The Steemies attend 2022 Employee Ownership Association (EOA) National Conference and mark an important team anniversary

On 16 March 2022, Esteem Training transitioned to become an employee-owned company.

We’re proud that our entire staff voted for this key milestone in the company’s development since we have always maintained that our talented team represents not only our most important asset, but also the lifeblood of our success both past and future.

As a collaborative, supportive group always on the lookout to acquire new skills and forge mutually-beneficial connections, we chose two of our team to attend the 2022 Employee Ownership Association (EOA) National Conference which took place on 3 and 4 October. Our Operations Director, Martina Höfner and Quality Manager Debbie Knights travelled to Liverpool’s Arena and Convention Centre for two days packed with keynote speakers, workshops, industry networking and product exhibitions.

The event coincided with the second anniversary of our moving to a four-day working week, with no reduction in salary – a conscious decision from our board to give back in acknowledgment of our team’s ongoing commitment and sterling work. As a result, staff universally report feeling less stressed with many choosing their ‘free’ day to become more involved with select charities and local initiatives in addition to finding time to relax and recharge.

Packed EOA conference schedule

The comprehensive EOA conference workshop schedule ranged from ‘Revitalising your approach to governance once employee-owned’ to ‘Empowering employees to act like owners’ and ‘Developing the next generation of leaders’. Before heading to Liverpool, Debbie and Martina devised a strategic ‘plan of attack’ whereby each would attend different workshops and breakout sessions designed to maximise available peer knowledge and best practice exchange.

Martina was even interviewed for the EOA’s latest podcast – Episode 10 – which you can access here.

Our transition to employee ownership was project-managed by Scottish Enterprise and Co-operative Development Scotland with advice from Co-ownership Solutions, legal services from Lindsays and financial input from Time 2 Adapt Limited.

We’re always open to chat and share some of the benefits we’ve gleaned from our move to employee ownership, and how we can help provide funded vocational construction supervisory and management training and inspirational strategic management programmes for your team. Contact Andy Findlater, Business Development Manager – andy@esteemtraining.com and 07766 658 083.