On January 3, 2017, TFS officially became an employee-owned cooperative, with 29 employee owners as of 2024.
For TFS, the move to becoming an employee-owned cooperative is a natural extension of our mission from the beginning -- to advance sustainability in the southwest while providing a positive work environment where employees are respected and fulfilled.
When did TFS switch to being employee-owned?
TFS was founded in 2003 with the goal of being a collective space for innovation and implementation of sustainable technologies, and we started seriously considering officially transitioning to employee ownership in 2009. After years of reading, learning, and talking to our own employees and other cooperatives, we started the process in earnest in 2016. It took a full year to sort out the accounting and logistical aspects of changing the business, in addition to on-boarding our first set of employee owners. On January 3, 2017, Technicians for Sustainability officially became an employee-owned cooperative with 14 employee owners. As of 2024, there are 29 employee owners.
TFS now has a Board of Directors made up entirely of employee owners. These board members, who are elected by the body of employee owners, help guide the big picture of the company. Decisions are also made at employee-owner meetings, and owners have special venues for bringing forth concerns and ideas.
An employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, allows employees to own stock in their business, thereby giving them a financial stake in the company’s success. An ESOP arrangement differs from employee-ownership because it ends at that financial investment – in an ESOP, the vast amount of stock is typically still retained by single owners, where decision-making power resides. In an employee-owned cooperative model, owners are central in decision making in the company and own a larger stake in the company.
Our goal is that, as an employee-owned company, we will provide ever more satisfying experiences for our customer because we have a more positive and engaging work environment for employees. Brian Park, an employee-owner who does site visits and works with people interested in going solar, says it best when he describes the customer experience: “I can tell people that owners will be a part of their installation process from my initial visit, through the admin and permitting side of things, to the actual installation on their roof and the monitoring afterward.”
Yes! B Corporations are a new kind of company which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. TFS has been proud to be a certified B-Corp since 2014. Our transition to an employee-ownership model strengthens our commitment to being accountable to address social and environmental problems through our business. You can read more about our B-Corp status here.
Anyone who has worked at TFS for 1 year is eligible to become a worker-owner. There is a candidacy process that can take between 6-12 months, and all new employee-owners are voted in by the existing owners, and also will need to purchase a share in the company.
TFS's Employee-Ownership Efforts Featured in the Arizona Daily Star
Excerpt
Founded in 2003, Technicians for Sustainability is a Tucson-based, locally-owned-and-operated residential and commercial solar company.
When founder Jean Francois Camson decided to move back to his home country of France in 2005, it didn’t take long for TFS executives to begin thinking about employee-ownership, says Director of People and Culture Nicole Koch.