Meaning van also be found by working for a cooperative. After a six-month period to check that the new hire fits well with others cooperators, he/she get a vote in the general assembly.

One person = one vote. All benefits each year are split into 3 equal parts. 1 for bonus, 1 kept to prevent difficult times ahead, 1 for investment.

The bonus is optional, for example if a majority agrees that a large investment is necessary or because there is economic incertitudes (covid-related by example).

The general assembly works like shareholders. Democracy prevails but a firm still needs leadership and a structure. Each cooperative mist chose the one the want and/or need. It can be a classic hierarchy or a holacracy, just a matter of efficiently and preferences.

Meaning: the day-to-day operations are not the matter of the general assembly, which meets once or twice a year - more if really urgent, superior necessity.

Salaries are public but they don't have to be the same. When everyone understands the economics of the firm, the salary is far less an issue. If one feels that one's work is unrecognized, eg underpaid, it can be discussed openly. That one may leave the coop of the disagreement persists.

In all cases, by moral principle, the lowest salary must be decent in regard to cost of livings. And the top salary can't psychologically go beyond three or four fold the lowest.

The gain in spirit is huge. People are happy and motivated both by the shared challenge and the prospect of equal sharing of the profits each year.

However, it's not a magical panacea. It implies a mandatory non-violent communication course far all, ponctual intervention of external mediator and ... getting rid of unfit personalities (or pathological ones such as pervert-narcissist, unredeemable self-entitled, misogynists, racists...).

Well, if one is deeply conservative, one can join an conservative coop, at least in theory.
=> this is the whole point of coops: join people you will be happy to work with.

I'm rather intellectual and I need interesting-to-me work, otherwise I get bored and hop to another job. Still, the coop way of working provide a lot of satisfaction and can be super interesting if you invest in working on yourself on how to communicate well with others and going further into understanding of psychology of a group.

Maybe at some point, one will want to go back to cutting-edge technology: that's totally understandable.

Whatever the newly-joinef firm, classic or coop, what one will have learnt in the coop will be super helpful, both in career (which will be accelerated) and joy in life. Even at home, non-violent communication and democratic decision-making with leadership (here as a parent) will help.

There are some true coops working on cutting-edge technologies. Many of them don't advertise it though, because of prejudices of potential clients. A client doesn't need to know of your coop way of working.

Having a prior experience in a coop makes you much more likely to be hired by another coop, evidently.

People grow up in coops ; the sense of belonging give meaning ; sharing profits instead of fuelling the capture of wealth by the richests too.

For liberal spirits as well as true-Christian spirits (eg not Tea Party Evangelical reactionary but rather influenced by St-Francis of Assisi), the principle of limiting the gap of salaries, equally sharing the profits, and democracy in general assemblies) provide a huge amount of meaning to work.

It's like two friends helping each other painting their own houses rather than doing it alone. Happiness and bonding instead of a pain in loneliness.