The Most Forward-Thinking Contractor award celebrates solar installers devoted to making progress in energy and beyond in hopes of a more sustainable future.
– Brittany Hathaway, Marketing and Community Outreach Specialist, PV Squared
This year’s Most Forward-Thinking Contractor is building a cooperative business structure where employees can share in its success in a way not accessible at traditional workplaces.
PV Squared (No. 282 on the 2024 Top Solar Contractors List), based in Greenfield, Massachusetts, has been a worker-owned cooperative since it opened its doors in 2002. The company is run by a board of directors composed of worker-owners who hold positions for three-year terms. Each worker-owner has one stake in the company, regardless of tenure.
“We’re democratically governed by a self-selected board of directors,” said Brittany Hathaway, marketing and community outreach specialist and a worker-owner at PV Squared. “There is democracy at every level, because we ensure that every one person gets the same amount of weight in their opinion as the next person.”
The company started with just four people but has since grown to around 48. All employees are eligible to become worker-owners, but they must spend at least one year at the company and then complete the Worker-Owner In-Training Program. The program includes assigned reading about communication and procedures for worker-owners, as well as interviews with current worker-owners.
The company recently reached a milestone — over half of PV Squared’s employees are now worker-owners.
PV Squared believes its values as an employee-owned company help to attract customers and is the main reason the majority of customer leads come through referrals.
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