i was solicited to work for a worker-owned cooperative which was fairly large (multiple states). it was an employee only stock type of situation with full profit sharing. anyway, there was a shitload of equipment a typical employee might need. a big chunk of the work was especially dangerous: everyone got multiple sets of uniforms and multiple sets of safety gear. if anything safety or safety-adjacent ever broke or seemed clunky, it would be replaced with new, no questions asked, no gruff given. the insurance was incredible and it was in the financial interest of the organization to prevent accidents/injuries for fiscal reasons, and for employee morale. it was one of the only ways they could attract educated and trained talent to the organization.

the same was true to an extent to the tools and equipment, which are heinously expensive in this field. the company provided the best tools and replaced them routinely, but if an employee seemed to break tools more often, they would get coached by others about usage / maintenance because the profits were shared, and if a tool broke at the wrong time it's a hazard. if someone was just an unrepentant asshole about equipment or some other kind of anti-collaborative douche, they would quickly be pushed out and have their shares paid out. apparently that was extremely uncommon, because the pay was stupid high and the work culture was collaborative. people stayed with the company for decades before "retiring" to part time consulting/custom hire.

the capitalist profit motive undermines collaborative organization. when all generated value above material costs are returned to labor, it becomes a team. when generated value above material costs and some ultimately arbitrary valuation of labor returns to management&capital, the organizing principle is every man for himself. it's a paradigm shift that is hard to overstate.