Key Lessons for Employee Trustees: Insights from PTS's First Year

Learning from Erabnaa Kingsley-Nyinah's experience as PTS's first Employee Trustee

As Employee Ownership Trusts continue to grow across the UK, the role of Employee Trustees becomes increasingly vital in ensuring genuine employee voice and representation. Erabnaa Kingsley-Nyinah, PTS's first appointed Employee Trustee, offers valuable insights from her first year in the role that can benefit trustees across the EO sector.

The Trustee Role: More Than Just Meetings

Erabnaa's experience reveals that being an Employee Trustee involves much more than quarterly board meetings. The role requires ongoing engagement, with responsibilities that ebb and flow depending on business activities. Her approach centers on being a "representative voice for the team, especially for concerns that might not usually be shared with a manager or leadership."

Key insight: The most effective trustees maintain continuous dialogue with colleagues rather than treating the role as a periodic responsibility.

Building Trust Through Accessibility

One of Erabnaa's most striking observations is that "sometimes people forget I'm an Employee Rep!" This isn't a weakness - it's a strength. Her approachability means colleagues feel comfortable sharing genuine concerns and ideas without the formality that might inhibit honest feedback.

Key lesson: Effective trustees balance their representative role with remaining accessible colleagues. The best feedback often comes from informal conversations rather than structured sessions.

The Power of Anonymous Feedback Loops

PTS has developed multiple channels for gathering employee input, from one-on-one conversations to post-town hall discussions and employee engagement surveys. Erabnaa emphasizes the importance of maintaining anonymity while ensuring feedback reaches the right people to drive meaningful change.

Practical tip: Develop various feedback mechanisms that suit different communication styles and comfort levels within your workforce.

Demonstrating Impact Through Visibility

One concrete example Erabnaa shares involves employee feedback about the lack of visibility around internal boards. This feedback was passed up through trustee channels, resulting in the Development Board sharing a detailed overview at an all-staff meeting. The direct line from employee concern to leadership action and back to employee understanding demonstrates the trustee role's effectiveness.

Key takeaway: Closing the feedback loop by showing employees how their input leads to change is crucial for maintaining engagement and trust in the trustee system.

Patience in Cultural Transformation

Erabnaa acknowledges that cultural change takes time, noting "we're only a year in" and recognizing that some employees are still learning what being employee-owned means for them. This realistic perspective helps set appropriate expectations for the pace of transformation.

Important reminder: Employee ownership is a journey, not a destination. Trustees should expect gradual progress rather than immediate cultural shifts.

Essential Qualities for Success

When asked for advice for new Employee Trustees, Erabnaa emphasizes several key qualities:

• Openness and presence: "Keep your eyes and ears open" and be available for conversations

• Genuine care: Believing in the company and wanting everyone to have a positive experience

• Listening over speaking: "You don't need to be the loudest person in the room"

• Broader perspective: Thinking beyond personal experience to consider everyone's viewpoint

The Broader Impact: Beyond Individual Concerns

Perhaps most significantly, Erabnaa notes a shift in the nature of conversations since becoming employee-owned. Discussions are becoming "more forward-thinking and less about individuals - they're often about us as co-owners." This evolution from individual grievances to collective ownership thinking represents the deeper cultural transformation that Employee Ownership Trusts can achieve.

The Bottom Line

Erabnaa's experience at PTS demonstrates that effective Employee Trustees serve as bridges - connecting employee voices to leadership decisions while helping colleagues understand the broader business context. The role requires patience, accessibility, and a genuine commitment to collective success rather than personal advancement.

For trustees in other EOTs, her journey offers a roadmap for building trust, gathering meaningful feedback, and contributing to the gradual but significant cultural shifts that make employee ownership truly transformative.

The key is not just being a voice for employees, but helping employees find their own voices as co-owners of their business.