No, it didn't start this way. It started with one of us as the owner and the rest as employees or sub-contractors. It wasn't until I said something and everyone thought it was a good idea that we started doing it this way.
But it won't be easy at every company. Ours was easy because our business model is "go to place, do physical skilled work, collect money, pay for costs, distribute money, go home", on a timescale of 1-day to 1-week. Profit calculations, for example, could get more complicated with a business that runs on quarters or years and has money moving all over the place. But it does already happen and it does work, it's just not what people are used to.
If done in the same simple model we use, it's simple to implement. For profits, just take whatever the owner would have gotten before and divide it evenly, accounting for number of hours worked. For decisions, get the opinion of everyone involved in that particular thing, bonus points if you include people who aren't involved in the work but will be affected by it.
In my opinion this type of arrangement is attractive to everyone except "career-oriented" or power-hungry types, for obvious reasons. Everyone else seems to enjoy being treated as an equal and making more money.
It's good to hear you've considered doing it that way. I'd suggest at least rolling the idea around in your business, including with your employees. It might not be as difficult as it seems. Shareholding investors will certainly need to be taken into account, and that's a complex topic of it's own. I'm sure they won't be too excited at the idea of losing their shares if that's even possible; I don't know, I'm not a finance expert, I just swing a hammer for a living :)
I'd like to leave this Legal Guide to Cooperative Conversions[1] and this Consensus Handbook[2] as possible starting points if you remain interested in converting your business.
Comments
No, it didn't start this way. It started with one of us as the owner and the rest as employees or sub-contractors. It wasn't until I said something and everyone thought it was a good idea that we started doing it this way.
But it won't be easy at every company. Ours was easy because our business model is "go to place, do physical skilled work, collect money, pay for costs, distribute money, go home", on a timescale of 1-day to 1-week. Profit calculations, for example, could get more complicated with a business that runs on quarters or years and has money moving all over the place. But it does already happen and it does work, it's just not what people are used to.
If done in the same simple model we use, it's simple to implement. For profits, just take whatever the owner would have gotten before and divide it evenly, accounting for number of hours worked. For decisions, get the opinion of everyone involved in that particular thing, bonus points if you include people who aren't involved in the work but will be affected by it.
In my opinion this type of arrangement is attractive to everyone except "career-oriented" or power-hungry types, for obvious reasons. Everyone else seems to enjoy being treated as an equal and making more money.
It's good to hear you've considered doing it that way. I'd suggest at least rolling the idea around in your business, including with your employees. It might not be as difficult as it seems. Shareholding investors will certainly need to be taken into account, and that's a complex topic of it's own. I'm sure they won't be too excited at the idea of losing their shares if that's even possible; I don't know, I'm not a finance expert, I just swing a hammer for a living :)
I'd like to leave this Legal Guide to Cooperative Conversions[1] and this Consensus Handbook[2] as possible starting points if you remain interested in converting your business.
- [1]: https://institute.coop/sites/default/files/resources/SELC%20...
- [2]: https://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/handbookweb.pdf