Whatever happened to "profit sharing"?

[underpants]

Did it become a negative motivation (direct monetary/numerical assessment of one's worth/contribution)?

Was it just a trend that fell out of favor with the management types?

Did "the suits" get tired of graciously letting the help swim in their revenue pool?

Did it become unnecessary with the loss of so many manufacturing jobs? (finance/sales/managment generally are rewarded with bonuses and commissions anyway)

I do see that for the most part "profit sharing" rolls into 401K plans (since employer retirement plans are thing of the past) but they used to be, for the most part, a supplement to pay. What happened?

[GP6971]

1. Corporate Greed n/t

[grannylib]

2. The 80s happened. Ronald Raygun happened. The rePiglicans in

power happened. Corporate greed is the norm. The Almighty Dollar is the true god these idolators worship, at the alter of the holy and sacred Free Market System.

All kinds of "bonuses" and "incentives" which are cheap and meaningless have become the norm, not as SUPPLEMENTS to decent pay and benefits, but as SUBSTITUTES for those things.

"But..but..you got a candy bar on your birthday! And a token for the pop machine in the lunchroom when you made a good suggestion for process improvement! What do you mean, "cost of living?" Do you know how much our cost to do BUSINESS has gone up????"

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

3. 401Ks

and they make more sense because it gets inserted into there before taxes and often with matching.

[MiniMe]

5. Bingo

401k's replaced retirement funds as well as profit sharing.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

7. Well in my experience

many employees get a profit sharing bonus inserted into their 401k

[MiniMe]

11. Most get a percentage of salary, or contributions, not of profits

Its a big difference, and the execs still ending up getting the majority of the contribution, along with their bonuses.

I work for a non-profit and we get 3% of our pay contributed regardless of whether we contribute or not.

[dmallind]

4. what DID happen?

Has there been a significant decline in profit sharing programs overall? Seemed to still be quite common in the ads I replied to during my relatively recent job search.

I've seen both net pay and 401K versions. I'd prefer an option myself, but can see the beenfit for making it 401K based given tax advantages and woeful participation rates.

[Karenina]

6. What happened? PRIVATIZE the PROFITS

SOCIALIZE the COSTS. Spot the lie, follow the money.

[dmallind]

9. OK

Now has this actually happened in profit sharing plans? It's a genuine question - I don't know one way ofr the other and with only anecdotal info either way it's hard to tell.

[underpants]

8. Okay

thanks.

I just don't hear about them as much as *I* used to.

I switched jobs about 6 months ago too. I didn't hear any mention but then I pretty much took the first job offered to me.

[dmallind]

10. Heck it may be true

I really don't know - just wondered if there was something behind the question that spoke to this with real data. I'm not silly enough to assume that my own anecdoatl experience represents aggregate reality for all either so trust me I'm not saying all jobs have some form of profit sharing. I suspect there's a whole range of options out there and it depennds where you are looking for a job in what industry and at what level. Unions are often skeptical of plans that do not reward the same things union scales reward. Some companies only offer management profit sharing. Some industries may pay well enough to not have to sweeten teh pot and so on. It's been the norm for me for 20 odd years and seemed to be when I was looking too, but that may just be the type of industry I work in.

[newportdadde]

12. They are still around although many have a fixed range - like 4-7% etc.

It use to be that profit sharing was open ended, you truly did share in the profits or failures. I've known people in the 80s who often got double digit profit sharing with a growing company.. I'm talking 15-18%.

Now though companies set the profit sharing percentage at a fixed range at the beginning of the year. Meaning the range will be 3-5%, the company could double sales and you get 5% max. At this point in my opinion its no longer viewed as profit sharing by management but instead as a fixed expense.