Power to the people. At least, that is Nick Clegg’s vision. The UK’s deputy prime minister wants employees in all but the smallest companies to be able to request shares in their employer. It is not the stupidest idea a politician has ever had. Over the past two decades, shares in British companies in which non-board level employees owned more than 10 per cent of the stock outperformed other FTSE All-Share companies by an average of 11 per cent a year, says law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse. The model is retailer John Lewis which is entirely employee-owned, pays a flat-rate bonus to all staff and in the past decade has more than doubled its profit before bonuses and tax to £368m.
还权于民。这至少是英国副首相尼克•克莱格(Nick Clegg)的梦想。他希望，除了最小的公司以外，所有企业的员工都能申购雇主的股票。这算不上政客提出的最愚蠢的想法。福得律师事务所(Field Fisher Waterhouse)指出，在过去20年里，非董事级别员工持股比例超过10%的英国公司，股票表现平均每年超出其他富时全类股指数(FTSE All-Share)成分股公司股票11%。零售企业John Lewis就是一个典范。该公司完全由雇员拥有，向所有员工支付统一的红利。过去十年中，该公司分红及税前利润翻了一番以上，达到3.68亿英镑。