Profit sharing, benefits and compensation in1973 , southwest introduced a profit sharing plan, the first in the industry. Although the original plan covered only senior employees, by the mid 1990 all southwest employees had become participants in the plan. Southwest airline allocated 15 percent of its net profits to plan and invested 25 percent of employee’s profit sharing account in southwest stock, not covered by a traditional pension plan, employees collected their profit sharing when they retired or left the company.