EOA Conference 2010

Introducing and sustaining a successful employee ownership culture

• Key ingredients of an employee ownership culture
• How to audit and change culture
• Examples of company practice

Chair: Malcolm Lynch, partner, Wrigleys
Speakers: Peter Johnson, chairman, UBH International, Ian Henderson, project director, Savant, Barry Wise, managing director, Aber Instruments
BREAKFAST BRIEFING SPONSORED BY WRIGLEYS SOLICITORS

Seminar 1: The complete guide to employee buy-outs - Part 1: meeting the vendor’s objectives [this seminar links to the follow-up afternoon session]

• Key succession questions for business owners
• How does an employee buy-out work and succeed?
• How can the vendor’s aims be met?

Robert Postlethwaite, founder, Postlethwaite & Co, Jerry Gilbert, managing director, Abacus Design Associates
SEMINAR SPONSORED BY POSTLETHWAITE & CO

Seminar 2: The communications challenge - making employee ownership matter to co-owners

• The warning signs when co-owners don’t feel like co-owners
• Communication techniques that work
• Key messages for leaders, employee representatives and managers

Will Brydon, HR director, Martin Currie Investment Management, Derek Muir, Clansman Dynamics

Seminar 3: The entrepreneurial firm – using employee ownership to drive innovation and creativity

• Are you getting the creativity you need from co-owners?
• Characteristics of an entrepreneurial firm
• Creating a climate of innovation

Mike Thompson OBE, chief executive, Childbase, Tricia McGregor, joint managing director, Central Surrey Health

Seminar 4: Developing great leaders for employee owned firms – new options for senior team development

• Development programmes that acknowledge the ownership difference
• The art of selection – ensuring leaders fit your culture
• Towards an employee ownership MBA

Carole Leslie, partner, Baxendale
SEMINAR SPONSORED BY BAXENDALE

Seminar 5: Linking employee ownership to reward and performance

• Is your ownership structure rewarding enough?
• Trusts vs shares as performance boosters
• Two different firms’ approach compared

Gordon Aitken, director, RCU, Herman Kok, group finance director, Lindum Group

Seminar 6: Measuring ownership – using surveys to improve a co-owned business

• Assess the costs and benefits of surveying staff
• New ways to measure whether EO is working
• Practical insights from one the UK’s most respected staff surveys

Chris Dunlop, partner, Baxendale, Sarah Johnson, manager, partner survey, John Lewis Partnership
SEMINAR SPONSORED BY BAXENDALE

Seminar 7: Handling HM Revenue & Customs – how to get tax efficiencies from your employee ownership structure

• How HMRC and regulation can affect the bottom line
• Tax efficiencies and how to make them happen
• Getting HMRC on your side

Graeme Nuttall, tax partner, Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP
SEMINAR SPONSORED BY FIELD FISHER WATERHOUSE

Seminar 8: A new model for small businesses? How UST created a flexible family of co-owned firms

• A radical new option for small co-owned firms?
• Why four small firms decided there was strength in numbers
• Keeping it in the family – how synergies make each firm stronger

Judith Sykes, Director, MustRD, Ed McCann, trustee, Useful Simple Trust

Seminar 9: Consultation and information disclosure – what should the boundaries be?

• Balancing involvement and commercial confidentiality
• How to create a successful consultation process
• Handling the pressure on employee representatives

Kim Steward, chair, Eaga Partners’ Council, Keith Ballantyne, group HR director, Eaga

Seminar 10: Engaging co-owners effectively in continuous improvement

• Harnessing co-ownership for ‘lean’ techniques
• Boosting the productivity/engagement connection for better performance
• Case study evidence on examples

Alan Gibson, Human Resources Director, Tullis Russell, Jason Smith, Managing Director of Tullis Russell Coaters

Seminar 11: The complete guide to employee buy-outs – Part 2: selecting the right ownership structure [this seminar is linked to the earlier morning session]

• How to structure the bought-out business for success
• Leading employees and management through the transition
• Key governance challenges and decisions

Robert Postlethwaite, founder, Postlethwaite & Co
SEMINAR SPONSORED BY POSTLETHWAITE & CO

Seminar 12: Managing growth or takeovers while keeping the co-ownership culture strong

• How Waitrose integrates new staff into an employee owned business
• Ensuring growth and co-ownership don’t pull in opposite directions
• How Waitrose tackles the takeover challenge

David Williams, manager, branch growth, Waitrose, Andy Woodcock, branch manager, Waitrose, Anne Marie Hearne, Training Manager, Learning and Development, Waitrose

Seminar 13: Do trade unions and employee ownership mix?

• How do unions view employee ownership?
• Do unions have a legitimate role in a co-owned company?
• A prominent union leader looks at how unions and employee ownership can co-exist

Jim McAuslan, general secretary, British Airline Pilots Association

Seminar 14: Driving leadership performance the John Lewis way

• A new approach to leadership behaviours
• How JL tracks and supports leadership performance
• Transferable lessons for other firms

Mark Wooding, , learning & development manager, John Lewis

Seminar 15: Balanced performance – aligning the interests of co-owners, customers and profit

• Managing the 3-way pressures on a co-owned business
• Balancing accountability with competitiveness
• Case study experience from two very different co-owned firms

Trevor Lincoln, director, partner engagement, Eaga, Byron Woodmansee, head of partner support, Circle

Roundtable 1: Handling redundancy and other recession effects in a co-owned business
Discussion leader: Barry Cooke, finance director, Make

Roundtable 2: Taking the business international – challenges for a co-owned business
Discussion leader: Barry Spence, chairman & CEO, Cubiks

Roundtable 3: Ownership succession planning – how owners can let go
Discussion leader: Steve Parfett, managing director, AG Parfett & Sons

Roundtable 4: The coaching effect – improving the Board’s performance
Discussion leaders: Hilary Thompson, chief executive, OPM and Bob Baker, senior fellow, OPM
ROUNDTABLE SPONSORED BY OPM

Roundtable 5: What do we want from Government? Employee owners’ messages to the Coalition
Discussion leader: Nigel Mason, policy director, Employee Ownership Association

Roundtable 6: Reinventing the business – how one company transformed itself to beat recession
Discussion leader: Fred Bowden, managing director, Woollard and Henry

During the lunch break delegates are welcome to attend a short presentation to the winners of this year’s Philip Baxendale Awards - created by the Baxi Partnership and supported by EOA - to reward individuals and companies excelling in employee ownership. Click here for more details.