History of the eoa

Origins of the eoa

The eoa was originally founded as Job Ownership Ltd (JOL) back in 1979 by “quintessential English eccentric” and employee ownership pioneer, Robert Oakeshott.

Inspired by developments in the USA, JOL was founded with the support of Liberal Party leader Jo Grimond and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. From its inception, the organisation began campaigning for the UK and other European governments to back incentives for businesses to share ownership with their employees. 

In the following years, JOL’s influence continued to grow. This included campaigning for employee ownership in post-Soviet Eastern bloc countries in the 1990s with the support of the UK government.

The organisation’s international perspective was further cemented through a series of annual conferences held at Merton College in Oxford.

The 2002 Share Schemes Act was built upon the solid foundation Robert had built for EO in the UK, demonstrating his legacy despite having stepped down as JOL’s director by this point.

Robert remained on the organisation’s board during its transition in 2004 to becoming the representative membership body for the UK’s EO sector.

In 2007, the organisation formalised its changed status by renaming itself the Employee Ownership Association (EOA).

Since then, our reach, influence, and scope have all grown exponentially. We currently have 800+ members and regularly take part in conversations on our members behalf with top policy makers. In 2024, we unveiled our new look - officially rebranding as the eoa.

Robert's Early Life

Born in 1933 and educated at Winchester College and Balliol College in Oxford, Robert began his career as a journalist with the Financial Times. He then moved to Africa to work on economic development in Zambia and Botswana, cementing himself as a man committed to improving the working lives and financial security of employees.  

Galvanised by his journeys, Robert returned to the UK in the seventies where he combined his optimism and idealism with political moderation and worked to promote worker co-operatives. An early result was the formation of the Sunderlandia building workers co-op in 1973, inspired by his visit to the giant Mondragon co-operative in Spain’s Basque region. 

Following this experience, Robert penned two highly influential books: The Case for Workers Cooperatives and Jobs & Fairness: the Logic and Experience of Employee Ownership. Later, following a visit to homecare cooperatives in New York, he worked with renowned solicitor and businesswoman Margaret Elliott CBE to set up employee owned Sunderland Homecare. In turn, this led to the formation of several more co-owned home care companies across the North of England. 

The Robert Oakeshott Lecture

In 2012, a year after Robert’s death, and with the active support of his family, we began holding an annual lecture in his name. The first Robert Oakeshott Memorial Lecture was delivered by the coalition government’s Deputy Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP.

It was here that Clegg announced the government’s support for employee ownership, as well as the formation of a major policy review into the sector’s future chaired by Robert’s longtime colleague, and eoa International Ambassador, Graeme Nuttall OBE. This review would lead to the introduction of Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) in 2014 – a policy which has since spurred enormous growth in the UK’s EO sector. It remains the most popular form of employee ownership.

Discover More

In 2023, Kevin Shillington published Robert Oakeshott: The Quintessential English Eccentric – Hero of the Hungarian Revolution, Champion of African Development and Employee Ownership.  

Although the book was published independently of the eoa, and we don’t receive any proceeds sales, we agree with the description that it’s a “wonderful biography, beautifully absorbing, drawing one unstoppably into the flowing life of this great eccentric Englishman who broke the mould of the elite establishment to bring inspiration, humour, and sharing to all kinds of people all over the world”.

Buy a copy for yourself here.