Urban Animal will be the nation’s first worker co-op veterinary practice
West Seattle based Urban Animal, which has three clinics and 110 employees, has announced that it is to become “the nation’s first worker cooperative veterinary practice,” and staff will “share in the governance and profits of the 11-year-old company” as it makes the transition to a “limited cooperative association.” Founder Cherri Trusheim plans to “gift a portion of the company to seed it, with a goal over time to become a 100 percent employee-owned worker co-op.” Urban Animal explains that this is another way its business practices run counter to the “unprecedented corporatization” of veterinary care: “This often detracts from employee culture. Corporatization also diminishes the standard of care by upselling and tying veterinary professionals’ compensation to the amount of products and services they sell. Urban Animal is different and does not pay any employee based on production.” Trusheim hopes to set an example for peers as well as attracting employees “who desire a workplace governed by those who provide veterinary care and not a group of nameless shareholders.”
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