Nursery World - Tops Day Nurseries becomes an employee-owned business

Tops Day Nurseries, together with its training arm -Aspire Training Team, has become an employee-owned trust (EOT).

Tops Day Nurseries is now an employee-owned business

Under the move, all employees will have a say and stake, in the form of shares, in the company.

The nursery group hopes operating as an employee-owned trust will ‘cultivate a sense of ownership and accountability’ among its staff.

Tops is one of a few nursery groups in the country that now operates as an EOT. Childbase has been employee owned since 2017.

Cheryl Hadland, founder and chairwoman of Tops Day Nurseries and Aspire Training Team, said, ‘I am delighted and proud to have finally enabled Tops and Aspire to become an employee-owned business.

‘I explored several partial exit strategies including accepting one of the many ESG oriented venture capitalists into the business, but decided that the most sustainable progression would be an EOT, protecting the ethos of the company, its sustainability and crucially enabling colleagues to be more engaged in their nurseries, a vital ingredient of a successful organisation these days.

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