The benefits of employee ownership just got real
For Just Recruitment, employee ownership is about sharing the fruits of our success with the whole workforce. Which is why every member of our team has received a pre-Christmas windfall of £1,000
| ...our dividends are not paid to the founders, they are paid to the staff. |
By Peter Foy
You work for an SME, which stands for “Small- and Medium-sized Enterprise”. It’s probably owner-managed. So you work for an entrepreneur.
That’s good. Most people in the UK are like you. The majority of the UK’s workforce are employed by SMEs. You might not think that when you see how much attention the government pays to huge employers, but it’s true. Small employers are the UK’s largest employers! Let’s highlight that:
Small employers are the UK’s largest employers!
So, you have a boss who owns the company. Maybe more than one of them.
For the sake of argument let’s have two bosses, and let them both be female. And, again just for the hell of it, let’s say the business is recruitment.
And just to fill in the picture, let’s say the business has been around for a while and is successful.
(I’ve got to ‘fess up here: I’m making your business look a little like mine.)
So, your bosses have very nice houses. In desirable areas, great gardens, great décor etc. And you get invited once a year for a company bash.
Yes, our bosses do that.
They also have holiday homes: a nice villa in Spain, a cottage in Scotland.
Yes, our bosses have those.
When they get on the plane, they turn left.
Yes, our bosses do that.
| Don’t you want to work for an employee-owned company, too? |
When they come into the office, you respect them because they built this business, but they make you think: “I could do this.”
Yup, you guessed it: our bosses do that.
At the end of the year they call you all together and say: “Well done, team. We’ve had a great year.”
Yes, ours do that, too.
And then they write an email to finance saying this is the dividend we are declaring for the year, please pay us now.
No. Our bosses don’t do that. Because we are employee-owned our dividends are not paid to the founders, they are paid to the staff.
So, this year every member of staff picked up an extra £1,000, completely tax-free.
You work for a recruitment company, we work for a recruitment company.
You earned your shareholders a dividend.
We are the shareholders. It’s our dividend.
Don’t you want to work for an employee-owned company, too?
© 2019 Just Recruitment Group Ltd
Published: 11 December 2019
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