Aspect shortlisted in UK Employee Ownership Awards for outstanding staff engagement campaign

Aspect: The Strategic Communication Experts has been recognised for its outstanding commitment to staff engagement during its recent move to employee ownership (EO). 

The company has been shortlisted in the EO Transition of the Year category of the UK EO Awards 2024 after demonstrating how the leadership team’s carefully considered approach ensured employees not only welcomed the change but embraced it.

The leading integrated consultancy announced in June this year that 100% of its shares had been acquired by an EO Trust on behalf of the firm’s team of 22 employees, based in Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Aspect has an open and collaborative culture at its core and a move towards EO was seen as an extension of that, empowering employees to shape the company’s future and share in its continued growth and success.

The EO Transition of the Year recognises businesses that prepared, researched and planned their approach – including identification of considerations and risks – to be in a strong position to drive the benefits of EO.

Judges of the awards, which will be announced at the Employee Ownership Association (eoa) 2024 Conference in November, wanted to see evidence of fantastic communication and engagement with employees, consideration of governance and good leadership before, during and after the transition.

Aspect Founder and CEO Andrew McCallum said:

“Our transition to an employee-owned business has been incredibly smooth and I believe that’s down to how hard the leadership team worked to bring everyone on the journey.

“We’ve always been honest and open with our team, and this was no different. We were transparent about why we felt this was a positive move for them and for Aspect, kept our team informed at every stage in the process and gave them access to independent specialists who could answer their questions and provide advice.

“I’ve been incredibly impressed with their enthusiasm and the way they have embraced employee ownership – they can see this is a fantastic opportunity, and that’s in no small part a result of highly effective communication and engagement.” 

Andrew remains at the helm of day-to-day operations and is Founder Trustee of the new Employee Ownership Trust. It is chaired by Independent Trustee June Boyle – an experienced chair and non-executive director – while Marketing Director Jenny Adams was appointed Employee Trustee after an internal election process.

James de la Vingne, Chief Executive of the eoa, said:

“Congratulations to Aspect – it’s a remarkable accomplishment that speaks volumes to the power of employee ownership evidenced through the exceptionally high calibre of entries we’ve received this year.”