A new era of employee ownership.

Let’s start at the very beginning. When did you first become aware of companies being employee owned?

“For some years, I’d been reflecting on my succession plans as CEO/owner and what a potential solution might look like to future-proof the agency and secure long-term prosperity for decades to come. Wyatt has been family run since the 1960’s and my father (who is now retired) and I co-founded Wyatt International in its current form, so we both have a powerful emotional connection to the business. I guess you could describe Wyatt as more like a family member to us than just a business entity – it has its own life, brain, heart and soul! We’re very proud that the business has provided employment, career progression and security for many employees for decades.

After 50 years of leading Wyatt for my father and 35 years this year for me, we had to do a lot of soul-searching to decide what the future might hold for our family, the agency, and its employees.

We’d watched many of our historical competitors come and go. Some of these agencies failed or disappeared when their owners retired or had health challenges. We didn’t want that for Wyatt. We’d watched several acquired by multi-nationals, only to become enveloped into corporate machines and their brands dissolved. We didn’t want that for Wyatt, either. We also had an amazing long-serving management team, and we wanted to support them in realising the benefits associated with owning a business they’d helped to build.

Employee ownership is a concept that has been established for a while, though many associate it only with brands such as John Lewis. In reality, there are now thousands of employee-owned SME businesses, and the model is rapidly gaining pace. Research has also proven that EO businesses are growing faster than other traditional ownership models.

I was watching the EO scene from 2018/19, but when COVID struck in early 2020, like all businesses, the focus changed, and succession planning was temporarily put on ice. Once the dust had settled post covid in 2022, I re-ignited my succession planning project and took a year to formalise and solidify my plans in the EO direction. There was nothing not to like. Employees become vested co-owners in the future of the business and I could support the business for as many years as would be required to ensure a successful transition. The business could remain independent and in control of its own destiny.

2023 was the year, having ticked all the boxes, I pressed go!”

So, once you were aware, was there a moment or trigger that made you first think about Wyatt becoming employee owned, and was it easy to research what that journey looked like?

“There was no ‘trigger’ as such as my process was more organic and considered over many years, but I had an excellent advisor who was an independent trustee of another EOT and that first-hand experience of the detail surrounding both the transition and ongoing journey was invaluable. The Employee Ownership Association (EOA) was another useful reference point, and they kindly introduced me to several companies who could support the valuation and transactional requirements of the transition.”

Can you tell us, from an emotional side, what was going through your mind?

“Any kind of transaction in any business is tough going but especially so with a family business. There are many sleepless nights and long hours turning things over in your mind and constantly questioning what you are doing. Am I doing all the right things? Have I missed any details? Will this prove to be the right decision for the agency and for our new family of owners? You search yourself constantly, you face questions and challenges you’ve never experienced before going through the legal process, you review no end of documentation over and over, and eventually, six to twelve months later, you emerge on the other side!”

Ok, you have the research now in the bank, was it then a straightforward decision to go ahead and what key benefits did you see coming for Wyatt?

“There are no end of benefits. Wyatt is a True Original. This secures that journey and helps us stay that way. Independent owners of our own destiny, vested co-owners, sharing in the challenges, the opportunities and the rewards that working together as a united team brings. Through this we coach entrepreneurship, train the next generation of business owners, inspire pioneering careers and become even stronger together.

It’s the perfect blend of working for yourself but not working alone. There are also major benefits to our clients who are able to work in partnership with employees who can see a long-term career journey in a company they are vested in for the future.”

I’ve been truly inspired by the commitment and application of each of our Trustee Directors, who were chosen by the business to represent each agency co-owner.
From left to right: Simon Hall, Brand & Strategy Director; Adam Jones, Senior PR & Content Manager; Ben Baker-Hollyhead, Group Account Director.

When the transitional process was announced to staff, we could see how passionate you were about it. Was that process easier or harder than you thought?

“Making the announcement to the agency was a very emotional day for me personally. The transition is a personal and professional process of ups and downs – a bit like a roller-coaster ride – and the transition doesn’t just stop after day one.  It continues as the EO starts to take on a life of its own and works its way through the phases of EO realisation and development.”

Let’s now come to this point today with us nearly one year along in our journey; how are you feeling now about it all, and is the company in a place you expected it to be?

“Almost one year on, I’ve been delighted with the way the EO has been received by our personnel on all levels, our clients and future recruits. Unfortunately, our EO journey started right in the middle of the economic downturn, but we’ve faced many before and we faced this one even stronger as co-owners. It slowed us down but only a little! But just a little. It’s exciting that we’ve started our first financial year as co-owners, and with the economic recovery already underway, our EO transition and growth plans will continue to gather pace.”

What advice would you give anyone else who may have been in the same boat as you were a few years ago when you started exploring EO?

“My advice to anyone at the outset of the journey would be to take time, be patient, be thorough. Plan more time than you think you’ll need to work through it. In the final months, it becomes a full- time job. Surround yourself with good advisors and ‘be kind to yourself’.”

And I guess it must make you very proud to see a company you have led so well for a number of years now taking its next journey and having the potential you have mentioned.

“I am immensely proud of transitioning Wyatt to become EO, and I’m enjoying working in partnership with our leadership team and teams at all levels to execute our business plans to achieve our short, medium and long terms objectives.”

And that day making it an official thing, I bet that was a fairly strange one for you – can you talk me through what you remember from that day?

“Wobbly legs. A shaky voice. It was a nerve-racking drive into the office. It was exciting, exhilarating and frightening all at the same time.”

I’m so grateful to have had the support of our long-serving and loyal leadership team.
(Front row – right) Mark Fones, Managing Director.
From left to right: (back row) Lynne Strawford, Head of Partnership Development; Simon Hall, Brand & Strategy Director; Kate Brookes, Head of Finance;
Ben Baker-Hollyhead, Group Account Director

“And I’m truly heartened by how well the EO has been embraced by everyone we know and work with. Although to many, nine months of being EO may seem like a long time, it has absolutely flown by, and Wyatt is still at the beginning of its EO journey with so much more yet to come.”