Well, Dang!

The company I worked for, following the lead of many other companies, quit giving raises for two years. Also, no bonuses to lower level managers. The economy was just too tight and none of our competitors were doing it either, so if we did we that, we would put ourselves at an economic disadvantage, so the story went. Most of us tugged our forelocks and went ahead with business as usual--all did except one or two who found a competitor to work for. I knew it was a pile of gob at the time.

But our bottom line got so much better we were purchased by one of the big boys. O yes the CEO got a rather steep 2.7 million dollar bonus for all his hard work. Not rumor, it is in the 10K. Well, to say the least I trust nothing that comes out of his mouth. We went from an extended family run business to being bought by the big boys on Wall Street. The sale is final in two weeks and we are told to hold on to our hats, we are going to grow!!!

In my brain I look at that 2.7 mill bonus. When you break that out over 2800 employees that comes out to maybe a $0.35 an hour raise for one year, without benefits. So basically everybody got held back for $0.35/hour so the big guy can make his. That is maybe $1,000 annually per employee. A small vacation, or maybe dental work for someone. Sad. They may have wanted that.

But, we are told today that this happened all across the country. Notice execs did not lose pay, they got bonuses. I am betting that many of the bonuses were over what my CEO made. I bet some of the layoffs lost their homes, dreams and futures, all for bonuses. Being a boss is not easy, but people rely on you to lead and to keep them employed.

rojo