Tullis Russell hosts Employee Ownership Day

The business, which has an operation in Bollington, UK and is employee-owned, hosted a day of events at the site which were attended by other employee ownershop (EO) businesses including John Lewis, Parfetts Cash & Carry and Gaeia. Twenty students from the local Bollington St John's & Pott Shrigley Church School also toured the site to find out more about employee ownership.

Fred Bowden, chairman of Tullis Russell said: ‘Today is an excellent opportunity to join with other employee-owned businesses to celebrate what makes employee-owned businesses different. It was fitting that employees and the local community were heavily involved in the day itself.

‘By design, our structure places people at the heart of the operation and allows them to share in its successes. Employee ownership facilitates independent decision making, allowing us to focus on the long-term without the short-term pressures often imposed by external shareholders.’

‘Our commitment to this ethos was inspired by the strong personal belief of our then chairman, David Erdal that employee ownership was a healthier, more satisfying company structure for employees to work in,’ continued Bowden.

‘His championing of the link between a deeper level of employee ownership and greater customer satisfaction continues to guide our strategy today.’

Employee Ownership Association (EOA) chief executive officer Iain Hasdell said: ‘Companies such as Tullis Russell are great examples of the success and engagement that can be achieved in an employee owned environment.

‘The EOA is delighted to work on their behalf to celebrate Employee Ownership Day, and make it easier for other UK companies to follow their lead into employee ownership so that we can reach our target of 10 percent of UK GDP to be generated by employee owned business by 2020.’