ANALYSIS OP SCHEMES NOW IN PORCE.
25
management. In a few instances certain classes of employees,
such as persons receiving commission,( a ) persons earning more or
less than fixed amounts,( b ) pieceworkers,! 0 ) or casual labourers!' 1 )
are excluded from participation; other special cases are noted
under ( e ).
In certain instances conditions are attached to participation,
by far the most frequent of which is the signing of a contract of
service for a stated period, generally twelve months, as is the
case with nearly all profit-sharing gas companies,( f ) this contract
providing that wages shall not be reduced during the term
specified. In a few cases(^) profit-sharing employees are required
to be members of a fund for provident purposes. A provision
is made in the rules of No. 29 that employees under 21 must have
been total abstainers and non-smokers for the whole of the preceding
year.
Taking together the total number of profit-sharing schemes now
in operation (but excluding three cases for which the particulars
cannot be given) the figures given in the Table in Appendix A
show that the following were the percentages which the number
of employees in each case who were entitled to share in profits
at the end of 1911 (or in 1912, in the case of schemes started
since 1911) formed of the total number of employees in 1911:
less than 20 per cent, in 16 cases, with an aggregate of
35,809 employees; in 3 cases, with 2,353 employees, 20 but under
30 per cent.; in 7 cases, with 892 employees, 30 but less than
40 per cent.; in 5 cases, with 1,117 employees, 40 but under
50 per cent.; in 8 cases, with 2,369 employees, 50 but less than
60 per cent.; in 4 cases, with 714 employees, 60 but less than
70 per cent.; in 23 cases, with 22,866 employees, 70 but under
80 per cent.; in 19 cases, with 26,017 employees, 80 but less
than 90 per cent.; in 19 cases, with 10,822 employees, 90 but
less than 100 per cent.; while in 26 cases, with 3,082 employees,
(“) Nos. 25, 35, 124 ; No. 18 gives less to employees on commission than to
others.
( b ) Only employees with an income of less than £250 aro allowed to participate
by No. 106, while No. 93 admits no employees to participation whose salaries
exceed £200 ; participants must be earning at least 30s. a week, if men, and 14s.
a week, if women, in the case of No. 124.
(°) Nos 16, 35, 40.
( d ) No. 5 (in this case the bonus accruing to casual hands is credited to a
general provident fund), 50, 54, 64, 84, 123, 128, 129.
( e ) Only warehouse stalls and cutters participate in the case of No. 66, factory
workers and porters being excluded, but allowed a week’s holiday ; under
scheme No. 71, only males and foremen participate, while scheme No. 60 only
provides for leading hands ; travellers are excluded in scheme No. 116, and in
the case of No. 81 the scheme is confined to agents and superintendents.
( f ) With all, except Nos. 84, 109, 123, 132 ; in the case of No. 86 such an
agreement is provided for in the rules of the profit-sharing scheme but is not
enforced in practice ; the schemes of Nos. 84 and 109 are based upon contributions.
The maximum period named in agreement is only 4 months in the
case of No. 127 and 6 mouths in the case of No. 107. In one case (in which the
period is 12 months) it is stated by the company that there are “ various dates
of commencing, viz., 1st January, 1st April, 1st July, 1st October, the object
being not to have the whole determining at the same time.” An agreement is
required to be signed under scheme No. 51 providing for 28 days’ notice to be
given before the termination of the service of the employee; scheme No. 29 has
a similar agreement for an unspecified period, which in practice is usually one
week. (") Nos. 23, 53, 83, 110.
