Profit-Sharing: An Employee's True Worth!

The customer is king! But first at bat, is the employee, without whose loyal contribution within the company, there would be no company. His dedication, talent, experience, and smile help to keep the doors open, 6-7 days a week. Measuring a company's true success must include its employees, the lifeblood of any business.

Within the confines of this physical 'working' space, specialized 'human robots', called employees, enable a company to grow. Profit, this tangible bounty, is the barometer of the company's growth and success, an indicator that the 'human' element is performing and thriving while meeting its daily, weekly and monthly sales targets. Profit-sharing should be as commonplace today, as any employee's wage/benefits package has been, previously. ...

Many years ago, as my husband began his small company, a family friend wanted to leave his banking middle management position. My husband hired him at the same pay-scale that had been his salary while he worked at the bank. Who does that today? It is foolhardy. 'Mike's' move to our company cost him nothing. It did, however, cost my husband, a lot. ... He paid himself less so Mike would not experience any hardship in this lateral career move. My husband had taken profit-sharing to an absurd scale, unheard of today, – twenty five years ago! ...

In today's modern fast paced world, job security does not exist. Enter unions, organizations which protect their members, like a mother lion protects her cubs. But now because of this 'tightly wrapped security blanket' (union) in place, no one leaves a company, until retirement. This job benefits package, including the hourly wage it provides, is too lucrative to risk leaving, for other opportunities. Young people, new to the job market, have nowhere to go. There are few entry level positions open to them. ... And so they wait and toil in many of the low paying food service/retail industry jobs. Membership in this exclusive club, called a union, in all levels of government or in the auto sector is now the gold standard for a select few. This inequitable share of the 'pie' discriminates against those of us not protected by lucrative contracts or unions. What remains is part-time work without benefits, a scheme that helps create a world of haves and have-nots. Life is a full-time job, however! We begin with the minimum wage, a formula that is, sometimes, an unfair and perhaps antiquated assessment of a person's worth. Enter profit-sharing the greatest equalizer of all, within the work-place environment. ... A job is worth what it is worth. There can be no debate here. To truly reflect an employee's contribution within a company, the only fair wage is one based upon profit-sharing. After an employee has effectively met the criteria for this added income benefit, the sky should be the limit for financial gain for one and all.  Members of middle and upper management, should not be the only 'employees' entitled to a share of the company's 'excesses'. The true measure of the success of any company has to be its steady growth, over time, as measured by the profit generated by its employee/customer link. Profit is also a measure, in a moment in time. Should the shareholders of the company be the only other group earmarked for a division of the this bountiful 'financial pie'?

We are all connected. We need each other to truly reflect the success of any business. We are deluding ourselves if we think only certain groups are entitled to a share of the business world's bounty, time after time. The hourly wage is what the position is worth! Profit-sharing is what the employee is worth!! It is that simple. The employee is the company- on and off the job! Next, in line, we have the consumer, a member of the ruling class. They are found everywhere, in all walks of life. They shop where they shop because of convenience, price or quality of the products/service being sold. They are drawn to a particular company for many reasons. But the greatest lure for any consumer has to be the personal interaction, the employee who brings him to the front door of the company where he shops, dines or is entertained. ... After everything is considered, the company's human assets remain, leaving an indelible mark on the consumer with every interaction in the store, restaurant, hotel or at the cash register.

We are one. ...In the retail sector, with part-time shifts the new reality and the multi-billion dollar on-line shopping entity, its biggest threat, 'bricks and mortar' companies must truly focus on its people, the front-line workers and lifeblood of any business enterprise. Employees are the company's real bottom line. ... While watching a documentary about an executive chef whose rise to the top in the hospitality industry placed him at the helm of a five-star Canadian hotel, I was surprised by something he said about his exalted position. He remarked his job was not just about overseeing the execution of the food for his high-end clientele in this luxury hotel. ... It was also about the social aspects of meeting and greeting people. And in the final analysis, that is what living, working and life are all about.