Employees and retailers celebrated EO Day on Friday, 21 June, across the Parfetts network of eight depots. The annual event was marked with free food and fun activities for all team members.

Parfetts was established in 1980 and became an employee-owned business in 2018. Each depot has an Employee Voice Committee that takes suggestions, ideas and feedback from the team members in every depot, feeding them to the central voice group and the board of directors. It has led to improvements in benefits, facilities and even extra holidays in recent months and years.

Employee ownership ensures that every team member has a direct say in how the business is managed and run for the benefit of the employees.

Commenting on the event, Guy Swindell, joint managing director of Parfetts, said: “Employee ownership is our superpower. It builds in sound governance and creates employees who are truly engaged with the business. Our customers benefit because we don’t have shareholders, so we are free to invest more into the business to ensure we continue prioritising value and great service.”

EO Day sees events run across the UK with the support of thousands of employee-owners and other partners. It is organised by the eoa (Employee Ownership Association) to raise awareness of employee ownership as a better way of doing business.

The benefits of employee ownership have been proven in eoa-led research, and include improving employee health and well-being, increasing productivity and fostering creativity and innovation.

UK employee-owned companies contribute over £30 billion to the UK economy annually, show higher levels of job satisfaction, and are more likely to recommend their workplace than employees in non-employee-owned businesses.