If you haven’t heard by now, Skout is under new ownership! No, we haven’t been bought out – in fact it’s quite the opposite. As of last week, Skout officially became an employee-owned business. This was achieved by the founding shareholders, Rob and Claire, signing 100% ownership over to a newly established Employee Ownership Trust acting on behalf of the employees; meaning our current team, and any future members, benefit from being part of a business that is run in the interests of its team.
This is great news for the business, as it will provide new and unique opportunities for us, for clients, and for the future of Skout. But what made us come to this decision? We’re sure you’ll have some questions about why we are doing this, how our team and clients can benefit, and what the future of the business looks like (we certainly did!) So, here’s everything you need to know:
What is employee ownership?
Employee ownership means that our team has a meaningful and significant stake in the company. The EOT holds the business’ shares in trust so that every team member has some true ‘ownership’ in the business and more say in how we operate as an agency. This allows us to be part of Skout’s destiny, whilst benefiting from stability and greater career progression opportunities, amongst many other benefits.
Why are we doing this?
At Skout, our independence, and living and breathing our values from the inside out, are at the core of our business philosophy. That’s why we took the decision to become 100% employee owned at the point when the founders and shareholders, Rob and Claire, felt we were ready.
Skout was founded in 2010 to challenge the notion that B2B is boring. This has continued to be our focus but as the business has grown in size over the past 13 years it has also developed an employee led culture. This has now become a pivotal belief in how we operate, living our values day in, day out. Over the past few years, the business received several enquiries from other agencies looking to acquire. While these were attractive, they got the directors thinking about what they actually wanted for Skout, the team and of course, clients.
They decided that Skout should remain master of its own destiny for the long term. We also needed to put plans in place to enable Skout to achieve further growth and expand the capabilities we can offer to clients. And employee ownership was the answer. It means we can put the team first, which is crucial since they’re all responsible for driving growth and great client service delivery. If we’re happy, we do great work, and that’s good for our clients too.
What does that mean for our day-to-day business?
Absolutely nothing in the foreseeable future. Rob and Claire remain as the board of directors, but they will be overseen on certain company matters by the Skout EOT – the majority of Trustees being employees. We’ll continue to deliver brilliant services to clients as usual.
As we move into a new era at Skout, we’re excited to embark on our employee-owned journey and set the bar even higher for our team and clients alike. We believe this new chapter will provide the impetus required and we’re looking forward to making the journey.
If you have any questions about employee ownership please do get in touch – we would be happy to help.
