The participation of the Worker in business profits is not a common issue in today’s labor society, except in those circumstances in which the subject acts as both Employee and Employer, that is, in those in which in which the subject is both an entrepreneur and a worker, a circumstance that usually occurs in all self-employed or self-employed workers in this country and the rest of the world.
However, this situation does not occur for the vast majority of employed workers, that is, those who are actually employed by employers, that is, who are part of the workforce of a private entity or corporation, except that said corporation has the legal structure of a cooperative, this structure, which by definition seeks the benefit of all its members or associates.
Thus, normally the distribution of a company’s profits is carried out only among its shareholders, who are holders of registered shares valued at their market value at the time of purchase (stock market operations) or acquisition (capital increases or sales to individuals or SMEs), with the worker’s participation in business profits being almost zero.
However, the reality is that not all of the profit generated by a company is distributed, and the amount that should or can, if applicable, be allocated must be calculated once the financial year has ended. to the distribution of profits or dividends among the partners, once all applicable legal and economic precepts have been met.
Likewise, at the time the corresponding corporate taxes and annual accounts are submitted, which summarize the operations carried out by the company during the year, as well as its economic and financial status, and the corresponding proposal for the application of the Benefit to Shareholders called at a meeting must, with their votes, approve both the accounts presented and the proposed distribution of profits, at which time, if assigned, the amount stipulated for the distribution of dividends among the partners would be effective.
From the close of the fiscal year, and the approval by the shareholders’ meeting of the annual accounts and through the profit distribution proposal, the destination of the profit obtained by the company can be known, which may be used to cover or increase the provision of reserves, to remainder (pending application), compensation of losses from previous years if any, or distribution of profits.
Once the reserves stipulated in the Law or in the corporate statutes have been covered, as well as the losses from previous years if they exist, as both are items that affect the value of the company’s net assets, and these may individually or jointly even result in the net equity being less than the amount of the company’s share capital, in which case, it would be mandatory to allocate the entire profit to the recovery of the net equity, and may proceed to the consignment of the free application of the resulting profit once the two previous allocations have been applied, if necessary, and in any situation, as long as the company’s net worth is positive.
With the result of the final profit obtained or available, the company could choose to allocate the amount it considers to remunerate its shareholders, through the so-called “dividend distribution”.
To calculate the distribution of dividends in a multinational, the amount of profits that the company has obtained during a given period must be taken into account. The distribution of dividends is made based on the company’s net profits and the payment percentage assigned to each shareholder, which is calculated based on the number of shares that each one owns. To do this, the number of shares owned by the shareholder is divided by the total number of shares issued by the company and multiplied by 100 to obtain the corresponding percentage. For example, if a company has issued 1,000 shares and a shareholder owns 100 shares, their payout percentage would be 10% (100/1000 x 100)
Now, in all the previous cases the company’s workers have participated in the generation of those benefits, through their work, however none of them (unless there is a specific capital gain in specific contracts or business agreements), will receive any amount as a reward for the work and results achieved.
It is true that in large multinationals and public limited companies there is normally a large number of shareholders and that the value of dividends per share does not usually reach the euro, however it is also normal that the number of shares is equal to a value more or less important (understood as greater than €1,000 for example), which would report an amount equal to the number of shares x value of the dividend per share. Likewise, these companies generally have fairly large staffs of workers and normally with working conditions above the average of those existing in the market (bonuses, perks, etc.)
However, in smaller companies considered SMEs or medium-sized companies, with business volumes greater than 10 million euros and with less than 250 workers, and generally made up of a small group of shareholders, although the The resulting amount and object of “dividend distribution” is usually lower, the number of shareholders entitled to said dividend is also usually lower, resulting in obtaining a greater return in relation to the amount generated.
In these companies, workers are just as involved as in large companies with respect to the results achieved, however, their working conditions are usually generally inferior to those existing in large companies.
In these companies it would be possible to implement a system that would allow them to balance the working conditions of their workers with respect to the conditions of workers in large multinationals, perhaps providing the obligation to distribute among them a minimum percentage of “, provided that the Profit exceeds a predetermined amount, or reflects an increase greater than more than somehow reward and recognize the effort made by its employees, promoting a more equitable distribution of benefits.
