I have been working as an embedded engineer for years, and I am now at “retirement age”. I finished my last embedded contract in January this year, and I am no longer seeking new work.

I am now turning my focus to a project I have been working on in the background for years: Own Your Job! An employee-owned company focused on automation.

This is something I am doing to benefit society. I am not trying to make a lot of money for myself. I just don’t want to lose money…

As an engineer involved with software engineering, industrial automation and manufacturing, I have had experience and exposure to a variety of automation related technology. I have seen these technologies gradually come together, and also witnessed how our society is changing.

I am concerned with the negative impact automation is having on employment, and with the increasing wealth gap caused by fewer people owning an increasing share of capital.

I believe the combination of increasing compute power, software and artificial intelligence, electric servo motors, material science, and robotics will have impacts on employment and society unlike anything ever experienced. In theory, all human work, even “creative” work are based on processes, all of which can be automated. Today, the practicality of automating most work has reached an unprecedented level. If there are new types of jobs that result, is seems likely that those new jobs will also be automated. This increased level of automation can be good or bad; it depends on who owns the automation.

I believe that employee owned companies, if properly structured and focused, can help to aliviate many of the negative trajectories we are experiencing today:

  • Job loss: If the company focuses on automating jobs, this is a good thing. Rather than the employee losing their job, they own the automation that displaced their job role. They can then remain at the company and take on new roles.
  • Wealth gap: Employee-owners reap the benefit of company profits, rather than passive investors. This can help reduce the wealth gap and grow the middle class.
  • Participation in governance: Employee-owners can participate in making company decisions. This can include conducting business in ways that benefit society, but also deciding on how the company makes political contributions or even promoting employees as political candidates.