More young employees invest in their Scottish Woodlands future
Scottish Woodlands Ltd showcased its credentials as a forward-thinking, employee-owned business when a senior politician visited its head office.
The company is 80% owned by its Directors and staff members, with growing numbers of younger employees taking up a stake in the business.
Ian Robinson, Managing Director of Scottish Woodlands Ltd, gave a presentation to Richard Leonard MSP (Labour), who has a specific interest in businesses that are employee-owned.
At the company’s headquarters at Riccarton, Edinburgh, Mr Robinson talked about the history and background of the company, which emerged from the woodland owners co-operative movement.
Left to right: Simon Oldham (Technical Director), Ian Robinson (Managing Director), Richard Leonard MSP (Labour) and Lynne MacDonald (HR Manager)
He highlighted the management buy-out in 1986 and the second buy-out in 2004 which led to the company becoming 80% owned by its employees (the other 20% is owned by sawmiler James Jones & Sons Ltd).
Mr Robinson also presented details on the current employee and shareholder demographics, which has seen the largest annual uptake, with over 20 new savers joining for the 2023/24 period.
Lynne Macdonald, HR Manager at Scottish Woodlands, said: "Scottish Woodlands is in a unique position within the forestry and wood sector in offering such a benefit to its staff. We believe very firmly that this helps attract the best young talent and leads to greater loyalty and higher staff retention. Employee ownership also has a positive impact on engagement and productivity, and makes staff more motivated in the workplace."
Ian Robinson, Managing Director of Scottish Woodlands, said: "We were delighted to be able to showcase our employee ownership scheme to Richard Leonard. I was particularly pleased to be able to tell him that ever-greater numbers of younger staff are investing in the employee ownership scheme.”