inction to the general economic side, laid down by
Schloss. There is, however, nothing in our plan of discussion here
to prevent one's following fairly closely in the Schloss also.
THE GAIN-SHARING PLAN.--We take up, then, the Gain-sharing Plan
which was invented by Mr. Henry R. Towne and used by him with
success in the Yale & Towne works. This is described in a paper read
before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, in professional
paper No. 341, in 1888 and also in the Premium Plan, Mr. Halsey's
modification of it, described by him in a paper entitled the
"Premium Plan of Paying for Labor," American Society of
Mechanical Engineers, 1891, Paper 449. In this, in describing the
Profit-sharing Plan, Mr. Halsey says--"Under it, in addition to
regular wages, the employes were offered a certain percentage of the
final profits of the business. It thus divides the savings due to
increased production between employer and employe."
OBJECTIONS TO THIS PLAN.--We note here the objection to this
plan: First,--"The workmen are given a share in what they do not
earn; second, the workmen share regardless of individual deserts;
third, the promised rewards are remote; fourth, the plan makes no
provision for bad years; fifth, the workmen have no means of knowing
if the agreement is carried out." Without discussing any farther
whether these are worded exactly as all who have tried the plan
might have found them, we may take these on Mr. Halsey's authority
and discuss the psychology of them. If the workmen are given a share
in what they do not earn, they have absolutely no feeling that they
are being treated justly. This extra reward which is given to them,
if in the nature of a present, might much better be a present out
and out. If it has no scientific relation to what they have gotten,
if the workmen share regardless of individual deserts, this, as Dr.
Taylor says, paragraph 27 in the "Piece Rate System," is the most
serious defect of all, in that it does not allow for recognition of
the personal merits of each workman. If the rewards are remote, the
interest is diminished. If the plan makes no provision for bad
years, it cannot be self-perpetuating. If the workmen have no means
of knowing if the agreement will be carried out or not, they will be
constantly wondering whether it is being carried out or not, and
their attention will wander.
THE PREMIUM PLAN.--The Premium Plan is thus described by Mr.
Halsey--"The
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