Partner Article

STB Graphic Designers becomes an Employee Owned Trust

STB Graphic Designers today announces its evolution into an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). It joins a fast-growing movement of UK businesses looking to maximise their potential by empowering its staff to drive the company forward.

According to the Employee Ownership Association, employee-owned businesses are more productive, more innovative, and more resilient to economic turbulence. Their people are also more engaged, more fulfilled, and less stressed. With 730 businesses in the UK currently employee owned, their economic contribution is already significant, 4 per cent of the UK’s annual GDP and rising.

This new EOT structure launches alongside a refreshed brand proposition. For STB, graphic design has a simple purpose: to deliver commercial results for clients. The studio’s straightforward, no-nonsense process maintains its focus on executing effective, well-researched ideas in a beautiful yet commercially sound way, with clients’ needs at the heart of every decision.

STB Graphic Designers began in 1988 as Stocks Taylor Benson. Tired of the waffle that permeates the design industry, Glenn Taylor joined forces with his colleagues Dean Stocks and John Benson to start an ideas-led studio that would produce brilliant graphic design with no bullshit.

They built the business from the ground up, working with an enviable list of national and international brands over the years including Avon, Aldi, Next, Black & Decker, Virgin Trains, Majid Al Futtaim, Morrisons, Avanti West Coast, Baker Hughes, British Airways, Canon, Metro Bank, Centrica and Experian.

For this next stage in STB’s evolution, Glenn – currently the sole owner – is passing on a three-decade legacy by transferring 90 per cent ownership to its employees. Glenn will continue as CEO supported by the existing executive management team. The move means STB will continue to deliver the very best quality and service that it has become well known for, whilst seamlessly securing a sustainable future for the business, its employees, and its clients.

STB has a proud heritage of giving back to the industry and nurturing the next generation of talent. The studio channels the time and resource that it once spent entering design awards into supporting charitable causes through its Good Deeds initiative. With close ties to local universities, STB also supports design courses with live briefs, portfolio reviews, mentoring and sponsorship.

Glenn. W. Taylor MISD, FCSD, CEO and founder of STB Graphic Designers, comments:

“Over the years, I’ve been proud to work with some of the best graphic designers in the business. Our job is to help our clients make more money by selling more stuff – whether cornflakes or cars. Simple as that. It’s about solving the brief, beautifully, and putting our clients’ needs first. Becoming an Employee Ownership Trust will secure the future of STB. We are placing it in the hands of the people who have helped it grow over the last 33 years and enabling them to share in its success.”

Deb Oxley OBE, CEO of the Employee Ownership Association, comments:

“Congratulations to STB Graphic Designers on its transition to employee ownership securing the values, ethos and culture of the business for future generations. Businesses that give employees a stake and a say build trust and shared responsibility, therefore uniting leaders and employees behind a common purpose. This leaves the business in a better position to flex and adapt as the economy looks to recover and renew.”

Greg Jolley, Executive Client Director of STB Graphic Designers, comments:

“We are hugely excited that STB is becoming an employee-owned business. This is the perfect opportunity to come together as a team and redefine our positioning and proposition. Glenn has built this thriving business from scratch. Passing his legacy on to the team will enable us to attract top talent, to work with more of the world’s leading brands and businesses, and ultimately to accelerate growth.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by STB .