Atomised
Atomised was set up in 2008 with the help of Co-operative Development Scotland and is a Fife-based worker co-operative specialising in ethical web design and development.
The company specialises in working with the charitable, voluntary and public sectors and hosts all the websites it develops on servers powered by renewable energy. Its clients include Rape Crisis Scotland, Lemon Aid, a charity set up to bring relief to Haiti, and Go! Co-operative, which aims to be the UK's first co-operatively owned train operating company.
Founding directors Alasdair Macmillan, Neil Albrock and Morgan Faichney had worked together in technology roles at St Andrews University for five years and made a good team.
They decided to set up on their own and chose the worker co-operative model. "We genuinely thought it was the fairest way to start a business," Alasdair explained. "We believed in one member, one vote and we wanted each employee to be a director and a co-owner, both at the outset and as the business expanded. We felt it was an important part of the wider ethical and environmental desires we had."
Alasdair had some experience of co-ownership from a small record label he had founded as a collective. But he was unsure where to find more practical help until he discovered CDS during a web search.
"Without them, I don't think we would have found out how to make it happen," Alasdair said. "They were instrumental in providing the information we needed on the different co-operative business models and how it all worked."
CDS advisers worked with the Atomised team to help them understand the pros and cons of a co-operative limited company structure. They provided model Memorandum and Articles and guided them through the registration process. Atomised also benefited from one year's free membership of Co-operatives UK, the national membership organisation for co-operative enterprises, with access to free banking from Co-operative Bank and support from Business Gateway.
With three equal directors, the flat management structure works well and decisions are made on a majority basis.
There's a real loyalty and ownership, because we're all equal," Alasdair said. "We share all the decisions, we share ownership and we're all at the same level. It's a flat structure and that, for us, really works."
Visit the Atomised website for more information.
For information or advice on starting your own co-operative, contact us or call us on 0141 951 3055.