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ACA Journal, First Quarter 2000, Volume 9, Number 1 From Pay to Rewards -- 100 Years of ChangeBy George T. Milkovich, Ph.D., and Jennifer Stevens What were the hot pay issues in the 1900s, and how have they changed since the Does history offer any lessons that can be used in the future? With the new millennium, a review of changing pay systems during the past 100 years is especially pertinent. In examining the 20th century of news articles published by The New York Times and magazines listed in the Periodical Index, some interesting titles surfaced during the review, including: Entrenched Greed Underlies Executive Compensation Profit Share and Stock Ownership Unite Employee and Company Interests Industry Widening Use of Incentives GM Bonus Plans Spark Teamwork Stock Options Have Outlived Their Purpose. Fortune magazine used the Entrenched Greed headline in a 1939 report on President Roosevelt’s call for caps on executive salaries and public reporting of the compensation of the top people in publicly held companies, attesting to the long history of skepticism over executive compensation. The second headline lauding profit sharing and employee stock ownership referred to Procter and Gamble (PG) in the late 1890s. Col. William Cooper Procter, one of PG’s founders, believed that profit sharing, pensions, a week’s vacation with pay after two years of experience and employment security increased efficiency and loyalty. Why weren’t more ... industrial captains imbued with the spirit of William Cooper Procter? While the New Pay of the 1990s features teamwork and success sharing, General Motors (GM) used this 40 years ago. The New York Times reported that GM’s bonus plan encouraged greater teamwork and that performance-based incentives were becoming increasingly widespread in companies, possibly prefiguring a trend beyond 2000. The 1975 bear market caused a consultant to advise clients that stock options have outlived their purpose. In also looking at the contents of c