Running the business includes providing a fair but not excessive dividend to shareholders and investing in new products and production methods. Beyond these costs, employees at Lincoln Electric get to keep any extra profit they produce. Recently bonuses have been about 50 to 60 percent of annual salaries. There are no windfalls, and no wipeouts. Making Lincoln Electric a successful global company requires more emphasis on company-wide teams.
Individual pay is more dependent upon cooperation across departmental lines.
This can work just as well as more individual programs of the past, but it is more difficult to manage. Incentives must be tailored to each location where we operate. The heritage of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy stems from my father's interest in the ideas of Henry George, especially the land value tax. The ethics of this tax concept are parallel to those used at Lincoln Electric. Someone who works the land should be entitled to keep the fruits of his labor.