SCOTT BADER

Scott Bader is a small company within the chemicals industry employing 650 people world-wide. The company was founded in 1920 by Ernest Bader operating as the sole agency for Swiss celluloid in Britain. In 1951 the Scott Bader Commonwealth was formed. Over 90% of the shares of the company were transferred over to the employees. They all became members of the Scott Bader Commonwealth and thus co-owners of Scott Bader Company Limited.

Partnership Philosophy

Scott Bader has been shaped by the beliefs of its founder Ernest Bader. He believed that 'we are all equal as human beings and therefore we all have the right of human dignity'. In his view this aspiration was not widely achieved in conventional industry. When the family transferred the ownership of the company to the employees, Ernest ensured that his beliefs and values became enshrined within the Constitution, along with certain other safeguards to secure the continuation of the enterprise. The company is run under a Code of Practice which lays out the conditions under which the business is organised and run.

Partnership Practices

Communications

Scott Bader operates on the principle of open, direct and honest communications. Monthly briefings are compulsory in all sections and are explicitly geared to generate feedback from the workforce. There are quarterly general meetings of Scott Bader Co Ltd which all employees are invited to attend and which report on the overall plans and strategy of the company as well as reporting progress to date against the annual budget. An individual Executive member each quarter will do a specific report for their area of responsibility.

Management Style

As you would expect given the ownership principles of the company, Scott Bader has a commitment to open management and describes the management style within the organisation as one of participative leadership.

Employee Representation: The Community Council

The main employee voice mechanism within the company is the Community Council, which has significant decision making powers. The Community Council represents the interest of all staff in the UK and Ireland. Representatives are elected to the Community Council by geographical area to enable elected people to have regular contact with those that they represent. The Community Council approves the appointment or removal of the Chairman of Scott Bader Co Ltd and all its Directors, as well as approving Directors salaries. It also has the final say on internal disciplinary matters. The Community Council carries out many tasks within the areas of working conditions and employee welfare and works closely with management on these issues. They also raise budgets and administer funds for social and educational functions.

Employee Development

There is a strong programme of self development set out in the Principles of the Commonwealth which advocates learning from Day One. Learning includes secondment opportunities. The company recently conducted a major programme in association with Ashridge Management Centre in which 40 managers looked at their own careers and developed their own personal learning strategies. The company has a long-standing commitment to education and training and has developed a Learning Centre, which offers dedicated learning resources to its employees. Scott Bader has a number of continuous improvement systems and working practices which have been in operation since the early 1990s. The company is accredited to ISO 9001 throughout and is an Investor In People.

Pay and Reward

The company believes that pay is in line with the marketplace. Pay is based on: individual performance reviewed at regular appraisals; company performance, related to a persons salary, and an annual bonus related to the share of profits and distributed according to the Constitution. The pay system, pension scheme and holidays are all harmonised.

Reward and Profit

The financial participation and reward practices of Scott Bader are firmly enshrined in a set of rules. A minimum of 60% is ploughed back into the business for future investment and development. Of the remaining 40%, a maximum of half could be paid as bonus to staff. However, whatever percentage is set as a bonus, an equal or greater amount must be given to charity. Over the years substantial amounts of money have been allocated to charitable purposes as part of the profit sharing process. The charitable giving has been enhanced by allocating £200 to each employee to allocate themselves to the charity of their choice.

Employment Security

Scott Bader is firmly committed to a policy of no redundancies. There is a specific policy - set out in the Code of Practice - of job sharing and agreed pay cuts as an alternative to redundancy.

Environmental Sustainability

The company has a long-standing environmental policy concerning responsible management of the earth's resources.

Commonwealth Membership

Membership of the Commonwealth and with it co-ownership of the company is open to all employees after a specified period of time. It is by application, and rights of membership are confirmed by the Commonwealth Board of Management. Not every employee chooses to apply for membership, but the vast majority do.

The Future

While the principles will remain the same, the company is examining its structure to try and make it less cumbersome. Scott Bader is also looking at ways of extending the Commonwealth to their international subsidiaries as far as possible, within the constraints imposed by the different cultures and legislative frameworks of the countries involved.