Troubled Times in the Supermarket

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A worker-owned firm seems like an interesting yet odd concept to me. All I have ever known are traditional hierarchy type jobs of which I have always been on the bottom. I do not even know of any local businesses that are worker-owned firms. There may be a few but I do not know of them. It seems like people who, like me, have always at the bottom of the pyramid at work might find a worker-owned firm to be a very nice change.
Worker-owned firms seem like they would have a lot of advantages. One advantage is that all employees are already empowered from the start. There is no need to try to find some other and most likely less effective way to empower employees such as just giving them a share of the company's stock. In a worker-owned firm the workers are more likely to want to protect the firm because it is in their own self-interest to do so. What are the odds of finding another job that gives them as much freedom and power? People are probably more likely to stay at and care about a job that gives them some power and freedom than a traditional job. I imagine that a employees at a worker-owned firm are happier and more satisfied leading to better productivity and over all work environment. I would be more interested in going to work and finding people in a good mood and happy to be there rather than finding a lot of people who would clearly rather be somewhere else. This leads me to my next point that worker-owned firms probably have much fewer problems with employee burnout and apathy. Employees of worker-owned firms are more likely to actively participate in the work place beyond the bare minimum requirements. Where I work I see people all the time that do not care about the company and have no motivation to work any harder...

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...n companies that do not empower employees. I would be more likely to stay at a job that empowered me than a company that did not. Being empowered would make me feel as though the company valued my employment there and it is most likely the same for other people. Empowered employees probably also call off less often than non-empowered employees. If I felt valued by my company I would be less tempted to skip work when the weather is nice for example.
Worker-owned companies seem like they would be good for the most part but maybe not for all. The firms might have to come up with some creative new ways to keep people motivated in a worker-owned firm though. Having empowered employees though is probably good for most companies. As an introvert I am not sure it would be good for me to work at a worker-owned firm but it would probably be a lot better than were I work now.

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