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"Mutualism" by Sara Horowitz was an interesting book that discussed some of the history of this style of worker owned businesses. She traces some of it's histor

"Mutualism" by Sara Horowitz was an interesting book that discussed some of the history of this style of worker owned businesses. She traces some of it's history, and points out other examples of this style of worker or member governance showing up in other organizations: https://www.porchlightbooks.com/products/mutualism-sara-horowitz-9780593133521 https://www.porchlightbooks.com/products/mutualism-sara-horo... Great read, highly recommend.

kingsfoil 2mo ago
The National Center for Employee Ownership also maintains a list of 100 employee owned businesses in the USA: https://www.nceo.org/research/employee-ownership-100-largest-employee-owned-companies https://www.nceo.org/research/employee-ownership-100-largest... Employee ownership is not a silver bullet to every problem. The governance model and governing body of employee-owners has to be well constructed as with anything. As a philosophy generally, it has a lot of potential to avoid certain common problems with more traditional business models. In this space it's also important to understand the difference between cooperatives and collectives: https://institute.coop/about-worker-co-ops/worker-cooperative-faq https://institute.coop/about-worker-co-ops/worker-cooperativ... Credit Unions tend to be a more commonplace example of member/worker governance, though in my experience it's somewhat rare for the average member to engage much with the governance.
nickpinkston 2mo ago
Yea, I agree, it's a great book! It should be said that Sara [1] was also the founder of the Freelancers Union [2], offering solo benefits and other resources to freelancers. The book is great because it's so practical, with 3 org design principles [3]: [1] A solidaristic community [2] An economic mechanism that supports the community's mission [3] A long-term time horizon where the economic value is recycled back to the community https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Horowitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Horowitz https://freelancersunion.org/ https://freelancersunion.org/ https://ssir.org/articles/entry/mutualism-next-generation https://ssir.org/articles/entry/mutualism-next-generation
- ajb 2mo ago
  Interesting. I think part of the reason people assume it's not possible is that (at least in the UK) there is so much faux-consultation which has approximately no effect; both in the public and private sector. But it looks superficially like the same thing.

kingsfoil 2mo ago

The National Center for Employee Ownership also maintains a list of 100 employee owned businesses in the USA: https://www.nceo.org/research/employee-ownership-100-largest-employee-owned-companies https://www.nceo.org/research/employee-ownership-100-largest... Employee ownership is not a silver bullet to every problem. The governance model and governing body of employee-owners has to be well constructed as with anything. As a philosophy generally, it has a lot of potential to avoid certain common problems with more traditional business models. In this space it's also important to understand the difference between cooperatives and collectives: https://institute.coop/about-worker-co-ops/worker-cooperative-faq https://institute.coop/about-worker-co-ops/worker-cooperativ... Credit Unions tend to be a more commonplace example of member/worker governance, though in my experience it's somewhat rare for the average member to engage much with the governance.

nickpinkston 2mo ago

Yea, I agree, it's a great book! It should be said that Sara [1] was also the founder of the Freelancers Union [2], offering solo benefits and other resources to freelancers. The book is great because it's so practical, with 3 org design principles [3]: [1] A solidaristic community [2] An economic mechanism that supports the community's mission [3] A long-term time horizon where the economic value is recycled back to the community https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Horowitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Horowitz https://freelancersunion.org/ https://freelancersunion.org/ https://ssir.org/articles/entry/mutualism-next-generation https://ssir.org/articles/entry/mutualism-next-generation

ajb 2mo ago
Interesting. I think part of the reason people assume it's not possible is that (at least in the UK) there is so much faux-consultation which has approximately no effect; both in the public and private sector. But it looks superficially like the same thing.