What is the law of workers who forgive lazy people?

//Summary - Level-C2//

The Worker Ant Law, a 2:6:2 rule, posits that in ant colonies and human societies, 20% are hard workers, 60% are average, and 20% are non-workers. Research at Hokkaido University affirms this, showing that even in a group of only hardworking ants, some stop working. The mechanism involves varying responses to work stimuli unrelated to age or ability. Despite short-term inefficiency, the system deliberately incorporates non-workers, suggesting a deeper purpose yet to be clarified. Source: Hokkaido University PRESS RELEASE "Proof that even in a group of only working ants, non-working individuals appear."

1)
What is the law of worker ants?
First, I will give an overview of the worker ant law.
We will not only explain the meaning of the worker's Ant law but also explain in detail that it is a theory that has been proven through research, so please help us understand the basics.

2)
Meaning of worker and law
The worker ant law (the 2:6:2 rule) states that if a group is divided into "hard workers, average workers and non-workers," 20% of the ants are hard workers, and 60% are average workers. The theory is that ants that do not work have the property of being divided into 20%.
It is a law that can also be applied to human society.

3)
For example, in a company, 20% of the employees work hard, 60% work quite well, and 20% don't work.
If there are 100 employees, 20 will work hard, 60 will work typically, and 20 will not work.

4)
Retaining hardworking employees does not change the law.
In other words, if an organisation has only 20 hardworking employees, 20% of the 20 employees, or 4, will work hard, 60%, or 12, will work usually, and the remaining four will be more likely to slack off.
Conversely, it is said that the ratio will be the same even if an organisation consists only of lazy employees.

5)
It is thought that 20% of people stop working due to their response threshold.
Even if there is no difference in basic skills, work is concentrated in the top 20% and 60% of employees who are quick and light on their feet, leaving the remaining 20% to work poorly.

6)
Worker Ant Law is proven by research at Hokkaido University
The worker ant law was clarified in 2012 by Associate Professor Eisuke Hasegawa (Hokkaido University Graduate School of Agriculture) in his book "Proof that Even in a Group of only worker ants, non-working individuals will Appear".

7)
A summary of the research is as follows.
"In a colony of wrinkle-care ants, there is a large variation in the level of activity of the workers, with some ants working hard and others not working. Even if you have a group of only working or non-working ants, the degree of variation remains the same, and it has nothing to do with ability or age".

8)
The research methods and results are as follows.
"Since the degree of variation between working and non-working ants is the same, it is much greater than that caused by chance and is reproduced by some mechanism. The reason is that there is a difference in the strength of the response to work stimuli. It is conceivable that".

9)
Add info)
See below for more information on the study.
Source: Hokkaido University PRESS RELEASE "Proof that even in a group of only working ants, non-working individuals appear."
https://www.hokudai.ac.jp/news/121207_pr_agr.pdf

10)
To show that even in a group of only working ants, individuals will not work.
Key points of the research
- worker ants in the ant colony do little work.
- It turns out that even if we only look at individuals who work hard, some of them stop working.
It is thought that there is an advantage to having individuals who do not always work.

11)
Summary of research results
In colonies of wrinkled carp ants, there was a wide variation in the level of worker activity, with some individuals working all the time and others rarely working.

Even in a group of only working individuals, some non-working individuals appeared, and even in a group of only non-working individuals, some working individuals appeared, and the variation in the level of work of the individuals in the group as a whole was always the same as in the original group.

12)
It has been suggested that how individuals work is unrelated to egg-laying ability or age and that differences in the degree to which individuals respond to work produce these results. Although it would be more efficient in the short term if everyone worked, a system of low efficiency was deliberately chosen, and it is hoped that the reason for this will be clarified in the future.

13)
Outline of the paper presentation
Title of the research paper: The mechanism underlying the regulation of work-related behaviour in the monomorphic ant, Myrmica Kotokui.

14)
Summary of research findings
(Background)
Understanding the mechanisms of work control within ant colonies has been a significant biological problem. Since there are individual differences in the degree to which they respond to the incentive value of work, the hypothesis that work is allocated to individuals who are more likely to respond to the incentive value of successively appearing work suggests that there will always be individuals who work all the time and individuals who rarely work. Even if we only consider working individuals, some are expected to stop working.

15)
(Research method)
Breed a colony of wrinkle ants, identify the individuals, study the work intensity of each individual, reconstitute the colony with only those that work well or those that do not work, observe the work intensity again, and study the work intensity of each individual. We looked at how the distribution of work intensity changed.

16)
(research result)
Even if only working individuals were used, non-working individuals would appear, and if only non-working individuals were used, working individuals would appear, and the distribution of the degree of work of individuals in the whole group would always be the same as in the original group.

17)
The magnitude of the dispersion in the degree of work is far greater than that caused by chance, and it has been found that some mechanism reproduces it. The degree of work of individuals is unrelated to egg-laying ability or age, and it was thought that differences in the strength of responses to work stimuli remaining among the selected individuals would restore the distribution of degrees of work.

18)
In other words, it has become clear that ants use a system to control their work in which some individuals always stop working.

19)
(Expectations for the future)
Hopefully, this will shed light on why we need a system with low efficiency in the short term, in which some individuals are always resting.