2 points for me there -
First of all the above method may increase the company's share of profit by more than 10%, as you are also likely to be reducing some indirect costs if they make 20% more stuff (and don't have to shelf it etc.)
Secondly the above scheme may generate profit and the strategy is to pay for the increased wage out of those profits, but until the final profit /loss for the year is known is it profit sharing or an incentive /productivity bonus, as we have already given out the 20% increase regardless of a bottom line figure.
My above example was based on the fact that the company already knows it is making a profit due to updated weekly management information. The actions of increasing productivity will automatically increase profit if the company is already in profit at current levels with only 1 proviso.
Quality must remain the same and any increase in worker throughput must include increased vigilance on quality assurance.
No point rushing to make extra product if the end result is rushed tat.
In regards to the percentages then they were just a guide as every industry works on different profit margins. It was just to explain a principle.
There are other times when you might offer bonuses for increased production and the effect of increasing staff costs will not be met by the increase in output. For example paying overtime to complete an important order on time.
My posts were in response to Norcon suggesting that his staff costs were controlled by not paying overtime and setting daily work targets based on quantity.
My response to that was indicate a better way to increase productivity as the method he described was open to staff abuse by output being dictated by the pace the workers work at.
In years gone by new staff would be 'talked to' by coworkers if they were a little eager when they started work by outperforming the existing staff. Factory output was then in effect dictated by the staff.
There are occasions when you cannot actually speed staff up regardless of circumstances.
For example I used to have workers operating large bandsaws to cut shapes in sheet materials usually half inch chipboard fastened into sets of 5 deep marked with a pattern to follow.
Telling those workers to speed up or have the pressure applied by staff waiting for their product was dangerous as they operated by pushing the workpiece around a blade in close proximity a blade that would cut a 2and a half inch thickness of chipboard would easily saw through a finger without even noticing.
This was managed by ensuring the number of employees operating those machines kept ahead of factory output and this involved seasonal planning.
As a previous Financial director I am flabbergasted by your comment relating to whether my suggestion was a profit share as the company wouldn't know whether it had made a profit until the end of the year.
Any company that cannot predict with a reasonable amount of accuracy its profit based on output on a weekly basis deserves to go bust or is in the wrong business.
The figures are all there . . fixed overheads - variables - oncosts - staff wages - heating light and power - etc etc etc.
Anyone with more than three years experience of accounting within an industry should be able to estimate within a very small margin using just a scrap of paper and a pen what difference increasing productivity would make to the weekly profit and how much could be shared back to the employees.
My weekly profit forecasts were always within around 3% of the actual profit generated at year end and the reason my figures didn't tally with the auditors was usually because of the accountant suggesting different strategies to deal with a the allocations at the year end and what we could pull forward or hold back according to new accounting rules.