MINISTER OF Industry and International Business Donville Inniss has praised the action of Williams Industries, a group of companies managed by Mr Bizzy Williams, in rewarding 135 long-standing workers with an award of shares in the company. It is praise well deserved.
On Wednesday night, this innovative approach led to the company awarding 236 750 shares worth some $1 726 805 to employees who have worked with the company for ten years or more, and Williams disclosed that since the company started the system of awards, 1 790 085 shares valued at $12.9 million have been given to workers.
Given the often acrimonious relationships which exist between some companies and some of their employees this approach has the advantage of allowing employees, to earn a stake in the company which provides them with their daily bread, and can lead to beneficial results for the company, its shareholders and employees.
In praising Mr Williams for the business creativity in founding Williams Industries, the minister reminded his audience that the creation of most companies is an event fraught with risk.
The entrepreneur places his idea in the marketplace and puts his money where his mouth and mind is, and so long as he pays reasonable wages and follows the relevant laws and regulations pertaining to his sphere of endeavour, the profits belong to him and his fellow shareholders. But Williams Industries has moved the pendulum towards making employees shareholders and thereby gives long-standing workers an additional stake in the enterprise.
This approach seems a sensible one for it enhances the possibility that the worker will see himself as a part owner in the business and will recognise that his wages are the more protected if he puts in the effort to make sure that his shares increase in value.
We commend the approach of Williams Industries because given the nature of modern thinking the social responsibility of companies is different from what it used to be; and the current status of the worker and his contribution to the success of the enterprise is more easily appreciated.
Presently, the role of the entrepreneur is more that of managing the mix of talents and expertise of the workers, rather than the traditional mode of ordering a worker to do this or that task in a particular manner.
Shareholder workers may pay greater attention to the decision-making process in those companies enlightened enough to follow in the path of Williams Industries and another possible benefit may be greater efficiency since observant and knowledgeable workers can very often suggest more efficient and less expensive methods of getting the job done, with increased productivity resulting.
We hope that industrial relations practitioners and enlightened thinking will welcome this stakeholder approach. It should not eliminate the role of workers’ representatives, since the unions will still have their traditional role even if the atmosphere at the workplace is likely to be less contentious in such companies.
Given the seminal import of this development, it may serve the public interest if the pertinent details of the arrangement are placed in the public domain.
We find the award of shares forward- looking and helpful to the creation of an atmosphere which will enable workers, managers and owners to work hand in glove in creating a platform for sustained growth. We look forward to lively discussion on this and other ideas for the improvement of our local industrial relations climate.
