Our Journey to EO
At NOVOS, we believe that big business decisions shouldn’t be limited to the senior team and C-suite. That’s why in March 2022, we became one of over 1,650 employee-owned businesses in the UK.
We’re leaving old agency models behind and enhancing how we operate to give everyone a legitimate say in our growth, direction, and the agency’s future by turning our values into action.
We also have an established People Committee, which represents employees’ wants and needs by collating feedback, ideas, and problems across the agency and feeding them into the Trust. Any significant decisions that directly impact the company are then voted on by the Trust (e.g. new markets or service expansion, very senior hires).
Why We Became Employee-Owned
We’ve always believed that if the company looks after its people, they look after our clients, which in turn supports our growth. Unlike so many other agencies, we’ve taken the extra step to become a people-led agency led by the teams that built the company into what it is today.
We favour simplicity.
We don’t need to follow an overcomplicated agency model to achieve results. Being EO keeps things concise and to the point.
Specialism at our core.
Our eCommerce specialism is our superpower. And those who enable it are our team. Our trust in them is essential to our growth.
Stand out, be unique.
We don’t want to be known for following the crowd, and being EO allows us to embrace something others shy away from.
Sustained growth.
We created an opportunity to gather feedback and act on it. If you’re not growing, you’re standing still (and you can’t do that in digital).
From Our Co-Founders
“We created NOVOS to be truly different from other agencies in the industry, and becoming an EO company enhanced this vision. The next phase is to share over 50% of profits with staff - something we can only achieve by working with brands that share our values.
We’re both confident that the people who helped build this agency are the right people to lead it into the next level of growth.”
Sam & Antonio
What Does This Mean for Our Clients?
On the outside, nothing changes day to day for our clients. But on the inside, a new level of love and care for them has been unlocked. Our team benefits directly from the business’s success, including client retention. This enables greater togetherness amongst our team, morale and enthusiasm as they strive to deliver the best in-game results.
What Does This Mean for Our Team?
We’ve always been generous with the benefits we provide. Unlimited holiday is one of our biggest perks - we can only offer it by placing a high level of trust in each other to support our teams.
Beyond financial gains, our team has a significant voice in company direction and decision-making, meaning it's a combined effort when making key company decisions, both within and beyond the agency, with a focus on supporting our team in their careers and in life beyond work.
How EO Has Worked for Us
There’s no webpage long enough to showcase the value that becoming EO has had on the agency since 2022, which is why we’ve created a short deck to explain more about why we opted for EO, the long-term benefits we have gained and real agency examples of how our People Committee and Trust have enabled us to progress quickly in the high-risk, high-reward environment that is the agency world.