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Mic hael Maddison, 47, Penang , Malaysi a
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It’s the way forward. It’s good in terms of pollution and minimising traffic on the roads. I have been working from home online, but I will go back, I’m a teacher so it’s more difficult. It’s a lot easier in terms of not dealing with behavioural issues but it’s difficult to motivate the children.
The office is good for collaboration and social interaction. Working at home is good for productivity and being able to concentrate. Being able to work from home with tools like G Suite and instant messaging allows people to keep updated and allows you to have time to yourself to focus on important tasks.
Iain Mcnair, 46, Loughborough Anjali Parmar, 34, Glen Parva
It’s a good balance, especially after having a baby. It has its challenges as well; when they’re babies it’s easy but when they’re toddlers it’s different! Me and my husband work from home, so we can manage between us. I don’t want to go back to an office.
What’s your opinion on hybrid working?
Working from home and from the office: disruptive or a blessing? Helps to achieve work-life balance or lowers productivity? Does increasing wellbeing with sociable office culture matter most, or does lowering our carbon footprints? We asked workers we found in Leicester if
hybrid working works for them WORDS BY EMILY MILLER AND KERRY SMITH
Steve Root, 48, Broughton Astley
Not mixing with others could affect people’s mental health. For some companies it works, for others it doesn’t. Some people prefer working from home, I personally don’t. I like the interaction with other people, I think you need to have a bit of chat and banter. However, some like to work alone.
Now my husband works from home I’m quite impressed with him and how clever he is! His company wouldn’t have allowed working from home before and my work before I had children wouldn’t have allowed it, but with Covid they’ve allowed it more. I’ve chosen not to go back after children but with Covid allowing you to work from home, I did consider it because I can work around them – it opens up opportunities.
Lucy Wait, 36, Groby
I think a balance between office and home working would be best. We’re back in the office but I work from home in the afternoons because I pick up my son from school, but I’ve been doing that since I started there. Some people in the office want to work at home but it’s not an option at the moment, it’s going to be reviewed.
Placing the ownership of a business in its employees’ hands is becoming an increasingly popular exit strategy for owner managers looking to sell their companies.
According to the Employee Ownership Association, last year’s unprecedented growth in the sector has continued into 2021, with 250 new employee-owned businesses launched in the past 18 months. In most cases, SMEs choosing employee ownership have gone down the Employee Ownership Trust route (EOT).
As of June 2021, some 567 businesses in the UK were employee-owned via an EOT, the Association reports.
These statistics bear out The Miller Partnership’s own experience, with increasing numbers of owner managers contacting us for our expertise and advice on how EOTs work and how to set one up.
Essentially, an EOT is a tax-incentivised vehicle for transferring control of your business to your employees. As long as you satisfy some relatively straightforward conditions, the sale of the shares to the trust should be exempt from capital gains tax (CTG). This is obviously appealing, especially now that the 10% Business Asset Disposal relief (BAD) is limited to just £1m per person. And, of course, there is a lot of speculation that the relief might be abolished, or capital gains tax may be increased, as the Chancellor looks for ways to reduce the country’s fiscal deficit.
It is important to remember that a sale to an EOT is not designed to be used for a quick sale by the current owners, but for a planned exit which safeguards the longer-term future of the business and its workforce. Obviously, this is not a suitable route for businesses with very few or no employees, but it has to be worth looking at if you have a reasonable employee base. We have dealt with EOT sales with as few as 10 employees, in some cases. Until recently, EOTs hadn’t been quite as popular as one might expect – given their CGT exemption – possibly because they’re not as flexible as BAD relief.
Also, setting up and running a trust has its complexities, with the trustees effectively becoming the company’s shareholders and expected to run the company for the benefit of its employees. Nevertheless, an EOT could give you a tax-free exit while, at the same time, meeting the government’s aims of increasing employee ownership.
As you might imagine, there are complicated tax issues involved with an EOT, as well as several HMRC clearances. We also need to look carefully at the tax issues relating to how the purchase is funded, so it’s important you take professional tax advice.
Contact The Miller Partnership on 0116 208 1020 or email pete. miller@themillerpartnership.com for more advice on Employee Ownership Trusts.
Selling your business?
THE MILLER PARTNERSHIP
TAXATION SPECIALISTS
