Is It Time To Change To Piecework Or Base Salary Plus Bonus?

[JLM]

Is It Time To Change To Piecework Or Base Salary Plus Bonus?

If it’s good enough for the owners of companies to get paid per items sold or per service contracts then is it time to start paying employees the same way?

Getting paid by piecework or base salary plus bonus levels the playing field for the company where when time are good everyone gets paid well but when time are not good then people get paid less instead of managers getting the big bonuses and the workers gets laid off.

Over the years companies tried this but paid little to make it worthwhile for the worker so hire salaries are paid.

If implemented properly people would get paid more because of their productivity and working together as a team.

Piecework works, ask any sales person they get paid by piecework in their industry it is known as a commission.

Piece work works good for things like paper clips or cedar shakes................anything that is repetitive and easily inspected. Not so good for lung transplants! :smile:

It's time to dump Free Trade. so workers don't have to compete with the $1 an hour wages of Maquilladoras... which provide a subsistence wage only for the teeming squatters slums that surround them. We had a system that worked, with fair wages, benefits, security, pensions until Free Trade destroyed Canada's industrial economy.

You think we should avoid a real situation? :smile:

Shake and shingle mills have worked on this method since before I was born. Unions are the biggest reason it doesn't happen too much although even some union logging companies have used a bonus system. Most auto mechanics are paid the same way except when they make a mistake it is fixed on their own time.
The biggest problem is that it only works well when a person makes a complete product, if there are multiple workers on an item it can be difficult.

I really like that part! Ford is now charging $114 an hour, you sure don't want to pay for any F**Kups!

 

[The Old Medic]

If the worker invests just as much money, and time into the business as the owners do, then the worker should be paid like the owners.

BUT, until that happens, then it is simply silly to even propose such an idea.

 

[JLM]

If the worker invests just as much money, and time into the business as the owners do, then the worker should be paid like the owners.

BUT, until that happens, then it is simply silly to even propose such an idea.

Not necessarily, risk is also a huge component! :smile:

 

[taxslave]

If the worker invests just as much money, and time into the business as the owners do, then the worker should be paid like the owners.

BUT, until that happens, then it is simply silly to even propose such an idea.

Some places the workers are the owners. Double incentive.
In a normal situation the person taking all the risks should receive the bulk of the rewards. That would be the shareholders, without whom there would be no jobs for anyone. Those that produce the most should be paid the most. This is the biggest downfall with unions. For some reason that I have never understood they insist that the slacker must get the same pay as the top producer. Good companies have ways of getting around that and reward the best.

 

[Niflmir]

Commission based pay has been widely shown to decrease workplace satisfaction as employees compete with one another instead of cooperating. It has also been widely shown to decrease employee productivity, as employees are more concerned with making enough money than with doing a good job.

See Myth #5: http://web.ku.edu/~jleemgt/MGMT 419/Readings/Six dangerous myths about pay for post.pdf

In a properly functioning company, owners just see an unbroken stream of income. If we are talking about a public company, than the owners (shareholders) are not paid piecemeal at all, and the whole premise of the argument falls apart.

 

[L Gilbert]

In a normal situation the person taking all the risks should receive the bulk of the rewards. That would be the shareholders, without whom there would be no jobs for anyone..

lol Wifey's little giftshop had two partners and they hired summer students. No shareholders, just owners and employees.

 

[taxslave]

lol Wifey's little giftshop had two partners and they hired summer students. No shareholders, just owners and employees.

The owners are the shareholders and (hopefully) they will get a reward for their investment. Although in my experience the owners of ssmall businesses never make as much money as their employees. Which is why I now run other people's machines.