Q&A: Why Synergy Vision became an employee-owned company

On 1st March 2020, Synergy Vision (SV) became an employee-ownership(EO) company.

It’s a big move for us and shows just how far we’ve come since 2007 when our founder and CEO, Ffyona Dawber, started Synergy Vision in a spare room of her north London home.

In the 14 years since, we’ve grown to be an award-winning med comms agency with more than 50 employees – all of whom will benefit from our move to EO.  

Here Ffyona explains why we’ve taken this bold decision and what the future has in store!

Why have you decided to become an EO company?

“We believe employee ownership is right for the future of Synergy Vision and is in line with our objectives and values – especially our people-first ethos.

“The model of EO combines sharing rewards with employees and a culture in which employees behave as owners, and as such, all employees (co-owners) will have an extra incentive to engage and improve performance.

“Employee ownership has been shown to improve productivity and competitiveness and build a stronger economy through more resilient companies with a keen focus on the longer term

“I believe this will have a really positive effect on the team who are already incredibly committed to Synergy Vision and to delivering for our clients.”

What impact with this have on SV’s work?

“Company operations at SV will remain the same and our strategy and objectives will continue as they are, with the focus on having the right team in place to deliver for our clients.

“The board of directors will remain the same, but it will now report into the EO trust.

“We believe that by staying an independent company we can offer clients a tailored service that really focuses on their needs. Clients will continue to benefit from these client-focused teams and the continued growth of the business.

“It’s this service that has got us to where we are today and we’re looking forward to building on that in the coming years.”

What does the future hold for SV?

“A lot of small or medium businesses end up getting bought out by large multinationals – this was a route we didn't want to go down.

“Moving to EO feels like the right decision for us and will allow us to continue providing a unique service to our clients. It also ensures we retain the autonomy to keep making bold decisions, such as the four-day working week, which has been a huge success in attracting and retaining talent.

“Our team will continue to be at the heart of everything we do and through EO they will continue to be so for many years to come.”

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