FirstGroup, one of Britain’s earliest adopters of employee directors on company boards, has quietly ended the long-running practice—delivering a symbolic blow to the once-ambitious drive to give workers a greater say in corporate governance.
The transport operator, which introduced employee representation on its board in the 1990s, confirmed it would no longer reserve a seat for a worker director. In its latest filings, the company offered little explanation beyond referring to the “transformation” of its business—particularly the scaling back of its UK rail operations, most of which have been handed back to the public sector.
The decision leaves a question mark over the relevance of employee voice in British boardrooms. Despite being championed by former Prime Minister Theresa May during her 2016 leadership campaign as a flagship policy to reset capitalism in the wake of the Brexit vote, the concept has made little headway. Fewer than a dozen FTSE-listed firms ever embraced the model, and FirstGroup’s exit from the practice may discourage others from following suit.
The company still employs thousands in its UK bus division, yet has not indicated any plans to reinstate worker representation in that area.
Governance experts say the withdrawal highlights a broader reluctance in UK corporate culture to hardwire employee perspectives into boardroom decision-making.
“FirstGroup was a rare example of a company that gave workers a seat at the table in a meaningful way,” said one governance adviser. “Its quiet abandonment of the policy risks confirming the view that employee voice in boardrooms remains more symbolic than structural.”
For now, the idea of employee directors appears to be losing traction—not with a bang, but with a shrug.
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Firstgroup quietly ends long-running employee director policy