Employee Profit Sharing and Stock Ownership Attracts World-Class Employees

The Reconstructing of Industrial Relations in Taiwan’s High Technology Industries

“…ERSO was employed by the MOEA to help implement an 18-year development project for the semiconductor industry with financial support from the central government. This project had two goals: allowing the central government to absorb the innovation risk in the semiconductor industry, and facilitating the transfer of new technology to the private sector (Chen and Wang 2001).…”

“…In 1983 UMC became the first high-tech company to implement a combined employee profit sharing and stock ownership policy. 1 It did this in order to attract a skilled workforce and to offset the disadvantage it had in paying lower salaries than Western companies (Chen and Wang 2001). The significance of the scheme was that employees could earn bonuses from the company's revenue and, at the same time, acquire ownership in the company.…”

“…Before UMC implemented the profit sharing and stock ownership scheme, the central government devoted considerable effort to promoting a co-operative relationship between labour and management through a series of law revisions (Chen and Wang 2001). Once UMC had implemented the scheme, it began to be used by other high-tech companies taking advantage of the prosperity of the Taiwan stock market at the end of the 1980s and in the early 1990s (Chen and Wang 2001).…”

“…Once UMC had implemented the scheme, it began to be used by other high-tech companies taking advantage of the prosperity of the Taiwan stock market at the end of the 1980s and in the early 1990s (Chen and Wang 2001). Generally speaking, high-tech employees could purchase company stock at NT$10 (US$0.30) face value per stock, instead of market value.…”