Businesses are better when employees are part-owners
Facepalm. This is not a ground-breaking development, people!
Hewlett-Packard used to be this way and was splitting its stock every other year. (I contend that their troubles began when they started eliminating their employee benefits programs.)
Southwest Airlines operates in this manner and is one of the most friendly, profitable, and on-time airlines in the industry.
Winco (a grocery store chain) has the best prices and service in my area and have grown to include most Western States now.
That they are treating this like some kind of revelation, when really it is a simple principle: people work with their own self-interest in mind. It isn't hard to want to put in a few extra hours or step up your customer service when you know you're going to get financial remuneration if you do.
Hewlett-Packard used to be this way and was splitting its stock every other year. (I contend that their troubles began when they started eliminating their employee benefits programs.)
Southwest Airlines operates in this manner and is one of the most friendly, profitable, and on-time airlines in the industry.
Winco (a grocery store chain) has the best prices and service in my area and have grown to include most Western States now.
That they are treating this like some kind of revelation, when really it is a simple principle: people work with their own self-interest in mind. It isn't hard to want to put in a few extra hours or step up your customer service when you know you're going to get financial remuneration if you do.
Turns out that my wife's uncle was a VP at Hewlett Packard and was very surprised at how we choose to run our coffee house because that style of management was new and in practice at HP.
Turns out I was an Objectivist before I knew about Ayn Rand. I read Atlas Shrugged years later in 2006, needless to say I was stunned at the depth of her understanding of human nature.
Jan
These employees are brilliant and behave well - graciously and ethically - in their personal lives but they have no ambition. They would be just as happy in a socialism; probably happier. They would be glad to trade freedom for security. But they would save your baby from a burning house, or give you back a million dollars you had put with them for safekeeping (and not have stolen a cent).
Needless to say, we have stopped doing both stock and profit sharing. We take care of them; they take care of us. That is working.
Jan
Your post reminds me of a chart I saw in my MBA classes. It was a "suggested management style" based on two components of an employee: their knowledge level of their position (one axis) and their ambition (other axis). Maybe we need to amend the profit sharing idea to reflect this reality as well. Maybe profit sharing only really works when the employees have a sufficient motivation level! Great contribution!