On 5 January 1914, Henry Ford announced that all worthy Ford Motor Company employees would receive a minimum wage of $ 5 a day. Ford explained the policy as “profit sharing and efficiency engineering.” The more cynical attributed it to an attempt to prevent unionization and to obtain a docile workforce that would accept job speedups. To obtain this minimum wage, an employee had to be of “good personal habits.” Whether an individual fit these criteria was determined by a new office created by Ford Motor Company— the Sociological Department.
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