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compensation is based on piecework. (2) There are no perquisites for managers.

(3)After two years o employment, the worker cannot be laid off. (4) There is
no mandatory retirement.
An advisory board consisting of several executives and about 30 employees
reviews and makes suggestions for improvements. The firm has a stock purchase
plan in which about two-thirds of the employees participate; they now own
about one-third of the total stock. The stock is privately traded, and not
sold on any exchange. Employees hire the rep1acements for vacancies in their
work group. The company basically subcontracts the work to the work group,
using past performance and time studies as standards of performance. When
these standards are beaten, the employees share generously. This bonus is not
used as a substitute for adequate wages and benefits. In 1993, production
workers received bonuses averaging between $18,000 and $22,000, equal to
approximately half their salaries. The average Lincoln employee earned $45,000
that year. Some individuals bid to go to work for Lincoln Electric. .
Between 1986 and 1991, Lincoln added plants in Brazil and Mexico, established
joint ventures with Venezuela, built a factory in Japan, and formed a
strategic alliance with a Norwegian company. The global recession of the early
1990s caused the company to downsize at some of these international locations.
But in the United States, the Lincoln Electric incentive plan has gone 40
years without a single layoff. The company has also gone more than 57 years
without losing any money in its domestic business.