Want to know the truth about the Intelligent Hand Dryers team?
We’re a ragtag bunch of misfits. A bunch of unique characters from diverse backgrounds.
Thankfully, we’ve stumbled upon an incredible mix of people who are helping us create a company we can all enjoy working in.
We’re on a journey towards giving our employees real, meaningful ownership of the business. It fits with our values, and opens up some interesting ideas of what a business can be.
Who doesn’t love a chance to actually own and profit from the company you spend your working hours building?
The transition has begun — and we’re on a roadmap to split shares and ownership of Intelligent Facility Solutions Ltd. amongst team members.
In this blog post, we’d like to explain a bit about what it actually means to be an employee owned company — and what motivated us to start this journey.
What is employee ownership?
Employee ownership means that employees both have a financial stake in the business, and they have a meaningful say in how it’s run.
So for us that looks like splitting the company into shares, giving our employees the opportunity to invest. So when the business profits, they profit.
And since our turnover has been rapidly growing year on year, there’s a heavy incentive for our employees to get on board and buy shares.
It also means making sure that members of our team have real control over the decision-making process in the company.
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To become a worker-owned business, a business has to set up an EOT (Employee Owned Trust).
Having shares in the company makes it both easier to split ownership and investment in the company amongst our team.
Employee-ownership isn’t exactly traditional, but it’s steadily growing in popularity. Growing alongside and in connection with the B Corp ethical business movement, EO businesses are forming strong networks and communities across the country. There are now over 1000 EOT businesses in the UK.
And with many business owners and industry figures keeping a keen eye on the high success rates of employee-owned businesses, this trend seems set to continue.
Why it works for Intelligent
We love having a team where everyone is prepared to go above and beyond, because we’re all winning together.
We’re also big into employee development. When our Managing Director Barry Dunn came on board to steer the operations of the company, our founder (Andrew Cameron) insisted that no member of the team was left behind (and fired).
So we retained and developed everyone.
We’ve invested our time and energy in upskilling, developing, and listening to everyone in the company. And it was a smart move, because you get back what you give.
Loyalty, employee retention, high engagement, and a motivated team united in our goals.
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Some might say we’re an unusual case. A hand dryer supply business going full tilt on company culture, values, and sustainability.
But we want other companies out there to understand one thing.
Taking care of your culture comes with a LOT of bottom line benefits.
“ Once the business got to a certain point, what was authentic to me is having a company that looked after people, and did good”.
– Andrew Cameron, Intelligent Hand Dryers founder
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Becoming worker-owned makes this business more financially and personally rewarding for all of us.
And we were pretty chuffed when we saw this review on our Feefo page.
We didn’t build our company culture to get good reviews. But it does help us work together to deliver exceptional customer service. And it’s nice to see that it makes a difference to people who choose us.
We are committed to running this business in alignment with our team values.
It’s why sustainability is so important to us. It’s why our team spends time together outdoors, doing volunteer litter picking in Sheffield. And it’s why we hire and develop our people the way we do.
Becoming an employee-owned business felt like the next logical step.
And we’re proud to be a part of the wave of UK businesses doing things in a new, exciting way
Looking for a trustworthy commercial washroom supplier?
Our customer service team makes everything quick and simple for you. From order, to aftercare. Call us on 0114 3540047 or 0203 3270448.
