Strategy Doc
workers.coop
www.workers.coop
Strategy:
Vision:
A world where everyone has access to rewarding, meaningful and sustainable work. �Made possible by an interconnected and highly inclusive worker cooperative movement.
Purpose:
Our purpose is to motivate, educate and organise people to start, strengthen and grow great worker co-ops.
Motivate:
Educate:
Organise:
www.workers.coop
Principles:
Movement building:�Organising methods are at the heart of everything we do. Wherever possible we use or build the assets of worker co-ops and cooperators in our network
Inclusive:�Proactively seek out, involve, and learn from diverse groups in society. Create a genuinely egalitarian culture and space for people to reach their potential and flourish.
Lean and decentralised:�Keep overheads and bureaucracy to a minimum. The services we provide need to be self-organising, scalable and financially sustainable. Decision-making to be both highly delegated and accountable.
Fair and equitable:�An expectation that everyone contributes, but everyone should also benefit, at least in proportion to their contribution.
Reward and recognition:�A culture of celebrating and rewarding those who make a positive impact for our movement, being mindful not to focus on those who shout the loudest or have the most free time.
‘Good enough for now, safe enough to try’:�A bias towards action over deliberation. Getting full buy-in from all members is desirable, but not at the expense of moving forward, even if that means taking calculated, properly-understood risks.
Making alliances and partnerships:�Orienting towards, and working with, other organisations groups and currents that share our goal of social emancipation through democratic ownership and control of economic activity.
www.workers.coop
Workers.coop: rule book
Our rules can be downloaded from here
OBJECTS
a) act as a sectoral federation to unite, defend and advance the shared interest of worker cooperatives and other worker-led or worker-owned enterprises;
b) be the recognised voice and network for worker cooperation in the UK;
c) provide access to specialist development advice, cooperative support and other shared services for worker cooperatives;
d) strengthen worker cooperative culture by mobilising cooperators and supporters of the worker cooperative system through industrial networks, knowledge sharing and social movement alliances;
e) participate in international workers’ and cooperative networks, and actively promote worker internationalism; and
f) Make the system of worker control and collective ownership accessible and relevant to new groups and generations of workers, refining our offer and organising models in the process.
www.workers.coop
Governance and delivery
Governance:
Delivery:
www.workers.coop
Project | Deliverables | Resources | Success criteria (Dec’23) | Work group |
Communications Campaign | Create a strong, shared identity, style guide and communications strategy to promote workers.coop and worker co-ops Create a resource bank of messaging, imagery, memes and other materials for members to search, use and iterate on to deliver our campaigns. Create and oversee our digital communications and engagement with members. | £8,000 | 50 worker co-ops using our shared branding and messaging 100 enquiries about worker coops logged through our website | Comms Group |
Mobilisation programme | Create a strategy and start to form productive relationships with other workers’ and social movements so we can build our power and influence. Create clear journeys setting out defined jobs and actions people can carry out on behalf of the federation Create reward and recognition activities to celebrate successes and motivate people to act. Onboarding process as well | £4,000 | 50 activist carrying out actions to promote workers.coop and worker co-ops | Mobilisation? |
Building a research and evidence base | Working with partners, build and make easily available a data and evidence base on the benefits of worker co-ops. Foster a global ecosystem of researchers, academics, think tanks exploring and promoting the impacts of worker co-ops Gather data and insights to support benchmarking, improving performance and finding market opportunities for worker coops | £2,000 | A database of worker co-ops operational with 50 worker co-op submitting data. 5 Business case studies created | Research Group |
Motivate:
www.workers.coop
Project | Deliverables | Resources | Success criteria (Dec’23) | Work group |
Start a worker co-op | Create a clear learning pathway to walk people through examples of worker coops and the process of setting one up. Create, collate and share a resource bank of guides, templates and case studies | Fund from March ‘23? | 23 worker coops started through our approach | Member Learning |
Learning programme | Create an online learning programme starting with “the basics” and developing additional modules based on member feedback Create a series of webinars and workshops on topics of interest to our membership Create, collate and share a resource bank of guides, templates and case studies Create opportunities to support, co-learning and mentoring between worker members | £7,000 | 50 worker members using our learning programme 10 webinars or workshops hosted through our programme | Member Learning |
Co-op Clinic | Recruit and train a pool of trusted supporters who can triage and broker (to our network) member enquiries Develop a pool of trusted peers, mentors and professional advisers Develop a framework and process to manage transactions between our members and this network Support barefoot training to build the skills and capabilities of worker members to become advisers | £7,000 | At least 5 people trained and supported to provide enquiry management (triaging) 20 peers, mentors and professional advisers onboarded and ready to offer support 30 transactions recorded between members and our network of supporters | Member Learning |
Educate:
www.workers.coop
Project | Deliverables | Resources | Success criteria (Dec’23) | Work group |
Peer Networks | Create the digital infrastructure and guidance so members can host their own online/in person peer networks based on shared interests: location, role, industry, demographics. Create and host flagship groups with high demand: Tech, Food, Finance, HR, Business development, London, Manchester, Glasgow, LGBT+ etc Host monthly Business Exchange meetings for generating business referrals for worker co-ops in our network. Deliver two large scale events, one in the Summer and one in the Winter | £5,000 Fund in ‘23 | 12 number of peer networks active and attended 150 participants taking part in our peer networks | Member Learning |
Member and support programme | Build the expertise, design and implement infrastructure needed to recognise, organise and on-board people to carry out volunteer actions or paid work on behalf of the federation. Design, build and user test an effective reward and recognition framework providing a range of intrinsic or extrinsic motivators for volunteers, workers and paid contractors. | £5,000 | 50 supporters taken through our programme and taking actions on behalf of the federation | Mobilisation |
Finance | Create and maintain financial reports, management accounts and other requirements to manage a co-operative society under UK law Ensure we have the financial sustainability to deliver our strategy | £1,000 | The Board have got adequate financial reports. | Finance |
People | Ensure we have legally compliant internal systems, policies and processes within the federation, and to support the cultivation of a healthy, co-operative culture. | £2,000 | A full suite of legally compliant policies in place | PPC |
Digital | Create and maintain the digital infrastructure: email, web, forums, chat and SSO. Create and maintain our membership management systems to deliver our membership, members services and communications campaigns. | £1,500 | Don’t know! | Digital |
Bus Dev | | | Our membership income exceeds £50,000 100 worker co-ops are members of the federation | |
Organise:
www.workers.coop
Finances:
Notes:
Income:
- Aug ‘22 - March ‘23 confirmed
- March ‘23 onwards a target
- Assuming some paid for services coming in from April ‘23
Expenditure:
- Detail given for project for up to end of March ‘23 will be allocated in future years once income is confirmed.
- March ‘23 onwards assumes of costs to deliver paid elements
www.workers.coop
What do we mean by Supporters
Underpinning our strategy is an experiment:
Example Supporter Journey’s:
Taking part in our "Motivate" journeys:
Taking part in our "Educate" journeys.
Taking part in our "Organise" journeys:
www.workers.coop