FEATURE
WCF employee owners pictured outside the firm ’ s
HQ in Brampton to mark International Women ’ s
Day in 2023
Employee ownership is where all employees have a ‘ significant and meaningful ’ stake in a business . Employee owners generally have both a financial stake in the business , for example , by owning shares or receiving some element of profit share , and a meaningful say in how it ’ s run .
WCF , which has its head office in Brampton , Cumbria , UK , offers a range of benefits to its employee owners and shares financial success across the business via an annual Employee Ownership Dividend payment and the issue of free shares if targets are reached . Employee owners are also encouraged and helped financially to own WCF shares directly .
The diverse and dynamic company is based in more than 30 locations across the UK in industries including home shopping , oil distribution , pet and equestrian retail stores , camping and glamping sites and e-commerce . It was established in 1911 . Ritzema credits the company ’ s long-term resilience to its part employee-owned structure , which promotes autonomy and responsibility at every level alongside a diversity of income streams .
“ Being employee-owned empowers the team with a real sense of purpose and collective responsibility for the long-term future of WCF ,” she said . “ We devolve a huge amount of autonomy and trust to our team , with the general managers in each division running the business as if it were their own .
“ We operate a diverse range of businesses across multiple sites at WCF , from working on
ULTIMATELY , WE WANT WORKING FOR WCF TO BE MORE THAN JUST A JOB FOR OUR EMPLOYEES , WE WANT THEM TO FEEL PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER WHICH IS HERE FOR NOW AND FOR THE FUTURE . www . intelligentcxo . com
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