Employee Ownership Day 2025

Granby celebrated Employee-Ownership Day on Friday, the 20th of June 2025! This year marks three years since we became employee-owned, and we wanted to share more about what it means to our team.

What does employee ownership mean?

Employee ownership is a business style that means each employee has a vested interest in the company’s future. Employees working within this business style often receive bonuses related to profit.

At Granby, our employee-ownership status allows us to work to extremely high standards, support entrepreneurship and drive innovation within our business and industry.

Businesses seeking to become employee-owned typically have three options to choose from. Granby chose indirect employee ownership, which means the shares are held collectively through an employee trust. This business style also ensures that the board and leadership are acting in the best interests of employees.

How we celebrated EO Day

The theme for this year’s EO Day was #EOSmile, so here’s what we put on for our valued team.

At the beginning of the week, we asked all of our team members to share images of what makes them smile. We thought it was a nice idea for us to display these images around our buildings, and it definitely got people smiling.

We also organised a ‘Smile in a cup’ activity, where employees were asked to fill a cup with something that would make someone smile.

Lastly, we organised for an ice cream van to visit the Granby site, as we know that free ice cream is a definite way to make the team smile! We had a great day celebrating our employee ownership, and it was great to get everyone involved!

Why we became employee-owned

Granby was first founded in 1959, and it started out as a promotional marketing company. As you can imagine, things were quite different back then! Over the years, we have worked with many impressive brands and have expanded our services to cover everything you need from brand fulfilment. 

Our former Managing Director, Joanne Kimber, decided to transition the company to employee ownership in 2022, following her acquisition of sole ownership. Jo was passionate about ensuring a strong, long-term future for Granby and had explored many options before deciding to become employee-owned. 

As an employee-owned company, our goal is to ensure a lasting legacy for Granby. Jo remains in a non-executive role at the company, and she has built a strong senior management team that supports and listens to every employee. 

Jo has been responsible for many excellent changes at Granby, including the introduction of our Employee Assistance Programme, which helps employees to deal with personal and professional problems that could be affecting their well-being. 

We have continued to build a strong culture at Granby and ensure that it remains a great place to work.  

What does employee ownership mean to us?

Since becoming employee-owned, we have received great feedback from the wider team. Team members have commented on how it makes them feel part of something bigger and how nice it is to feel heard within their careers.

Here’s what our Head of People and Finance has to say about being employee-owned.

“At Granby, we are proud to have been an employee-owned business since September 2022. Being owners of the organisation means our team members are even more dedicated to our success as well as the success of our clients. Employee ownership fosters a sense of pride, empowerment, and responsibility, ensuring we can continue to make a positive impact both here at Granby and within the wider community.”

What are the benefits of employee ownership?

There are so many benefits of becoming employee-owned, and here are just a few of the most significant benefits.

• Increased employee satisfaction
• Increased productivity
• Increased collaboration and teamwork
• Increased employee retention
• More innovation
• Legacy building
• More sustainable
• Greater support for the local community

Featuring in the Lancashire Business View magazine

Our Managing Director, Caroline, has also been featured in the latest edition of the Lancashire Business View magazine. In this edition, Caroline discusses what it means to be employee-owned on the panel for Brabners and Beever and Struthers.

Check it out here (page 19).