Parable of the Worker

Once upon a time, in the 21 Century, a salesman began working for a new company which manufactured products. This man was to be a part of a 5 man team to bring in customer contracts. The company had started off without a hitch. Everyone seemed to really want this product. The company began to hire employees for every department necessary to complete the contracts. In about 2 years they employed approximately 100 employees. Things were going really smooth. Profits were skyrocketing. Since this company worked their sales team on commission. All 5 salesmen had become increasingly wealthy. One day a couple of other employees were complaining about some money troubles. Another employee overheard them and began to complain that they knew the salesmen for their company had become really wealthy. Complaints began to be filed to the upper management and owners. The upper management decided they needed to help the other employees. They decided in the best interest of the company they would just cut the commissions of the sales team and redistribute the extra money to help all the other workers. So the next quarter everything went into effect. All 95 employees got increase in their wages. They were excited. The sales team on the other hand did not appreciate this redistribution of their wealth. A few salesmen began to stop going on as many sales calls. One decided to move to a different company that still paid on commission. After about 6 months the contracts began to stop being renewed. There was not enough work to keep the whole company working everyday. The company had to downsize and cut 25 jobs. When word around town got out that this company was downsizing. One by one each salesman was recruited by other companies which negotiated commission based contracts for each salesman. In less than 2 years, the company had to close its doors and shut down. Meanwhile, the other salesman begin to really hit the ground running knowing their wealth was dependent upon their sales. Within 2-3 years these other companies began to expand and hire more and more employees. As sales and contracts increased, each employee's benefits began to increase also. The company started a new profit sharing program for all employees. Quarterly reviews were instituted for possible raises in other departments based on performance. Within 5-6 years the companies were getting so busy they found it better to hire from within. Employees were given opportunities to apply for new jobs in the company. That meant new opportunities for higher pay and higher education. These companies went on become fortune 500 companies and are still going strong today. Together these 5 companies are responsible for more than 100,000 jobs and give more than 150 million dollars in donations to their communities.

Which would you prefer?