In another reason to celebrate May Day, also known as Workers’ Day, Bristol-based LGRC Associates Ltd is delighted to announce the successful transition of this national business into majority employee ownership.
LGRC has been operating with a highly successful shadow arrangement in place for the last 12 months to ensure a smooth transition on the big day. Over the same period, the company has grown very significantly, consolidating its position as the leading provider of locum and consultancy services to the local council sector in England.
Founding company director Nick Randle OBE has been elected chairman for the current year before handing over the role to a partner in due course. Wendy Randle, also a founding company director, is company secretary.
Familiar LGRC faces are also taking on board directorships and key roles:
- Steve Milton becomes Vice-Chairman
- Louise Steele becomes Finance Director
- Karen Crowhurst becomes board Director
- David McKnight becomes Chief Executive
Janet Eustace takes on the chairmanship of the LGRC Associates Partners’ Employee Ownership Trust – which holds the transitioned company shares on behalf of the employees, represents the employees interests to the board, appoints trust directors to the board and works to manage the business.
As the company enters this new phase of its development, Nick and Wendy Randle have begun to pass control of the company to the Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) which now holds shares, appoints Trust directors and helps the main board manage the company on behalf of the group of employee partners who work for LGRC. It will also oversee the employee partners’ bonus arrangements which will be similar to the “John Lewis” model
Nick Randle OBE, chairman of LGRC, said:
“As our retirement approaches, it was incredibly important to Wendy and me that LGRC continues to thrive and to deliver the vision that brought it into being. What better way to achieve that, than by a transition to employee ownership, empowering the people who helped make this highly successful business what it is today, to manage its future .
James de le Vingne, chief executive of the Employee Ownership Association (EOA), said:
“We congratulate our members, LGRC Associates Ltd, on its transition to employee ownership; securing the ethos, values and culture of the business.
“Businesses that give employees a stake and a say build trust and shared responsibility, uniting leaders and employees behind a common purpose, and leaving businesses in a better position to flex and adapt.”
An EOT is an increasingly popular model of company ownership and management. This transition will lay the foundations for the future development of LGRC, which has an ambitious business plan to provide more high-quality skills and services to councils who are facing times of change.
As part of the transition process the founders, Nick and Wendy Randle addressed a non-binding, but well received, advisory letter of wishes to future boards of the company and its employee-owned trust. The letter set out the founders’ vision for the business and wishes for the future, as a reference for future generations of partners who will manage the business going forward.
LGRC was founded in 2014 by a small group of three directors, and in the time since then, has evolved to be the leading provider of temporary skills ,resources and expertise to the Local Council sector. With hundreds of successful assignments completed, the company has a strong reputation with clients and a wide portfolio of services it can offer.