Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Recommended Free Tools
Outbyte Driver Updater · freeRandom freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.
Find the Right Drivers →ThatPainter is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn More
Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work is a documentary about worker-owned businesses and democratic workplaces in the United States and Spain—not a guide to employee scheduling. Directed by Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin, it asks whether workplace democracy can function as a successful business model. Its examples include Mondragón in Spain and worker-owned enterprises in the United States.
What is Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work about?
The film examines businesses where employees have a stake in ownership and a voice in workplace decisions. Bullfrog Films presents it as an exploration of whether democratic ownership can work as a business model, with worker-owner perspectives and examples from the United States and Spain. Its account is documentary storytelling, not a standardized comparison of cooperative performance.
A review quoted by Bullfrog describes the model this way: “Whatever the enterprise, every employee who qualifies has a vote on business matters and is invested in the company.” The qualification matters: worker cooperatives can define eligibility and governance differently, so this description should not be read as a guarantee that every employee at every cooperative has identical rights. Bullfrog Films’ film catalog
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Which cooperatives and locations does the film feature?
The distributor’s descriptions identify cases in both Spain and the United States, including the Mondragón network in the Basque Country and US worker-owned businesses such as Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives. The film’s examples invite comparison across several dimensions:
#1 Best Overall
- Governance: how workers participate in business decisions and voting.
- Ownership: how employee ownership and investment are organized.
- Business context: the industries and operating models of the featured enterprises.
- Location: US examples alongside the Mondragón context in Spain.
These are useful ways to watch the cases, not a ranking of which cooperative performs best. Bullfrog’s descriptions and reviews present worker ownership favorably, but they do not provide comparable outcome data establishing that the featured businesses are more profitable, innovative, or beneficial to their communities than conventional firms.
Does workplace democracy make a company successful?
That is the film’s central question, but the catalog material does not establish a definitive answer. It offers examples and advocates’ perspectives rather than a controlled comparison or a set of independently attributable performance statistics. Viewers can take the film as an introduction to how democratic ownership is presented and practiced in its cases; claims about business results require evidence beyond the film’s promotional descriptions.
Rank #2
Who made the documentary, and how long is it?
Melissa Young is identified as director and producer, and Mark Dworkin as co-director, photographer, and editor. Bullfrog’s main catalog lists a 69-minute runtime, while its print catalog gives 70 minutes. The difference is a catalog discrepancy, so treat the running time as approximately 70 minutes rather than relying on a single exact figure. The print entry lists a 2012 copyright date, a 2013 US release date, DVD edition, and ISBN 1-93777-238-1. Main catalog listing · Bullfrog Films print catalog
Where can you watch, teach, or screen it?
Bullfrog lists a DVD edition, educational distribution, and community-screening options. Its print entry identifies grades 10–12, college, and adult audiences. A Vimeo On Demand listing has also described a digital rental for home use and features including Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives and Equal Exchange. Availability, prices, and license terms can change; check the current listing with the distributor before arranging a purchase or group showing. A home-use rental should not be assumed to include public exhibition rights. Bullfrog Films viewing and screening information · Print catalog details · Vimeo On Demand listing
Rank #3
For educators considering it as a classroom resource, George Cheney of Kent State University’s Ohio Employee Ownership Center described the film as suitable for use in economics, sociology, political science, and management courses. That is an endorsement of its teaching potential, not an independent assessment of the claims made in the documentary. Bullfrog Films catalog
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is this the same as the PBS program called Shift Change?
No. PBS also lists a separate Livelyhood special titled Shift Change, which aired in fall 1997 and concerns changes in the US workplace. The film discussed here is Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work, the documentary about worker ownership and democratic workplaces. Use the full title when searching or requesting it. PBS: Livelyhood — “Shift Change”
Quick Recap
Best Value
Rank #4
![The War on Democracy [Region 4]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51hlIejSSDL._SL160_.jpg)
- The War on Democracy
- The War on Democracy
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
