John can relax in retirement knowing his legacy is living on

When John Harris-Burland, Founder of MindWorks, planned to retire, he knew he wanted to hand the business on to someone.  

“I had seen businesses taken over in the past where the incoming group would come in, take the customers and leave the staff,” he explained.  

“That never seemed fair to me. MindWorks is all about people and thought. The people that do all the thinking are the staff so it seemed fair to give them a crack at making it work.”  

His solution, taken in 2017, was to set up an employee ownership trust.  

“It was always in my business plan to retire at around 60, and I was constantly looking for a way to hand the business over, but legally you have to sell it at market value.  

“I didn’t want someone to have to mortgage their house in order to take over. When we looked at an employee ownership trust, I knew immediately that was the way forward. 

“Not only did I, as Founder, get to realise some of the value of my business, but if the business does well, staff have the potential now to get an annual bonus of up to £3,600 tax free – it’s like adding 20 per cent to their bonuses.”  

“Employee ownership really feels like caring capitalism – the founder takes their slice, then hands the business over to the people who actually make the money.” 

Jamie Moran, Account Director and Co-owner at MindWorks, has been with the company for 15 years.  

“I’ve been able to see the company before and after setting up the employee ownership trust.  

Jamie Moran

“We’ve always had a very flat and open structure. Day-to-day communication has continually been really good and we’ve always been able to have a say on the company’s direction. So, in many ways, not much has changed.  

“What it’s really allowed us to do is to keep John’s legacy going. Michelle, our Managing Director, has been at MindWorks for 23 years and worked closely with John before he left the company.

“So that’s really helped us maintain the culture which is so important to us.  

“I think it really came into its own during the pandemic, though. It helped us to pull together and support each other, while making decisions and defining our own destiny. 

“We were able to collaborate to work out how we could continue to fully service our clients while setting up remote working systems.  

“In the end I think we came out stronger, having made no redundancies.” 

In conclusion, John said: “MindWorks is all about its people. When I stop by to see them it’s truly lovely to see how supportive they are of each other. They’re a real team.”  

• mindworks.co.uk
• Friday 23 June is employee ownership day. More information about employee ownership trusts can be found at employeeownership.co.uk.