Translations

UNIMERCO, employees own the company

1. Organizational Governance

Profit sharing

Sector Industry

Year 2009

Country Denmark

Transmitter

Context

Founded in 1964, the Danish group Unimerco employs approximately 600 people today in some ten countries around the world, including the USA, Germany, and China. The group is developing an integrated strategy that goes from the production of industrial tools, to providing the training to use these tools through equipment maintenance. The specificity of the group lies on its ownership, with more than 95% of employee shareholders.

Objectives

To strengthen the commitment of employees in the company: motivation, sense of belonging in order to ensure good services to customers, to share the benefits from collective work and ensure the sustainability of the company.

APPROACH

Employees, managers included, are owners of Unimerco. This ownership structure was established by the CEO of the group, Kenneth Iversen, based on how profits from fishing were distributed in his native village in Denmark. They were assigned to half the maintenance costs of the boat and half the fishermen who participated in the fishing season.
Only employees of the group may hold shares of the company, as soon as they have worked six months in the company. These shares are sold once a year in August. The policy of employee ownership was established in 1977 with 38 employees. Today, 600 workers and shareholders are involved in the growth of the company. Most shareholders have shares in a value equivalent to 130 000 euros or more.

The shareholding structure is as follows:
-         57.4% for employees
-         42.2% for managers and executives
-         0.4% for Unimerco Finance, the group’s financial institution

Profit sharing is done in the same way that the employee stock ownership plans. Every month, employees receive a bonus which depends on the company’s monthly results. A system of organization fostering team spirit has been put together. In each factory, a restaurant opened 24/24 becomes a place of life for all: employees, but also customers, suppliers and family. "Coffee meetings" are held every two months with all employees to discuss performance of the company. At the company headquarters, an open space of 20 000 m2 accommodates both the site of production and administrative and management space, decompartmentalization that facilitates internal communication.