Yorkshire-based recruitment and people solutions specialist TSA Surveying has marked its first full year as an Employee-Owned Trust (EOT) by paying a profit-share bonus to its team.
The move, initiated on March 7th last year, sees the surveying and property recruitment firm transfer 100% of its ownership into a trust held for the benefit of its employees. TSA’s turnover hit ?14m in 2025 after experiencing 28% year-on-year growth since 2020.
The EOT serves as a long-term succession plan for founders Michael Warburton and Matthew Steptoe, who wanted to secure the company’s future without selling to a competitor or private equity firm.
This shift in structure means TSA’s 20-strong staff now have a direct stake in the business. To prove the model works, the company has just distributed a profit share to the team.
Focusing on specialisms
Founded in 2020, TSA, based at Airedale House in Kirkstall, Leeds, specialise in technical recruitment for the property, construction and engineering consultancy sectors with clients ranging from tier one chartered surveyors and chartered engineers to regional and specialist surveying SMEs.
Managing director Michael Warburton explained the move. “We didn’t want to sell out. We’ve spent years building a brand that focuses carefully on our specialisms. We aren’t the typical recruitment firm,” he said.
“Selling to a large corporate or private equity house usually means losing your identity and your culture. The team we have built is too important to us. The EOT decision protects what we’ve built and gives our team a genuine reason to stay and grow with us.”
Opportunities for future growth
While TSA has grown successfully following a model of training graduate consultants, the EOT model also provides an opportunity to attract experienced consultants who may not feel fully engaged in traditional setups.
Experienced consultants can often generate significant profit for shareholders without seeing the long-term benefit themselves in either remuneration and influence. TSA believes the EOT model offers a compelling alternative.
“We have an opportunity now to hire experienced recruiters in complementary markets to provide further growth,” Michael added. “What we are able to offer these individuals is compelling – an opportunity to join the team in initially participating in a profit share, to have a voice and influence on the future of our business and long term to fully participate in a share of the profits.”
Co-founder Matthew Steptoe added: “We started TSA Surveying with some very simple values – two of which were: we are one team and we will all share in the success of the company. As we have grown, we have remained true to these values to support building our amazing team, without whom we wouldn’t have been able to reach such levels of success. So, when the topic of succession planning came up, our decision was simple – not just what is best for us, but what is best for all our employees.”
Celebrating on the slopes
The profit share was announced at a company-wide event on February 26, when the leadership team presented the 2025 results and outlined plans for the year ahead.
TSA finished 2025 ahead of its targets, reinforcing the early success of the EOT model.
To mark the occasion, the team then headed to Xscape in Castleford for a celebratory ski session.
Business as usual
Day-to-day operations remain unchanged, with the founders continuing to lead the business alongside fellow director Omar Hassan. The management team has committed to a gradual transition over the next five years, ensuring stability for clients while the next generation of leaders steps up.