ambitiousslabLanarkshire bakery taken over by employees
myrmidexFirst thought: a cooperative? Great!
Then I read this in the BBC article:
EOTs do not involve direct share ownership by employees, rather a controlling interest in company is transferred to an all-employee trust which is then held for the benefit of employees.
which makes me wonder who will run that trust.
Thanks for the comment, for me the article doesn’t show that explanation about EOTs and I didn’t really look into it. It certainly adds some caveats to the good news story!
The trustees have a fiduciary duty to act in the interests of the employees, but of course reality could differ. According to companies house, there are 5 officers of which 2 are the founders mentioned in the article. Apparently, EOTs are the most common form of employee ownership in the UK and encouraged by the government.
There is some risk of abuse it seems, it would definitely certainly be nicer if the employees directly owned the shares.
