Eagle Plant Celebrates Our 5th EO Birthday!
It is five years since our business became Employee Owned, when our employees, now co-owners, acquired a controlling interest in the business via the Eagle Plant Employee Ownership Trust. Eagle Plant is now one of over 300 Employee Owned companies employing over 300,000 people.
Managing Director (and Founder) of Eagle Plant, Michael Grimoldby said:
One of the key reasons for going down the EO route centered on the importance of the people within the business. When Aardman Animations (creators of Wallace & Gromit) went EO, it was because of the the skills of the people within that business. I can say the same about the people at Eagle Plant. Aardman’s staff are the creators – just like Eagle’s people are the ones who deliver the service to our customers.
Interestingly, when some companies are sold and taken over by other companies (using a traditional trade sale route), promises are often made to the old owners, which usually include: nothing will change, no-one will lose their jobs and the existing Directors would stay on. Too often these promises are soon broken and the whole culture of the business is changed. Good people are pushed out and new Managers brought in, often resulting in a radical change from the original business format.
Eagle Plant are proud to say that the transition to Employee Owned status has allowed our business to remain as our original founder intended it to be and our employee engagement has grown substantially, which in turn improves our commitment and service standards to our customers and our relationships with our suppliers. Our Trustees are ever present to ensure that the business is being run as well as possible and ensure there is full accountability for all.
