our experts; the board, trustee directors and business leads.

Ahead of the Curve

I took gems of inspiration away from the conference, as did our Chief Executive, Director of Culture and elected Trustee Director, but our collective and overall sense was pleasingly reassuring – I believe Curtins is ahead of the curve in our EO journey, which is no doubt a reflection of our organic growth and 65 years of independence, and our continued commitment to making it work.

In testament of this, we were proudly named one of five national and cross-sector businesses to be shortlisted for Employee-Owned Business of the Year. Crushingly close to the win, but absolutely delighted to have seen our named announced in less than 5 years since our transition.