Five years ago (2nd April 2020), I and other original Jump shareholders sold our shares to our Employee Ownership Trust. So much has happened in the last five years since the company came under employee ownership. For me personally, it’s been an amazing experience to see Jump continuing to flourish under our Employee Ownership Trust structure.
Five years of rapid change
Quite a bit has happened in the world over the last five years. The unprecedented Covid pandemic, or the Russian invasion of Ukraine to name a few. These external challenges have posed a serious threat to many small companies. I’ve been constantly impressed at how quickly and creatively the Jump team has adapted to external factors. Whether it was moving overnight to remote working as Covid hit, adjusting our employee engagement programmes to cover home working behaviours for our clients, or working more productively to counter the effects of high inflation. There’s no doubt in my mind that our employee ownership structure has enabled more creativity, agility and productivity in the team.
The HR Director highlights how employee ownership fundamentally changes the dynamics of the workplace. When employees have a stake in the company, they are more likely to feel valued and invested in its success. It creates a trust which leads to a more positive work environment. When employees have a vested interest in the company’s success, they are more likely to go the extra mile.
Jump powering ahead under employee ownership
In the last five years Jump as a company has moved on significantly. We now have a growing roster of clients, particularly NHS Trusts, and an evolving technology platform. This platform makes the pursuit of positive environmental behaviours engaging, rewarding and fun.
In February 2022 we won a national Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) Healthcare competition to help deliver a Net Zero NHS. This has enabled us to develop a user experience that moves away from the generic and is targeted at users’ roles. It helps people understand what they can influence in the workplace to reduce carbon emissions. This SBRI Healthcare project is just one example of the many steps forward taken by the Jump team in recent years.
A report from employee ownership thinktank Ownership at Work and published by the Employee Ownership Association in December 2024, Robust Growth Champions, highlights how the employee ownership sector has a significantly higher percentage of businesses that have delivered over 10% growth in sales, profit, or headcount. These businesses demonstrate lower insolvency over the last five years. That has certainly also been true of our experience at Jump.
Was employee ownership the right option for Jump?
Much of the discussion about whether moving to an employee ownership structure is right for a company has tended to focus on the taxation benefits. This is primarily because business owners selling to an EOT avoid paying Capital Gains Tax.
As the FT points out in an article from January 2025, Is an employee ownership trust right for you, since last year’s Budget, an increasing number of entrepreneurs have drawn up plans to sell their businesses. They navigate changes to national insurance and inheritance tax. Sales to employee ownership trusts are the fastest growing option. This is because small business owners face tax changes that make it difficult to pass companies on to family members.
However, in any EOT transaction it’s crucial there is sufficient cash generation to pay off the original shareholders and invest in the ongoing growth of the company. An article in Construction News from May 2024, Are employee ownership trusts a flawed model?, raises this key issue following the collapse of 3 EOT-owned firms in the construction sector. At Jump we were very careful to structure our EOT transaction. This ensured the company was able to pay out the original shareholders while still investing in new technology and ongoing growth.
A lesser-known tax benefit, but actually I believe more significant, is the bonuses up to £3,600 a year that can be paid tax-free to employees in an EOT-owned business. This is another source of motivation for Jump team members. However, tax implications aside, the real benefits of employee ownership for Jump are how it builds team spirit, motivation and striving for success. So yes, I would definitely say employee ownership has been a great option so far for us at Jump!
Encouraging ‘sustainability ownership’ amongst our clients
Our mission at Jump is to motivate and empower people to take action for a sustainable future. We have existed as a company since 2011 when I set the business up to help organisations harness their people power. It’s always seemed obvious to me that people want to do the right thing for our planet. The challenge for organisations is to make this easy, fun and accessible. Whether that’s a local council encouraging its residents to recycle more, a university motivating its staff and students to cycle or walk to campus, or a company activating its employees to save energy.
The more ‘ownership’ for sustainability can be spread across workforces and residents, the greater the benefits. Just as Jump benefits from all the motivation employee ownership brings, the environment will benefit too. More people feel they have a stake and role to play in delivering sustainability plans and goals. The EOT model is a growing trend, as reported by Personnel Today in October 2024. The number of UK businesses transitioning to employee ownership trusts surged by 27% over the past year. I am hopeful that increased ‘sustainability ownership’ amongst students, employees, and residents is also a growing trend.
