What If…
What is Jeff Bezos decided that in 2021 he would change the Amazon business model? Amazon would continue to be everything we love and hate about Amazon, but the model would shift for the employees.
Amazon employs more than a million people, with revenues topping around 300 billion. Amazon already has its own healthcare system offering drug, dental, wellness, and telemedicine for its employees. I have no idea if it works well, but conceptually it makes sense. Use the profits from within to create its own insurance hoping that Amazon has really created a plan that is superior to other insurance programs.
Could Bezos take is one step further with profit sharing for every employee? Distribute their earnings back to the million employees and the communities they reside in. Each Amazon facility would have a pool of money from the profits that they make to help employees who are struggling, who are in need of shelter or who are in need of personal help.
The concept is meant to improve people’s lives not just those at the top. It is a cooperative model that has worked in parts of Europe. The culture at these type of companies is about being part of a team, a community and comfort.
CEOs make hundreds of times more money than the lowest person on the totem pole. It is up to every publicly traded company to decide what is the right number for that person. We shouldn’t ever stop entrepreneurs from building companies from the ground up and being rewarded for that with stock. Still, perhaps the next round of tech companies can think differently about the model. It can change tax structures and the weight of care off the Government who isn’t doing such a great job. We have to figure out a way to take care of more people living paycheck to paycheck, knowing that there is a safety net. Having one from the company they work for and the community that is there would be game-changing.
The top companies in the country will change over the next decade as new ones lead the way. If someone at the top thought more about truly taking care of the people they employ vs the stockholders, the long term effect would be that everyone wins.
It is time for more what if….