The Miracle of Profit-Sharing: Year 65 and Still No Layoffs [View all]

[n2doc]

When Canadian journalist and friend of Making Sense Frank Koller published his book "Spark", about the profit-sharing model pioneered at Cleveland's Lincoln Electric, it encouraged Making Sense to return to the manufacturer after first reporting on them back in 1992. You can watch our update from 2011 above. (And here is a response to those who thought we were too easy on Lincoln.) Two years later, Koller now updates us on yet another profitable year for Lincoln.

Frank Koller: The annual profit-sharing bonus ceremony was held Friday in Lincoln Electric's Cleveland cafeteria, which Making Sen$e has covered extensively over the years on the NewsHour and on the Business Desk. Here are the latest numbers for the Ohio-based multinational welding manufacturer, now 118 years old:

80: uninterrupted years of paying an employee bonus (i.e. profitable every year since 1934)

$33,029: average 2013 bonus per U.S. employee (roughly 3,000 employees)

$81,366: average 2013 total earnings per U.S. employee (wages or salary + bonus)

$100.7 million: total pre-tax profit shared with employees, Lincoln's largest bonus pool ever

0: number of layoffs in 2013 (that makes 65 years without any layoffs)

#1: Lincoln Electric remains number one in the global marketplace in its industry. (As "LECO" on the Nasdaq exchange, its stock is currently at an all-time high.)

more

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2013/12/the-miracle-of-profit-sharing.html

Wonder what the USA would be like if all companies were run this way.....