The Scottish firm marked the day, which celebrates employee-owned businesses, with a range of activities at its Markinch mill.
Activities included mill tours for friends and family and a variety of fundraising initiatives benefiting local cancer charity Maggies and the Ansan Ferry Disaster Appeal.
“We had a lot to live up to as we did quite a lot last year as well but I think one of the key things was that we really wanted to make sure as many people as possible could get involved,” said marketing manager Amanda Treend.
“We run 24/7 at our mill so we can't simply shut the plant down. It took lots of planning to make sure that people who couldn't leave their posts for very long managed to get involved. Our people went above and beyond and the atmosphere was fantastic.”
The firm, which was founded in 1809, has 740 employee owners working across three sites in Markinch, Scotland, Bollington, England and Ansan, South Korea.
Its mills at Markinch supply paper and cartonboard to global brands including Swarovski, L'Oréal and Morrison Bowmore as well as print firms and paper merchants in the UK.
“Bollington had their own day and they invited some people in from local employee-owned businesses and pupils and teachers from primary schools in the local area,” said Treend.
“Both locations opened the site up to friends and family and it was great to watch the pride in our employee owners faces while they were taking their families around where they work and showing them what they do.”
The company became employee-owned in 1987 under the chairmanship of David Erdal, who attended the event.
“One of the main reasons I joined Tullis Russell is because it is employee-owned. Our customers can see the benefits of this; they see that our people are motivated differently and work and try so much harder,” said Treend.
“We're not hampered by shareholders so we are able to step back and have the luxury to look to the long-term and make decisions that we might not have had the luxury of making otherwise.”
UK employee-owned companies have a turnover of around 3 per cent of GDP. The Employee Ownership Association wants 10% of UK GDP to be generated by employee-owned business by 2020.
“The figures seem to suggest that our productivity and engagement have improved and that means that we can differentiate ourselves in a marketplace that is relatively undifferentiated,” said Treend.
“All of us are incredibly proud to be part of an employee-owned business. The movement feels like it's really gaining traction in the economy generally.”
