Conference Highlights from EOA 2016 Awards and Conference: Sharing the Employee Ownership Future, held on Friday 27 May 2016, Sydney
Angela Perry, LLB, MAICD
The Sharing the Employee-Ownership Future Conference, Awards and Luncheon for 2016 has concluded for another year.
Here is just some the outstanding feedback we have received from attendees:
“A great range of perspectives and I found the links to innovation and governance
very thought provoking”
“Enjoyed the networking and learning from other organisations that presented.
Great guest speakers”
“Focus on innovation was brilliant, much more interesting and
engaging than similar conferences”
Keynote David Thodey, Chair of CSIRO was particularly well received. Elucidating his passion for employee ownership and innovation brought the two key themes of the conference together.
Keynote speaker David Thodey
Hearing the company stories of Kama Ghosn from Eclipx Group and Joanna Mak from Brambles inspired attendees on how employee share ownership can work through explaining a sometimes complicated and legalistic system in ways that highlight the real benefits to employees. As Kama mentioned – employees who understand the benefits of employee ownership watch the share price for the first time, and begin to engage as co-owners in their place of work.
Screenshot from Brambles MyShare platform – innovation in action
Joanna certainly deserved her EOA Award for Most Effective and Innovative Communication Program (see awards section of this newsletter). Using Ikea catalogues as her inspiration she presented the innovative MyShare platform that impressed everyone in attendance.
The innovation roundtables were a surprise hit at the conference:
“I was skeptical of the roundtables, but they were really useful.
They pushed us remuneration / share plan folk to think much more broadly about the interplay between what we do and tomorrow’s workforce.”
Some great ideas came out of this session such as: building communication platforms for employee ownership and better integrating employee share ownership with the superannuation system.
EOA Board member Matthew Lever launched the Employee Ownership Australia Index making a strong case for the link between employee productivity and ownership.
EOA Board Member Matthew Lever and a conference attendee enjoy a light hearted moment
Future trends and examples of innovation in employee ownership were presented by Chris Galway from Ernst & Young (our conference hosts).
EOA Chair Angela Perry listening to Chris Galway (Ernst and Young) presenting
The EY session, was a fascinating workshop on future trends in innovation and employee ownership. Interestingly the future trends and ways forward for employee ownership echoed the areas that EOA has been calling for change for, like removal of cessation of employment as a taxing point and lifting the $1,000 tax exempt cap to reflect wage and inflation increases since then.
ATO industry expert Haydn Daw
Haydn Daw provided a rundown of how things are changing at the ATO – for the better. He explained the benefits their guide for employee share schemes and templates for startups.
Hon Ed Husic MP, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition Assisting with Digital Innovation and Startups
“ … wasn’t it great that he felt he needed to come to EOA to say ‘we’ve learned from 2009’”
We wrapped the conference up with the Hon Ed Husic MP, who talked us through a range of topics from focusing on automation and the future of work to how greater employee ownership could hold the keys to a better future for all of us. Ed made sure he communicated to attendees that his Party had learned from their policy mistakes in 2009, which was both well received by the audience and also highlighted the growing understanding across all parties in Government around employee ownership.
You can find more about our winners and why they won the awards on our 2016 Awards page (go here).
Well that’s the highlights of the Award ceremony, thank you to everyone who attended, thank you to Ernst & Young for sponsoring the event and thank you to Antony and the Board members for all their help and support.
– Angela Perry
We are pleased to announce that our 4th Annual Conference that was held last 21st May 2015 in Melbourne was a huge success.
Where the employee ownership world meets
The conference is the largest of its kind in Australia and attracts professionals from across the business world, including share plan advisers, administrators, HR professionals, employment and contract lawyers, finance directors, company secretaries and communications experts.
More than 70 delegates, representing some of the world’s largest companies attended the Conference last year.
Unparalleled Chances to Learn and Network with your peers
Our program offers you the opportunity to hear from experts in the field, companies that have successfully implemented plans worldwide and Government representatives.
Employee share plans have been through a period of huge change worldwide, this is your opportunity to find out what the practical impacts have been and how companies are dealing with this period of transition.
EOA 2016 Awards and Conference
Sharing the employee ownership future.
EOA: Perth Gathering
Come along to learn all about EOA – find out about our Inner Circle reference group, and our Experts Panel.
Employee Ownership Global Law and Tax Trends – An Update
Employee Ownership Australia and New Zealand global legal and tax trends update.
Globally, employee share schemes are going through a period of change. This webinar offers an opportunity to find out how to best operate innovatively and effectively in this environment. Practically, many companies review their share plans during this period of the business cycle; this webinar will present a good opportunity to learn about the latest trends.
What Women Want?
How inclusive and engaging is your employee plan design and communication to women?
Women make up a significant proportion of companies’ workforce but to what extent are they taken into account when considering plan design and communication? In one company, Marks & Spencer in the UK, good work in this area increased participation by their predominantly female workforce by 25% in 3 years.
