Employee Owned Company

Why Park Cameras is an EOT

Over the course of its 50 year history Park Cameras has grown significantly, winning loyal customers and numerous industry awards along the way. In order to maintain this growth it makes perfect business sense to transition the company into an employee owned trust. In this post we look at how we hope being an EOT will shape the next 50 years of growth.

What is an EOT?

An employee ownership trust is essentially a company which is partly or wholly owned by the staff of that company. In the case of Park Cameras it is now 100% owned by staff members. There is still a management team in place, headed up by the founder’s son Roscoe, however all permanent staff members are owners. We’re in good company too, with the likes of Richer Sounds, John Lewis Partnership plc and many others.

How will being employee owned affect customers?

We are already seeing staff members raising the bar since transitioning to an EOT in March 2021. What this means for our customers is an ever improving service, with keener staff who feel a shared sense of responsibility. Our business is all about providing great service and making sure each and every customer wants to come back time and time again to get their photo and video gear from us.

Our teams are largely made up of keen photographers and the incentive of helping to shape their own future ensures they want to build great relationships with each customer. In practice this means giving the most appropriate advice, with the highest levels of product knowledge and some friendly banter from like-minded people thrown in. It shows too as the reviews which customers leave us remain extremely positive, with customers enjoying not just the equipment they purchase at the best prices, but the interaction with happy and motivated staff. That goes for everyone from the busy call centre in our head office to both stores where the teams serve customers face to face.

How will being employee owned affect staff?

We are already seeing the positive impact that becoming an EOT has made and hope that these benefits and new practices will evolve from this transition:

• Improved productivity with a high level of attention to detail
• More innovative ideas to come up with better ways of doing things
• Long term planning and forward thinking
• Building great relationships both internally and with customers
• Higher rates of employee retention
• Tax free bonuses for all owners based on company performance

Procedures are already being streamlined by teams themselves and we’re seeing that staff are helping each other more readily, helping to problem solve and motivate each other. Standards can always be improved in any business and the sense of shared ownership is raising standards across every aspect of ours.

A family run business

With Park Cameras being a family run business from the very outset, perhaps the biggest positive outcome will be a sense of being one (extremely) big family. As an ever more tightly knit team we hope plenty of positives will naturally rise to the surface from this transition. We certainly foresee continued growth, strong relationships and 50 more years of providing some of the best customer service to be found in the industry.