Podcast

Episode 95: Benefits and Realities of Employee-Owned Businesses

Discover the power of employee-ownership as we explore how worker cooperatives are shaping the future of work and providing innovative solutions for customers and meaningful work, autonomy, and a voice in the workplace for workers.

Emi Do is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Tokyo University of Agriculture and a co-author of the book "Cooperatives at Work."

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Episode Highlights

1:56

What are worker cooperatives?

6:02

Worker coop organizational structures

8:26

Benefits and challenges of being part of a worker cooperative

10:37

Decision-making in worker coops

13:22

"Consensus minus one"

14:47

Are worker coops really innovative?

16:25

The relationship between business owners and employees

19:00

Do people get fired in worker coops?

0:00

The amazing success of Mondragon

25:04

Converting a traditional organization into a worker coop

26:52

Employee-owners succeed where previous management failed

Emi's view on the greatest unmet wellbeing need at work today

"Definitely work life balance. I think worker coops struggle with this as well. It's part of the market economy, there's a certain urgency to everything that requires a timeliness and an ability to meet deadlines that sometimes is not compatible with making sure that you're taking care of [yourself] and that you're able to make sure that your own personal needs are being met. I find this particularly strongly in the consultancy world."

What “working with humans” means to Emi

“Showing up as a whole person, I am definitely somebody who is productive, but I'm also somebody who is somebody's partner. I am a daughter. I am a trail runner. I have passions, so I think working with humans means working with a whole person.”

Resources

Follow: Emi on LinkedIn
Read: Cooperatives at Work

Michael Glazer is the creator and host of Humans At Work. His purpose in life is to make well-being at work a globally-accepted, basic human right. Learn more about Michael here.