Understanding Recruitment Group gives staff 60% shareholder in business

Specialist technology software recruitment consultancy Understanding Recruitment Group has formalised its move to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), making its staff a 60% shareholder in the business.

A company statement said: “This decision has been made to connect the long-term future of the employees with the long-term future of the group, while also protecting and enhancing the business culture that has been at the core of their success.”

This will involve a range of six to seven-figure pay-outs.

Understanding Recruitment is based in St Albans, Hertfordshire, and specialises in technology sectors including software engineering, DevOps and artificial intelligence, as well as its Understanding Solutions business, specialising in Statement of Work (SoW).

In its Boston, US location, the Understanding Recruitment Group operates under Acceler8 Talent, specialising in emerging tech roles across hardware acceleration, software engineering, AI, machine learning and photonics.

The structure of the board will remain unchanged with Chris Jackson as CEO and Dale Swords as chief operating officer.

CEO Jackson comments: “Dale and I could not be prouder of the achievements and incredible performances we have witnessed especially over the past couple of years. The way the business rallied together and fought through the challenges of Covid was inspirational. 

“It made us stronger and more resolute as an organisation, and built a foundation for us to go on gaining an even deeper presence within our specialist markets across not only the UK and US but also more recently on a wider global basis. I would like to thank Suzy Bolton [CFO] for being a key driver in making this happen along with the other group directors, as well as [accountants] Grant Thornton and [law firm] Osborne Clarke.”

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