One of the nine top business practices identified in the Top Small Workplaces Awards published last month by the Wall Street Journal is “Employees share in the risks and rewards”. This is easy to say, more difficult to practice, and very difficult to figure out how much of the profits should be shared and with whom. In this entry we explore this issue.
EBBF’s Farshad (Fasha) Mahjoor, president of one of this year’s award-winning companies, highlighted Phenomenex’s profit sharing plan as one of the key elements in its success–though he feels the amount still falls short. Here are his words:
Another benefit we provide is a “profit sharing plan” for our employees. … I don’t know of any other company that does this. That is, every year, a percentage of our profits is shared equally among our employees that have been with the company for more than two years-based on seniority, NOT status or income ([whereby] the “rich get richer”!). Even though we do that, I still have not plucked enough courage to do as much as … recommended [in the Bahá'í Writings], but I hope one day I can get there. Continue reading Workers’ share of profits: one fifth?
