16 



The Rorists^ Review 



JoNB 10, 1920. 



paid to employees in addition to their 

 regular wages and in proportion to the 

 amount of the proprietor's earnings. 

 Besides the plans covered by this def- 

 inition are an endless number of sorts 

 of bonus payments and premiums, whose 

 purpose is much the same as that of a 

 profit-sharing system. There are also 

 other forms of benefit, such as group 

 insurance, taken out by a company for 

 those persons who have been in its 

 employ for a year or more. This was 

 instituted by the H. F. Michell Co. not 

 long ago. Too, there are plans whereby 

 employees are enabled to purchase stock 

 in a corporation at par with the expecta- 

 tion that as stockholders they will feel 

 less inclined to leave. But this is not 

 applicable in particular to florists' con- 

 cerns. The plans considered in this ar- 

 ticle are those that have been tried by 

 florists and come under the definition 

 given above of profit-sharing plans. 



Store or Qreenliotise? 



In considering a plan suitable for his 

 own business, a florist should bear in 

 mind the difference between conditions 

 in a store and in a greenhouse. The 

 more shifting personnel of the force of 

 workers in the latter and the wide varia- 

 tion in the returns on crops from month 

 to month render unsatisfactory a plan 

 which may work well in a store, where 

 the valuable employees, with few excep- 

 tions, change infrequently and the size 

 of sales may be noted by the employees 

 from day to day, acting as a spur to 

 their zeal. 



One florist who operated both a 

 large range and a store, one of the 

 leaders in the trade, laid aside ten per 

 cent of his year's profits for distribu- 

 tion among the employees at the store 

 and five per cent for those in the green- 

 houses. So many of the workers at the 

 range were transients or left before the 

 year was up that the ratio of those who 

 shared in the profits to the total number 

 of workers was much smaller in the 

 greenhouses than in the store. To allot 

 the same percentage of earnings to store 

 and to greenhouse would therefore be 

 unfair to the workers in the store, in 

 his estimation. 



To Wliom Given. 



Naturally the question arises as to 

 whom a share in the profits is to be 

 paid. Should it go to everyone 

 in the florist's employ, including 

 the delivery boys and the unskilled 

 help, or should it go only to those who 

 carry responsibility for a part of the 

 business, such as department heads, 

 salesmen, foremen and the like? 



The answer to that question depends 

 upon the purpose of adopting a profit- 

 sharing plan. If the purpose is to re- 

 tain workers and save constant hiring 

 of new men, payments to department 

 heads or foremen will not accomplish 

 it. If the employment aspect is not an 

 important part of the object, but the 

 chief aims are increased efficiency and 

 reduced expenses, it may be better to 

 confine the payments to department 

 heads, the individual share then being of 

 such size that it forms a strong induce- 

 ment to greater effort on the recipients' 

 part. 



Of course, under any system, an in- 

 dividual must have been in the florist's 

 employ a stated period, usually a year, 

 before he is eligible to a share of the 

 profits. This provision is calculated as 

 an inducement for the employee to con- 

 tinue with the concern and to discoura;. 



rolling stones. Often the time of pay- 

 ment is set at such a date that it falls 

 after the busy season is over, in the 

 neighborhood of July 1 among florists, 

 in order further to hold workers when 

 they are needed most. When business 

 is slack, also, there is not so great in- 

 clination to change jobs as at busy times 

 and so the employee is apt under such 

 a plan to continue in a place perma- 

 nently. 



Plans Now in Use. 



When one comes to consider the plans 

 now in use, he finds definite principles 

 diflScult of expression, since profit-shar- 

 ing is so new in this trade. A number 

 have not yet paid their first percentage; 

 others have only just done so. And, as 

 stated above, these plans are particu- 

 larly susceptible of change when first 

 instituted. 



An instance of this is related by a 

 member of a prominent retail firm in a 

 large city. Explaining that inasmuch 



Your Experience? 



Possibly you have tried a 

 form of profit-sharing or a 

 bonus system or some other 

 method to meet the problem of 

 interesting employees in your 

 business. 



Perhaps you have found a 

 solution that is successful, the 

 one others in the trade are seek- 

 ing. Or perhaps your discover- 

 ies will save others from the 

 difficulties you found. 



