Skills for the Job: Creating an employee-led mutual

What is a staff-led mutual?

A mutual organisation is majority-owned by its members: service users, partner organisations or employees, or a combination of these. Mutuals serve the interests of their members, or the community, rather than those of shareholders.

In a staff-led mutual, the employees have a leadership role. In its purest form the staff own and run the organisation.

The constitutions of mutuals seek to balance the power of the different members – for example, in a community benefit mutual the community must be able to balance the power of the staff or other interest groups.

What benefits does it have?

Public service mutuals are built on the principle that ownership and engagement of staff, users and others will lead to more effective services. There is good evidence from mutuals in all sectors that the sense of ownership and control leads to higher staff morale, lower levels of sickness and absenteeism and higher productivity. Mutuals can also bring service users into much closer contact with service providers – speeding up change and innovation.