Sutcliffe Play, the designer and manufacturer of playground equipment, has handed ownership of its organisation over to its employees.
Former owner Robin Sutcliffe chose to channel £800,000 of the total buyout sum back into the organisation, while 90 staff members invested their own money into Sutcliffe Play.
Sutcliffe said: “Employee ownership has been a dream for almost 50 years. From the day I joined the family business my ultimate aim was to one day hand the reigns of our business to our employees.
“In my experience, employees get as much satisfaction out of their jobs through meaningful involvement in a company as they do from financial gain. Employee ownership motivates and provides a level of commitment that is unusual in privately owned companies.”
The move towards employee ownership has been supported by Baxendale, a division of Baxi Partnership, The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Barclays.
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