Staking Claims

The cover story of this issue concentrates on the attempt to increase employees' sense of involvement - and therefore their productivity - by making arrangements through Esops or other mechanisms to provide them with a stake in the companies for which they work. The stake is real enough, since it generally takes the form of a shareholding. But it's not normally something employees are given on a plate. Rather they acquire it, sometimes in exchange for reduced numbers, income or benefits,