The 360 Recruitment Advertising Blog

Most of us are shareholders if we have a pension plan. Vast sums of money are invested on our behalf without a lot of input from the individual.

Money has been lost because share prices have gone down and some of these funds have suffered but in the economic climate we find ourselves could an alternative be found.

If the race for profit were not so fierce and the acceptance that profit can not rise every year, a company may be able to keep staff that would go in the endeavour to increase share price. A modest profit by a well run company should not have to mean a takeover threat and more job losses. By keeping staff everyone gains as tax receipts rise, there are more buyers for good and services and employees are not looking over their shoulders to see who will go next. The workforce would be more committed and companies would benefit.

By accepting that dividends can not be ever rising instability would be taken out of the market. There would not be the highs but there would also not be as many lows.

Badly run companies would still not survive and there would not be huge gains for speculators. A company such as John Lewis that actively engages its shareholders has a good employer brand and rising sales in a difficult market.

I accept that a company with many shareholders can not be run by them, but has anyone thought it worth consulting with shareholders to get acceptance of staff retention against dividends in this current market.

Maureen