Be Part of the Ripple Effect on Owning the Future

A few small actions by a handful of people helped us to spread a smile far and wide for EO Day 2025, but how can we make sure an EO Smile ripples out across generations so more people can feel the benefits of employee ownership?

Image: Spreading an EO Smile at Ben Nevis

EO Day 2025 saw the community come together and spread joy through an #eoSmile earlier this summer. It resulted in a total reach of almost six million across social media, websites, and news outlets.

From the eoa’s HQ near Hull, we set ourselves a challenge to see how far we could spread a smile in the weeks leading up to EO Day.

So, we passed on twelve printed smiles (one for each previous EO Day) and tracked their journeys around the UK and beyond. 

These small actions saw an EO Smile travel a collective 13,189 miles and spread to 15,212 employees or event attendees in just two weeks.

You don’t need us to tell you this is an incredible impact. But what’s important is that it was achieved through a series of small actions.

That’s the power of employee ownership in action. And this is the challenge we’re setting the EO sector and its supporters. 

By taking small actions, you can help us increase the scale and impact of employee ownership in the UK and beyond. 

This will help create a future where more people can have a stake and say in the places they work.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the twelve journey highlights of the EO Smile. 

1. Brough to Sheffield – 56 Miles

2. Sheffield to Kobe, Japan – 8,654 Miles

Here’s where the EO Smile went international. A smile was sent from Sheffield to Gripple’s facility in Kobe, Japan. 

Not only that, Michael Hodgson, who’s also Chair of GLIDE, saw another smile sent 1,959 miles to Poland.

3. Sheffield to Manchester – 38 Miles

Georgia Williams, one of the newest additions to the EMC, took a smile back to her business, global accessories supplier, Boardman Design.

Manchester also saw fellow EO business (EOB) ICOM running its ‘Share a Smile’ campaign, which it revealed in full on EO Day.

Meanwhile, our Chief Executive, James de le Vingne, set off from his Manchester home with a smile in tow.

4. Manchester to Bristol – 168 Miles

James brought the smile to Bristol Business School where he joined others from across the sector to explore an exciting new research paper.

Fifty people came together to discuss ‘Mitigating work alienation: What can we learn from employee ownership?’

The paper looked at the cultural characteristics that suppress alienation and provide meaningfulness at work, and how the opposite of feeling powerless at work drives isolation and negatively affects job performance.

5. Bristol to Truro (via Exeter & Taunton) – 327 Miles

6. Hull & Sheffield to London – 205 Miles

Wendy Coello of the EMC and EO business DXW left Sheffield and met her colleagues Louise, Andrew, Alec, Selina, and Liz to enjoy the sunshine in King’s Cross.

Meanwhile, Lorna Martin from the EMC and Postlethwaite Solicitors took part in the London Legal Walk, raising money for the London Legal Support Trust.

And then Lesley, our very own Membership Community Manager, joined Maria Cremona at EOB Avondale who were running a finance related EO session to some fifty businesses.

7. Poole, Moors Valley & Glen Nevis – 871 Miles

Keely, our Strategic Comms and Public Affairs Manager, visited Helen Moreton and Lush in Poole for a special EO Day event focussing on engagement and governance. It was also attended by EOBs Go Ape, Rubicon People Partnership, Grapevine, Stephens Scown, and Wellington HR. 

Not only did the smile travel to Poole but continued its journey with the adventurous Employee Trustees from Go Ape taking a smile all the way back to Glen Nevis for some of the most dramatic shots of the whole campaign.

8. eoa HQ to Glasgow – 254 Miles

Our eo Learn Product Manager, Yogi Johnston, headed home from our Brough-based HQ to her home in Glasgow. En route, she dropped an EO Smile to one of her neighbours, Esteem Training, who support the development of construction managers and team leaders.

Esteem then took the smile out for a walk with their Occupational Work Supervision delegates on their final workshop in the week of EO Day. 

9. eoa HQ to Durham – 119 Miles

10. eoa HQ to Newry, Northern Ireland – 360 Miles

Another EO Smile headed off from our Brough base to Northern Ireland where our partners, Employee Ownership Ireland (EOI), and S&W Wholesale celebrated the latter’s transition to an EOT. 

The event, which also hosted Minister for the Economy, Dr Caoimhe Archibald, saw the announcement of a £100,000 fund to support the growth of employee ownership in Northern Ireland.

EOI took also used EO Day to shout out Northern Ireland’s growing EOB community, which includes: White Ink Architects, Boyce Precision Engineering, People 1st NI, Relinea, ADMAN GROUP, Lehding Services Design, Gilbert-Ash, HLM Architects, SCC Ltd as well as their neighbours on the Emerald Isle, Wolfgang Digital.

11. eoa HQ to Hull – 20 Miles 

12. Sheffield to Cardiff – 248 Miles

After leaving the EMC meeting in Sheffield, Esther Barnes took a smile with her to Wales, joining her colleagues at Itec Training Solutions. They also participated in ICOM’s ‘Share a Smile’ campaign.

Meanwhile, Cwmpas and the Welsh government announced that Wales continues to smash through its target, almost reaching one hundred EOBs. The focus is on anchoring more good jobs, sustainable growth and innovation in the country for the longer term.

You can keep the EO Smile going and help us own the future by joining us at this year’s eoa Annual Conference.

A final huge thanks to this year’s EO Day sponsor, eoa Specialist Advisor, Brabners, who kicked off the campaign when hosting the F2F EO Exchange in January this year. You can read their insights here.