At the end of the year 1926, the employees of the company owned capital in the company to the extent of about £500,000 besides deposits at interest to the extent of nearly another £250, 000. In another large gas company—in fact the largest gas company in the world, the Gas Light and Coke company—the employees at the end of 1927 owned £750,000 of the company's ordinary stock. Nearly all the leading, and many of the smaller, gas companies have adopted co-partnership schemes framed on the same general lines.
Other schemes deserving of special mention are those introduced by Messrs. Clarke, Nicholls and Coombs, Ltd., in 1890; by Messrs. J. T. and J. Taylor, Ltd., in 1896; by Messrs. Lever Bros., Ltd., in 1909; by the Bradford Dyers' Association, Ltd., in 1912 ; and by Messrs. Rowntree and Co., Ltd., in 1923; also the scheme foreshadowed by Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., in 1927. These six schemes contain two examples of each of the three prin cipal types of profit-sharing and co-partnership : the cash bonus type, the bonus-capitalisation type and the share-issue type.
The following table shows the total numbers of schemes started in the various periods mentioned, the numbers of such schemes no longer in existence at the end of 1927, and the numbers and range of those still in existence at that date, as given in the Ministry of Labour Gazette for June 1928 The growth of the movement, as will be seen, is irregular ; indeed, the figures of new schemes started year by year show that the advance proceeds by spurts following periods of quies cence. The total of 208,500 employees entitled to participate in profit-sharing schemes is substantial, yet, considered relatively, it forms but a small proportion, less than 2%, of the total num ber of employees. Regarded industrially the proportion varies greatly and is insignificant, except in gas companies, in the bank ing, insurance and financial group, in the chemical trades and in food and drink manufacture ; and in all these groups, with the one exception of gas companies, the profit-sharing statistics are dominated by the figures for two or three very large companies. The growth in the number of employees known to be working under profit-sharing arrangements is illustrated in the f ollowing diagram :— the worst result is shown by the cash bonus type (which. how
ever, remains much the largest single class).
Although the average rate, for all industries is remarkably uniform from year to year, there is no corresponding uniformity in the rate of bonus for the several industries. The following table shows the percentage addition to wages made by the profit sharing bonus in the various groups of industries in each of the three years, 1925, 1926 and 1927: the figures are taken from the 18th and 19th Abstracts of Labour Statistics.
Discontinued Schemes.—It has already been pointed out that about half the schemes started have come to an end. Of the 192 schemes started before the beginning of the present century, only 28 were still in operation at the end of 1927. An analysis of the causes of discontinuance is attempted, on the basis of such material as is available, in the official Report already mentioned ; and another more detailed analysis, supplemented by special en quiries, is made in S. Rowntree's The Human Factor in Business. Rowntree's final conclusion is that, taking all schemes, existing and discontinued, together, about 63% may be regarded as suc cesses and 37% as failures; and in many of the cases written down as failures the causes of failure were obvious and might have been avoided. The statistics of discontinued schemes, taken as a whole, are thus somewhat inconclusive, but it is possible to draw some conclusions from the figures analysed (a) by indus tries, and (b) by types of schemes.
(a) The figures for industrial groups are given in the table (p. 559). Attention may be directed to the extremely unfavourable results in agriculture. Other industrial groups with a high pro portion of schemes discontinued are printing, bookbinding and publishing, while merchants, warehousemen and retail traders, show heavy casualties. On the other hand, all the schemes in banking, insurance and other financial businesses that had been started were still in operation at the end of 1927 ; and gas com panies' schemes also had a remarkably high proportion still in operation.