Smart Coop Germany: Reinventing Freelance Work

Since 2016, Smart Coop Germany https://smartde.coop/ has provided an alternative model for self-employed professionals navigating the precarities of freelance work. With over 1,200 members—nearly 300 of whom are employed freelancers as of December 2024—the cooperative aims to combine the security of employment with the flexibility of self-employment.

Freelancers across 30 different professions, including business consultants, IT specialists, teachers, translators, project managers, cleaners, and creative workers, use Smart Coop’s services to mitigate the risks that come with independent work. Through its online platform, the cooperative manages invoicing, including for international clients, and handles payment reminders. One of its more notable features is the ability to offer employment contracts to freelancers, ensuring a stable salary regardless of when clients pay. Beyond administrative support, members have access to peer networks, workshops, and training courses designed to reduce the isolation that often accompanies freelance work.

Smart Coop Germany is part of Smart Coop, a broader European cooperative network founded in Belgium in 1998. With over 35,000 members across multiple countries, including France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Sweden, and the Netherlands, Smart operates on a shared principle of mutualizing risks and resources for freelancers. Like its counterparts in other countries, Smart Coop Germany provides an employment framework that allows freelancers to access social security benefits, collective bargaining power, and administrative support while retaining control over their work. However, because German labor law differs significantly from other European systems, Smart Coop Germany had to develop its own approach to supporting freelancers, adapting cooperative structures to fit local legal and economic conditions.

The cooperative operates on a mutualized model: members pay a 9% fee on every processed order, with no profit redistribution. According to its statutes, any surplus is reinvested into services chosen by members through a vote at the General Assembly. A multilingual team provides support in English, French, Italian, Flemish, and Polish, with 55% of members being newcomers to Germany. For these workers, Smart Coop offers an immediate and structured entry into the German labor market, providing financial and legal stability.

Recent projects reflect the cooperative’s evolving role in shaping freelance work. The Work Coop Hub, launched in January 2025, functions as a hybrid learning and networking space, integrating peer-to-peer exchange with structured training and knowledge-sharing. Smart Coop also leads the Erasmus Plus “ElevatHER” project which focuses on addressing gender disparities in workplace leadership. In Hamburg, the cooperative has partnered with Neues Amt Altona e.V. to establish the Nachbarschaftskiosk, a project that combines local community needs with the social integration of newcomers.

Smart Coop’s model has garnered recognition. In 2022, it was awarded Berlin’s Best Social Enterprise in the “Transformation” category, followed by first prize in the New Work Award (New Society/New Visions category) in 2023. As the cooperative expands, it continues to test how collective structures can address the challenges of self-employment, offering a model that stands apart from both traditional employment and atomized freelance work.

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