Worker cooperatives are often values-driven businesses designed to center the well-being of workers and their communities. Unlike the dominant corporate model, where ownership and control are concentrated among investors or executives, worker cooperatives are owned and governed by the people who work in them.
In a worker cooperative, employees, known as worker-members, share in both the profits and the decision-making of the business. Ownership is based on labor contribution rather than capital investment, and governance follows the democratic principle of one worker, one vote.
To qualify as a worker cooperative, an enterprise must:
Three worker cooperatives participated in this study. More details can be found on the homepage of this report.
*Click on a company to see the supporting case study
Being an owner in a cooperative means having agency over your work, a voice that is truly heard, and a sense of responsibility and empowerment within the organization. It’s about participation, recognition, and accountability—less about money and more about being a full, engaged member shaping the life and direction of the cooperative.
“I get to literally build my job.” - Kat, Nature School Cooperative
“Being able to have my voice heard and for people to see me as a full person and an owner, not just a number on a spreadsheet, a person to pay and go away.” - Alicia, Namaste Solar
“My voice matters.” - Gage, Namaste Solar
Participants in the worker cooperatives I studied reported a culture of collaboration over competition, built on trust and strong relationships. As Stas at SpringUp put it, "I think that the idea that we are formally a worker-owner model, that the people we are accountable to are the workers, I think builds a lot of trust." Without commission-based incentives or internal rivalries, teams form more genuine connections—both with each other and with those outside the organization.
When business hardships arise, the burden is distributed more evenly because responsibility is shared rather than concentrated at the top. Leadership itself is often shared. As Kat described, "The burden of running everything is a shared burden."