Global chemicals group Scott Bader won ‘Best Employee Voice Initiative – Small to Medium Organisation’ at The Business Culture Awards, hosted at the DeVere Grand Connaught Rooms in London on November 15th 2023.

The Business Culture Awards, which gives forward-thinking organisations a way to celebrate work that sets their employees up to succeed, featured an impressive line-up of nominees. Counting industry giants such as Lloyds Banking Group, the Alzheimer’s Society, BT, and Currys among its contenders, Scott Bader’s achievement demonstrates that the employee-owned business takes an exemplary approach to ensure industrial democracy.

Judged by esteemed leaders in HR and business, the award is a reflection of the hard work that went into a two-year internal communications programme that culminated in Scott Bader changing its governance and structure – empowering its colleagues to further leverage their ownership status. 

CEO Kevin Matthews says: “This award is a significant milestone for Scott Bader in a crucial year that saw the re-evaluation of our company’s governance and structure. It’s particularly gratifying to be recognised beyond the employee-owned community and the chemicals industry, and this acknowledgment emphasises our commitment to creating a more inclusive, equitable, and democratic way of doing business.”

Scott Bader’s unique structure has protected the business’s continuing performance for the last 70 years. Its founder, Ernest Bader, gifted the company to colleagues in 1951 when he became one of the very first adopters of the employee-owned model in the UK. The company continues to uphold this tradition in a very modern way, fostering a culture that values the input of every individual and promotes a sense of accountability and inclusivity.

A new animation that was created as part of the activity to effectively communicate the changes, sets out the benefits of being a part of an organisation that’s invested in giving its colleagues a voice.