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This unique collection features free downloadable case studies of employee-owned companies and democratic organizations published by the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing.  Many of the case studies include discussion questions for classroom use. We encourage educators, researchers, and practitioners to make use of this collection.



HDR – Building a Global Employee Ownership Culture

Lorin Busaan, Simon Pek | August, 2023

This teaching case study explores the dynamics and evolution of employee ownership in HDR, a large multinational professional services firm. Broad-based employee ownership has strong affinities with professional services firms, whose success largely depends on the knowledge and capabilities their employees bring to their work. As HDR grew and expanded internationally, it had to address … Read More

MyPath: Exploring the Intersection of DEI and Employee Ownership

Valerie J. Whitcomb | January, 2023

MyPath grew steadily since its inception in 1984 in an industry rife with regulations and oversight. Navigating the healthcare landscape and advocating for its disabled patients became a hallmark of the organization. Through the years, a strong culture emerged thanks in part to employee ownership which contributed to a ‘can-do’ attitude found at all levels … Read More

Acadian Companies – The Next 50 Years

Valerie J. Whitcomb | January, 2023

With fifty successful years behind Acadian Ambulance Service, now known as Acadian Companies, the focus was clearly on the future. The company had a history of steady organic growth and external growth through strategic mergers and acquisitions. The company now was comprised of six successful and profitable divisions, all synergistic but unique in their management … Read More

Golden Steps

Sanjay Pinto | December, 2022

Founded in 2012, Golden Steps is a Brooklyn-based worker cooperative of immigrant women of color, all of whom have roots in Central and South America. Providing services to those who do not qualify for Medicare or need more than what Medicare will pay for, Golden Steps operates in a part of the market where home … Read More

Five Home Care Cooperatives in Washington State

Adria Scharf | December, 2022

No other state has as many individual home care cooperatives in operation as Washington. Although small and limited to date to serving the private pay market, Washington’s home care cooperatives suggest that “another way is possible” for organizing home care provision in the state. The business model they are piloting breaks with dominant, extractive, models … Read More

Cooperative Home Care Associates

Sanjay Pinto | December, 2022

Cooperative Home Care Associates (CHCA) holds a significant place within the U.S. worker cooperative and long-term care landscape. For decades, it has been the largest worker cooperative in the country by some distance. CHCA workers are also members of the largest union in the country, 1199Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers East (1199SEIU). Through its … Read More

PT360: Vermont Physical Therapy Cooperative

Adria Scharf | December, 2022

This case study examines the only physical therapy practice in the country to be structured as a worker cooperative.  Founded in 2010 by 12 coworkers who left their previous employer to start their own practice together, PT360 has grown to become the largest independent physical therapy practice in the state of Vermont. It now has … Read More

Five Point Holistic Health

Adria Scharf | December, 2022

This case study examines Five Point Holistic Health, the Chicago health center organized as a worker cooperative. The center offers acupuncture, psychotherapy, and bodywork treatments and services. From its earliest days, the worker-owners of Five Point have prioritized making its services affordable and accessible to the community.  After years of hard work, they have achieved … Read More

AlliedUP: A Worker-Owned Healthcare Staffing Cooperative Transforms Temporary Work

Minsun Ji | December, 2022

Contingent workers make up a large part of today’s healthcare workforce, and the healthcare industry is America’s most contingent worker-dependent industry. While contingent healthcare workers overall earn low pay with few benefits, contingent work burdens fall most heavily on women of color, due to deep race and gender-based inequalities that have long plagued the healthcare … Read More

Evergreen Cooperative Laundry and Cleveland Clinic

Adria Scharf | December, 2022

The Evergreen Cooperative Laundry’s partnership with Cleveland Clinic is perhaps the best-known example of an “anchor institution” approach to economic development in the United States. The worker-owned business is the primary laundry vendor for the Cleveland Clinic’s entire northeast Ohio area. Their experience to date suggests that it is indeed possible for a health system … Read More

Obran Cooperative, LCA

Camille Kerr | December, 2022

Obran is a cooperatively owned holding company with a related financing arm. It recently acquired a 50-person home health care business based in Los Angeles and the cooperative is under letter of intent (LOI) for a 100-person home health business serving the Bay Area.  With this unique model, the cooperative’s leadership seeks to create quality … Read More