61–70 of 100 posts
In Sweden: http://www.muchdifferent.com It is actually a non-profit organisation without any shareholders but it is controlled by its employees. (I work there)
This is impressive: http://developer.muchdifferent.com/unitypark/
Not a direct response to OP's question, but I wanted to give some general background info on worker cooperatives and coops in general. A cooperative is type of a business entity that does not have outside shareholders. Rather, its members are its owners. So, in the case of a worker cooperative, the people who work for the business are its member-owners. (In the case of a consumer cooperative, its patrons are its memb…
We run a worker-owned tech cooperative supporting startup social enterprises through agile development of minimum viable products that we hope will change the world for the better (hopefully that doesn’t sound cliched as our hearts are sincere in that desire).
I am glad to see some enthusiasm on HN for the cooperative cause which we believe strongly in as model vehicle for moving beyond the 'exploitation economy' which most of us operate in and which pits us against each other as adversaries rather than joining us together as partners in seeking solutions to problems we all share.
We have found the biggest plus of being a cooperative to be the sense of equality amongst our crew stemming from a democratic-based decision making process and a path to membership (as a co-owner) available to all (assuming performance and cultural standards are met).
Frankly we are slightly in awe of the talent that has joined our family by virtue of this ethos of equality and a 'do good' mission.
Moving forward we are of the opinion that the many of the best and brightest in our industry who seek social and environmental change will choose to work in cooperatives rather than traditional corporations even if it means sacrificing some personal financial benefit to do so (although hopefully this will not be needed as more resources go to supporting cooperatives).
The ‘meaning quotient’ of life generally trumps all for those we work with and those who support cooperatives.
In terms of keynotes, running a cooperative successfully requires: - emotional intelligence - operational processes that support intra-team communication and collaborative work - a willingness to put your trust in your co-workers - a strong sense of cultural identity - a mission that can be shared with members and partners
Given this is HN, I will say that there is some tension b/t the 'lead by your gut' - fast and furious - approach of most entrepreneurs and the emphasis in cooperatives on getting consensus from the team on big decisions. As a former ‘traditional’ entrepreneur with some VC / startup experience, I feel like we have found a nice balance b/t empowering our management team to lead with their ‘gut’ business instincts while also engaging in proactive communication with the team around key business decisions. That said I have also at times stepped on some toes and gently bruised some egos with my former ways. So it is a learning process for sure...
As part of our communications work, we have begun experimenting with using http://loomio.org as part of our discussion and decision-making process.
Lots more that could be shared but, I hope some of this is helpful. If anyone has further interest in cooperatives, our work processes or our work feel free to PM me.
EDIT: Just noticed that we were referenced in the opening post. (Thanks jboynyc) Sorry for flying a bit too fast and furious, speaking of... Also updated the loomio URL above.
any in canada?
The map at techworker.coop shows one in Montreal and one in Ottawa. http://www.koumbit.org/ http://brierwoodapps.com/
I am a co-founder of the tech cooperative: http://colab.coop We run a worker-owned tech cooperative supporting startup social enterprises through agile development of minimum viable products that we hope will change the world for the better (hopefully that doesn’t sound cliched as our hearts are sincere in that desire). I am glad to see some enthusiasm on HN for the cooperative cause which we believe strongly in as m…
What is looio.org? The address doesn't resolve for me. [EDIT: it was just a typo]
I am a co-founder of the tech cooperative: http://colab.coop We run a worker-owned tech cooperative supporting startup social enterprises through agile development of minimum viable products that we hope will change the world for the better (hopefully that doesn’t sound cliched as our hearts are sincere in that desire). I am glad to see some enthusiasm on HN for the cooperative cause which we believe strongly in as m…
Super interesting, thanks for chiming in. What is looio.org? The address doesn't resolve for me. [EDIT: it was just a typo]
Not a direct response to OP's question, but I wanted to give some general background info on worker cooperatives and coops in general. A cooperative is type of a business entity that does not have outside shareholders. Rather, its members are its owners. So, in the case of a worker cooperative, the people who work for the business are its member-owners. (In the case of a consumer cooperative, its patrons are its memb…
Thanks for the informative post. I'm new to the idea, and I have a question. You say that the decision making process is democratic. Couldn't that be dangerous? The majority is not always right, or even informed enough to make a correct decision. An executive hierarchy puts this process in the hands of key decision makers, who are supposed to make the correct decisions to protect the company's interests based on thei…
[1] https://help.riseup.net/about-us#meet-the-collective [2] https://mayfirst.org/
I tried to form a worker cooperative for IT workers a few years ago. I thought the idea of providing health insurance, 401k, business insurance and even a bench would be something my fellow engineers would be interested in since it was better than going it alone. As long as they knew that what they paid into the coop was going straight to the support of each other. Economies of scale and all. But to do it you have to…
> How the heck have these IT coops gotten started, then? I can't tell you on the basis of empirical knowledge of concrete cases, but in theory (e.g., Elinor Ostrom's work on the commons) you need some lower-level guarantor of trust (such as a shared culture) for higher-level institutions that can solve these kinds of collective action dilemmas to develop.
I can't believe nobody has mentioned Mondragon yet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation > At the end of 2012, it employed 80,321 people in 289 companies and organizations in four areas of activity: finance, industry, retail and knowledge.
It's not really a tech workers coop.