Company Scrip

To strive for an illusory sense of unity or loyalty, or to simply facilitate the economic and psychological exploitation of workers, select companies of the past paid workers in alternative currencies like metal tokens.  Functioning as a type of coin not endorsed by an official government, scrip like this could be exchanged at company stores for everyday necessities or other items as if it was the standard dollar.  Isolated workplace settings would have been the easiest to implement scrip in due to the relative privacy, which in turn could put someone at the mercy of their employer in a manifestation of oppressive corporatism/corporatocracy (sometimes each term might be used), a system where a business directly acts as or like a government.

The company using scrip could control almost every aspect of a person's practical life, supplying food, water, medical resources, luxury items, and more through its corporate currency. Since the scrip would not be accepted by other companies or by non-corporate governments--for companies are still governments of a sort--the workers could easily become trapped into dependence on a company even if it exploits them, knowing they have few achievable options for escaping.  A worker above another could physically, sexually, or verbally abuse those beneath him or her and the victim would have little choice but to leave for an often highly uncertain future (though the future is always uncertain) or simply endure abuse or neglect since their financial standing is tied to their particular company.

A business practicing corporatism in this way could easily treat its workers like literal slaves who are backed into a corner by their employer.  In this way, workplace exploitation could be perpetuated by a form of exploitation that would extend past the workday and into the purchasing freedom of employees.  Although it is not true that a company scrip would have to be used with these intentions in mind, there would still be little a worker could do in the event that an injustice arises.  Now, this is similar to the position of a poor or otherwise powerless citizen in some non-corporate governments, and any political or business system that is neutral or even good in itself could always suddenly be run in a predatory manner.  Company-issued currency, like businesses themselves, could be used in all kinds of ways, and despite how many contemporary workers cannot relate to using it, some of the more sinister motivations are still present in other ways.

Company scrip might not be an open, regular part of compensation in the modern workplace, but some companies still do what they can to manipulate artificial loyalty and micromanage even the aspects of a worker's life that have nothing to do with their occupation.  Depending on their profession, a person might have to avoid doing innocent activities in the public eye if they wish to not be terminated.  Certain employers might pressure people to attend optional, uncompensated work-related meetings to foster a pointless, shallow, or emotionalistic sense of "family" at their companies.  Aside from this, a specific kind of employer still wants desperate, submissive workers to work for as little as possible or in suboptimal conditions in order to profit at their expense.  Company scrip is not the only way to physically or psychologically entrap workers despite them being free to purchase things elsewhere.