Espace are back on the Awards trail

Espace Europe has been shortlisted as finalists in 2 of BIFA’s award categories; European Logistics and Staff Development.

For the European Logistics award great emphasis was placed on how freight companies had prepared for Brexit to ensure continuation of service and customer compliance with the new procedures.

For the Staff Development Award, the judges were looking for evidence how freight companies encourage and develop all their personnel to “be their best” and contribute to the success and direction of their business.

We will find out on Thursday 20th January 2022 at a ceremony in London if we have been successful.

Employee Ownership Day 2021

Employee Ownership Day 2021

Our new offices in Burntwood were officially opened on Friday 25th June 2021 on our annual Employee Ownership Day. We were delighted to welcome Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant visited us at Burntwood Business Park to perform the ceremony.

It was a fantastic day with many of our team meeting in person for the first time after working from home and rapid growth over the last year. Having doubled in size in four years we certainly needed bigger offices. Our new home comprises of 6,000 sq ft of office space which is two-and-a-half times bigger than our our old office.

Managing director Tony Shally said the event also celebrated Employee Ownership Day.

“There are 730 employee-owned businesses in the UK and we have been one of them for four years. I gave my staff my business in 2017 as part of my six-year exit plan when we were turning over £4.9 million and had 17 staff.

“We are now targeting a £9.2 million turnover this year and have 36 staff. Our employee ownership business model has been at the heart of our success over the last four years. Switching our focus to our staff and their wellbeing, empowering them, getting them move involved in the business, listening to and valuing their contribution has been a major contributor to our growth.

“Employee ownership is a great alternative to a traditional trade sale for an owner who wishes to retire. We followed the John Lewis model and set up an employee ownership trust which now holds all the shares of the business and the beneficiaries of the trust are the staff.”

The day also saw Espace announce its annual employee ownership staff bonus of 15 per cent of annual salary

Espace Employee Ownership Day 2021
We also said a sad farewell to Director Deb Shally who is taking retirement to spend time with family and projects of her own. She has been integral to our success over the last 5 years. Thank you Deb.