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GuideIntermediate

Designing Effective Systems of Evaluation and Accountability in Worker Cooperatives

A handbook for creating accountability and evaluation systems in small and medium-sized worker cooperatives.

Source: Democracy at Work NetworkAdded June 12, 2026Published 2014
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Why it matters

Worker co-ops need accountability systems that fit shared ownership rather than defaulting to conventional top-down supervision or avoiding feedback entirely.

Best for

Co-ops designing peer evaluation, role accountability, and performance feedback systems.

This free handbook addresses a common governance gap: how to create clear task management, check-ins, peer evaluation, and performance processes without recreating conventional hierarchy or avoiding hard conversations. Democracy at Work Institute's maintained page provides the handbook, a separate appendices PDF, and editable versions of the tools.

Published in 2014, it is best used as a menu of practices to adapt, not a ready-made personnel policy. The handbook itself advises consulting counsel or the relevant labor authority before implementing systems involving compensation, evaluation, discipline, or termination.

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