Getting everyone on board

Chris Isherwood, Managing Director of engineering consultants PFA Consulting, describes how J Gadd Associates helped his employees to get on board with employee-ownership

Experience and understanding

“We had been looking at succession planning for four of five years, with a number of directors coming up to retirement. We were put off course slightly by the pandemic but, in early 2022, the Board decided we needed to do something more formal and we landed on an Employee Ownership Trust model. We needed advice and support with both the legal side and the management of our transition. Our Chairman, Peter Finlayson, found out about J Gadd Associates and, once the idea was set in our mind about employee-ownership, we realised that it would be beneficial to have support from someone with experience and understanding of the process, especially with selling it to the staff. We needed help to deliver the process in the mind’s eye of the staff. Some were quite nervous and, if it was just us saying “this is what we are doing”, it could have been a problem. We needed someone independent to reassure staff.”

Doing it the right way

“The directors met first with Jeremy and Associate Kathie to air our thoughts and feelings about how we might deliver the message to staff that we were moving to an Employee Ownership Trust. We met off-site, which gave us the freedom to share our views and talk about it openly. Jeremy shared his own experiences with us, and that helped us to have a greater understanding of what was needed for transition and allowed us to shape our messages. Without Jeremy’s knowledge, we would have been a little bit too naïve; the reassurances he gave helped us to do it in the right way. He gave us a useful outside view, so it wouldn’t be just directors lecturing staff on what was happening. We needed them to realise that it was the ownership that was changing and we wanted to be transparent about the process. Jeremy helped us with our understanding of the transition process and how it was then delivered.”

Level playing field

“We held two workshops in the spring of 2022 to include all colleagues, facilitated by Jeremy and Kathie. I did a presentation at the start of each one to explain the guts of it: our position, the alternatives we had considered for our future and then finding a solution in employee-ownership. The group was then split into two, with Jeremy and Kathie taking one group each, stimulating ideas and encouraging the conversation. The workshops were a good way of letting people ask the basic – and sometimes intricate – questions on a level playing field. It didn’t matter if you were a graduate or a director, you got to have a voice. We didn’t want people to brood on anything. Without the workshops we would have had a lot of underlying concerns from staff, which could have undermined their confidence in the process.”

“Jeremy Gadd shared his experiences with us, and that helped us to have a greater understanding of what was needed for transition and allowed us to shape our messages. Without Jeremy’s knowledge, we would have been too naïve; the reassurances he gave helped us to do it in the right way”

Chris Isherwood, Managing Director, PFA Consulting

Filling the space

“Jeremy was approachable and knowledgeable on the subject of employee-ownership. He did not hold back in giving advice, relaying what he had seen work in other organisations, both large and small. Jeremy and Kathie gave us the support we needed and helped to fill the space that is there between directors and staff. You need someone who’s been there before, and they were professional, organised and experienced in running the workshops. They delivered exactly what we asked of them. This transition to employee-ownership is a process you are going to do only once. The Associates helped us with their independent advice and support to do it in the right way – and in an way that everyone in our company understood. We would definitely recommend J Gadd Associates to others.”

Summary

J Gadd Associates (JGA) worked with PFA Consulting from April to June 2022 as the business was starting its transition to employee-ownership. Associates supported the directors with key messages and readiness to adopt a new business model, and then helped to deliver it to the wider staff by facilitating workshops.

About PFA Consulting

PFA Consulting has provided professional services covering transport planning, highways, flood risk and drainage to private and public sectors since 1985. Clients include many of the UK's leading house builders and land developers, energy companies, government agencies and local authorities as well as private individuals. Based Swindon, it has around 40 employees and became employee-owned in October 2022.