That's certainly part of it. I worked at a company a few years ago in which, come Christmas, the MD (British company) told everyone that it had been a good year

That's certainly part of it. I worked at a company a few years ago in which, come Christmas, the MD (British company) told everyone that it had been a good year and that he'd rather see the profits go to the workers than the shareholders, so here's a nice bonus (over a month's pay as a bonus). I genuinely believe some would see that as heresy, and some will think that is (or should be) illegal. I'm sure there was a time when a principal point of a company was for the people in it to band together and earn money.