Horizon Platforms motivates and engages employees through its profit share scheme and an employee ownership trust (EOT).
The organisation, a national provider of powered access hire for cherry pickers, scissor lifts and more, currently employs 78 members of staff, which it allows to become beneficiaries of the EOT following six months' service and successful completion of their probation period.
It also offers a profit share scheme, where eligible workers who have been employed by the organisation since 15 September in the relevant financial year receive an equal share of 10% of the firm’s profit before tax. Payments are made tax-free. Once the original vendor loans are repaid to the business' founders, shareholders will receive a great share of the profits.
Share schemes and employee ownership have motivated employees to work harder, helped them feel like they have a say in the business and boosted their sense of purpose and belonging, says Ben Hirst, chief executive officer at Horizon Platforms.
“When employees were asked how being a part of an employee-owned business makes them feel, the word that stood out the most within their answers was security,” he says. “We take surveys to monitor engagement scores across the business. Although I cannot say for sure whether the scheme has led to improved scores, it does suggest that it has not detracted. As we see the results start to come in, I can only imagine the motivation to push the business to greater heights will increase.”
Horizon Platforms’ decision to pursue an employee ownership model was to protect, maintain and build the culture and long-term security of its employees, as it believes that its success is down to them.
Its profit share scheme and employee ownership model are valued by the workforce and have led to staff sharing ideas and opinions on what would make Horizon Platforms a better place to work, explains Hirst.
“This is normally communicated through our suggestion boxes, which were introduced when we became employee-owned. People have a voice, which is not only listened to, but acted upon. To put it in perspective, employees were asked two years ago in a survey on a scale from one to 10 how much they feel like an owner of the business. Two years ago that score was four and now it is six,” he concludes.
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