But about 47 percent of American workers participate in profit-sharing arrangements of some sort. Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), for instance, involve

But about 47 percent of American workers participate in profit-sharing arrangements of some sort. Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), for instance, involve around 10 million workers Most of those programs are junk, it's worth noting. That's true, even in the Valley, where 0.05% (vesting over 4 years, with nothing gained if the company decides to cliff you) of a 100-person company is typical for a "mere" engineer. The term I like is "checkbox equity". It's just offered so the company can say, "we offer stock options" on its website. It means absolute jack shit. Far from making you a partner in the company, it has the opposite effect. It's an excuse not to offer raises and to demand unreasonable sacrifice. It's a mediocre equity program that exists just to check off the box. To that I say: fuck you, pay me. I would rather not have the equity (which is almost always insultingly low) and just get a fair wage. Let's just be honest here. I'm going to be a mercenary unless you give me a legitimate reason not to be, and 0.03% of a 200-person company is 0.06 of a person's labor, which is just not enough to make me give a shit about anything other than my own career. So I won't, and that should be socially acceptable. The purpose of these Valley startups' equity programs is to encourage a tyranny of the masses, and make the honest mercenary attitude socially unacceptable (allowing the employees to be plundered by the dishonest mercenaries at the top).