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.
還權於民。這至少是英國副首相尼克•克萊格(Nick Clegg)的夢想。他希望，除了最小的公司以外，所有企業的員工都能申購僱主的股票。這算不上政客提出的最愚蠢的想法。福得律師事務所(Field Fisher Waterhouse)指出，在過去20年裏，非董事級別員工持股比例超過10%的英國公司，股票表現平均每年超出其他富時全類股指數(FTSE All-Share)成分股公司股票11%。零售企業John Lewis就是一個典範。該公司完全由僱員擁有，向所有員工支付統一的紅利。過去十年中，該公司分紅及稅前利潤翻了一番以上，達到3.68億英鎊。