If you have, tell us about it. 



as the plan in his store had only been 

 in existence since last July it was im- 

 possible yet to say how it would work 

 out, he declares that nevertheless in the 

 brief space of a few months he had 

 learned that it is not wise to give too 

 full partnership to employees. He says 

 they do not always understand the 

 meaning of such action. They put them- 

 selves at once on a par with the em- 

 ployer and abuse privileges that are 

 granted because of their apparent own- 

 ership. This firm had intended to turn 

 over to the employees twenty per cent 

 of the company's stock. "Before the 

 ink was dry on the stock certificates," 

 in the words of this retailer, "the em- 

 ployees were trying to tell us just what 

 to do." For this reason the company 

 withdrew its stock proposition and in- 

 stituted a dividend scheme instead. Now 

 ten per cent of the net profits of the 

 company are set aside for payment when 

 the year ends July 1. This percentage 

 is divided among five department 

 heads, 'who draw the same wages they 

 did formerly, varying from $35 to $50 

 per week. The ones who have been 

 in the company's employ longest draw 

 a little more than the others. Though 

 the first year is not up, the head of the 

 company states that the employees seem 



well satisfied and that he is hopeful as 

 to the success of the plan. 



With Variations. 



Each plan, it seems, has its variations. 

 At Baum's Home of Flowers, in Knox- 

 viUe, Tenn., a certain percentage i& 

 added to the pay roll each week. This 

 amount is not paid to the employees at 

 the time, but is carried on the books ' 

 until the end of the year, in June, j 

 Then the aggregate sum is divided 

 among the employees still with the com- 

 pany, in proportion to the amount each ■ 

 drew as wages during the twelve 

 months. This, says Karl P. Baum, is 

 not to be termed a bonus or share of 

 profits, but rather, in the company's 

 language, a "yearly salary increase." 

 The sole requisite for the receipt of the 

 money is that the employee remain in 

 Baum's employ till the end of the year. 

 Of course, there is incentive for greater 

 effort to decrease waste and expense 

 and to increase production and profits 

 in the fact that each employee's share 

 is lessened or augmented in the same 

 measure. It might be added here that 

 Baum's has taken out workmen's com- 

 pensation insurance on every employee, 

 in the Travelers ' Insurance Co., of Hart- 

 ford, Conn., which insures them against 

 all accidents. This insurance, of course, 

 is automatically canceled when an in- 

 dividual leaves the company's employ. 



Somewhat similar, though varying in 

 one important feature, is the plan used 

 lately by Lowe & Shawyer, at Uxbridge, 

 England, whose name is familiar to 

 many in the American trade. From the 

 amount of the sales each week the firm 

 deducts the outgo for salaries and wages 

 and from the balance pays to its em- 

 ployees a bonus of five per cent. This 

 bonus fluctuates with the amount of the 

 sales. During slack times the employees 

 do not receive much, but when a period 

 of heavy sales occurs, the bonus attains 

 a considerable size. This plan, however, 

 gives no assurance of the employee's 

 continuing in the company's service, 

 even for a full year. 



An Ohio firm of nurserymen has 

 adopted a plan of paying a dividend 

 on an employee's annual salary equal 

 in percentage to that paid on the com- 

 pany's capital. If at the end of the 

 year the firm declares a dividend of ten 

 per cent, then a check will be given to 

 each employee equal to ten per cent of 

 his preceding year's salary. If a man 

 received $1,000 during the year, he 

 would draw a dividend of $100. This 

 plan, again, has the double object of 

 keeping the employee in the firm's serv- 

 ice continuously and of stimulating his 

 efforts to add to the company's profits. 



Basmussen's Plan. 



Much different from any other is the 

 plan which Anders Rasmussen put into 

 effect January 1, 1920, at his range of 

 300,000 feet of glass at New Albany, 

 Ind. The announcement of the plan was 

 made several months before the date of 

 its commencement and had, says Mr. 

 Rasmussen, the effect of stimulating 

 greater interest among all the best em- 

 ployees. Mr. Rasmussen 's proposal was 

 to divide among all the employees all 

 profits over and above a reasonable 

 amount for interest and depreciation on 

 his investment and a fair salary for 

 himself for managing the business. 



He has explained his plan in these 

 words: 



"I shall expect six per cent interest 

 ■* [Continued on paKe 71.] 



