Benefits and Realities of Employee-Owned Businesses

Humans at Work with Michael Glazer

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."

If you enjoy the show, please rate it on Spotify or iTunes. Your ratings help more people like you discover the podcast!

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?

22:53 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