GREENFIELD — Rachel Levey admits January 2020 was not the best time to become a business owner, but she doesn’t regret her decision one bit.

After two years of working in customer service at PV Squared, she decided to take the cooperative up on its opportunity to become a worker-owner. Nearly four years later, she can count on the help and support of 22 fellow worker-owners of the solar design and installation company that boasts an unprecedented amount of employees choosing to immerse themselves in the democratic workplace culture.

“I always like to say that I’m someone who approaches work with a sense of ownership, and the opportunity to make that factual and make that real and concrete was really exciting,” Levey said. “I love this place.”

PV Squared celebrated its 20-year anniversary last year, having started in 2002 with four founding worker-owners, Donald Campbell, Kim Pinkham, Philippe Rigollaud and Matt Sirum. The cooperative at 311 Wells St. really started to take off in 2005.

Employees are offered an ownership share after one year on payroll. All worker-owners also maintain their day jobs.

“It certainly has not made my job less stressful,” Levey said with a laugh. “There is less of an opportunity to ‘leave work at work,’ but it is also a lot more fulfilling for me.”

Seth Mellen, a service project manager, joined PV Squared 17 years ago this month and became a worker-owner in 2013.

“One of the ideas, or the theories, behind a worker-owned cooperative is that if those that are actually in the field every day, if they own the business, they’ll understand when tough decisions need to be made,” he said. “When the going gets tough, at least we have a baseline understanding as to how we got here and how to move forward. And then, when the going is very good, it’s nice to share in the profit and in the rewards of a well-functioning business.

“I care about the work that we do every day, so I want to make sure that we guide the business in that direction so we continue to do good-quality work,” Mellen continued.

He mentioned worker-owners take the time to become educated on finance and other aspects of running a business.

“I like it very much,” Mellen said. “It certainly has its challenges. But that’s to be expected when you’re a business owner.

Kate Carter, a member of the management team, has been a worker-owner since September, having joined PV Square about 2½ years ago. She had previously worked remotely for Shorelight Education in Boston and she switched jobs because she was excited about the idea of working to help combat climate change at a local level. She became a worker-owner because she “wanted to double-down on the work we were doing here.”

Carter said she couldn’t be more proud of the work PV Squared does.

In 2020, the business installed what is reportedly Franklin County’s largest roof-mounted solar project, at Valley Steel Stamp at 15 Greenfield St. PV Squared installed the 550-kilowatt array on both buildings owned by the precision machine shop specializing in components for the aerospace and defense industries. Other notable projects include the solar panels installed at Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield seven or eight years ago. The farm has a 60-panel, 19.6-kilowatt array on two barn roofs as part of a 20- to 30-year investment.

For more information about PV Squared, visit pvsquared.coop.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.