Hive + Business: Incentivising Team Members in Web 3.0
I strongly believe that a platform like Hive has huge potential for businesses across the world. A chance to build a digital footprint on some potentially valuable digital real-estate.
My plan is to write a series of posts on how Hive + Business might make a great match and I appreciate your thoughts and feedback.
Hive + Business Part 1: Incentivising Team Members
There are different ways to incentivise new team members in a business (I call them "team members" because I hate the Master v Servant connotations of the word "employee", but that's another story!).
The most obvious way is with a decent salary and perhaps some perks like health insurance etc.
Other more forward-thinking businesses, recognise the importance of having a sense of shared or collective ownership in a business so will perhaps offer share equity in the business (if it is a company) or a partner position if it is a partnership - think John Lewis in the UK as a great example of the latter.
Then we get to more adventurous ideas in the world of cryto and Web 3.0. I've seen a few examples of new platforms seeking to pay team members in real-time for the hours worked (using Ethereum) but what could we do here on Hive?
Building a conventional business on Hive?
What if a normal (non-crypto) business was to set up a Hive account (and wallet) and to invest in some Hive Power.
Firstly, it would have a blogging platform for providing updates on news and events plus a place to build a community.
Also, as the business recruits new team members, perhaps it could set up Hive accounts for each new recruit and delegate some of its own Hive Power to them. They would be encouraged to blog, comment and upvote content thereby building their own account (it would be "their" account to keep).
This benefit would be at no actual (cash-outlay) cost to the business (aside from the opportunity cost of delegated stake) and could prove to be a valuable benefit to the team member. Of course, if the team member was to leave then the delegated stake could be pulled by the business so nothing is lost.
In the meantime, the business could upvote their content and promote it with its own broad reach. The more team members who are active, the greater the reach for the business. So it's a win-win.
Those team members who stay loyal to the business will continue to grow their Hive accounts. New joiners will see the wallets of the long-term team and will no doubt be keen to get in on the action.
There would be a shared sense of ownership with the business as their accounts would be supported by a combination of:
- the delegated stake,
- upvotes from the business and
- upvotes from the community through association with the business.
Of course, there will be tax and potentially other regulatory factors to consider but what a neat and novel way of incentivising and empowering your current and future team.
What are your thoughts?
This is not financial advice.
Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash