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Topic:
OT ---Now that is a cool boss!
This thread has 122 replies. Displaying posts 16 through 30.
Post 16 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 17:35
goldenzrule
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BTW, the math doesn't add up. They claim the average salary of the employees was $48,000. So they got a $22,000 raise. If just half of the employees got a $22,000 raise, that would cost the company $1,320,000.

They state that the money to pay the employee raises came from the CEO taking pay cut from $1,000,000 to $70,000. Well it doesn't specifically say that from what I saw but it strongly implied it.

So there is $930,000 freed up to pay the raises. If the other half of the employees were only bumped up $10,000, than that is another $600,000 needed to pay the raises. So the "story" wants people to believe that the pay cut pays for the raises. While it may pay for some, it didn't pay for all of it.

If the story is true, I am not saying the guy didn't do this with good intentions. I am sure everyone on the lower end of the pay scale was thrilled. Ultimately, the people that busted their butts and were at the top end of the pay scale will feel slighted. Their option to leave is certainly there, but walking away from a company to worked hard at is not always easy. I would have to guess they were at the top end of the pay scale not solely because of longevity, but because of their work performance. They should feel slighted.

I'd have to agree though in part with Brendon that this was nothing more than a PR stunt.
Post 17 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 18:00
Mac Burks (39)
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Maybe the salary guys who busted their ass for years can trade their 60 hour work weeks for 9-5 mop & broom jobs now...since everyone makes $70k anyway.
Avid Stamp Collector - I really love 39 Cent Stamps
Post 18 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 18:56
BigPapa
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Will it be page 3 or 4 where people who have participated in this thread start whining about Stanley starting the thread?
Post 19 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 19:02
goldenzrule
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No. On page 2. Post 18
Post 20 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 19:02
Trunk-Slammer -Supreme
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I find it funny that everyone here ASSUMES that the "think people" will now only make 70K.

Isn't it entirely possible that some already make well over the 70K figure? Has that entered any of the closed minds here?



While this could have been a PR stunt, I really have my doubts. I think that rather than just stash more millions away, he is choosing to get by on his existing wealth, and annual bonus, and has decided that this WILL actually be a good thing to do for the company, and those working there.
Post 21 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 19:11
Ernie Gilman
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On April 15, 2015 at 19:02, Trunk-Slammer -Supreme said...
I find it funny that everyone here ASSUMES that the "think people" will now only make 70K.

That's a good point. The article sure convinced me, since I only read it once, that everybody now makes $70k.

Mr. S, I still wonder what you'll do with a mail guy who's making $70K per year, who has a crappy attitude because people who think they're worth more treat him like crap, yet he won't quit the job because he can't get anywhere near this amount of money for a similar position. I say again, everything he does will poison the atmosphere at that place. And there will be plenty such people.

We're not living in a cynical world. We're living in a world with real people who have real incentives to earn more by working hard, learning, advancing... why would the mail room guy have any reason now to better himself? Be real!

Oh, Bruce, how I hope you will still be ready to comment on this company in a year or two when the backfire has blackened the faces of everyone in the company.

How is it even possible that this particular artwork exists? It's not exactly a blackened face after dynamite goes off, but it sure as hell applies! Cracks me up!

A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 22 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 19:33
sofa_king_CI
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You're all assuming there was a low end jobs like mail and janitorial. The small work could easily all be sourced out and the prev range was 40k-60k.

I won't assume anything but like to think the guy is trying to do something good for his employees and hoping that in turn they will all get a raise and work harder for it.

Probably a mix of everything everyone has said, but damn you guys jump to bitterness quick.

The CEO probably didn't have a $1mil salary, he may have made a mil after all was said and done as profit from the business.

So he has a $70k salary, he may still very wel make significantly more once all is said and done. It's his company.
do wino hue?
Post 23 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 19:46
Ernie Gilman
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sofa,
yeah, you're right. We're cynical.

I realized that I had not read an article, I had instead depended on Mr. S for facts. My bad.

From

Price said he will cut his nearly $1 million salary to $70,000 and use about 80 percent of the business’ anticipated profit to increase the salary of about 70 employees. About 30 employees, including the lowest-paid clerk, will see their salaries increase to the $70,000 threshold.

So there is a lowest-paid clerk, if not someone on staff who empties the trash. And the math can work.

It does not say all 120 employees will receive (I can't bring myself to say "earn") $70,000. It doesn't say some make more. It says 70 employees will see salary increases, and 30 will see their income increase to the falsely-named "threshold" of $70,000. It doesn't clearly say whether the 30 whose income goes up to $70,000 are part of the 70 whose incomes will increase, or whether the writer intended to discuss 100 employees, of whom 70 this and 30 that.

The workers reportedly clapped and cheered when he made the announcement at the Seattle office.

Of course they did. What a great stunt.

The point that the owner earned a million the year before carries a lot of weight. When disposable income has been huge, and probably some of it invested, weekly income becomes less of a crucial issue. Consider my boss, many years ago, solving a storage problem for me by suggesting that I buy a kind of cabinet that would cost me two weeks' salary, while he made five times what I made. It's easy for us to forget, since we're not in that crowd, that a few years of five times another's salary makes the weekly income a bit less of an issue.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw
Post 24 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 19:47
highfigh
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On April 15, 2015 at 17:09, Mr. Stanley said...
Not surprized by the usual cynical attitudes here.

It's socialism / communism it will fail / the guy is lying / I'd be resentful of the others / they don't deserve what I have / this has nothing to do with helping / its just a PR ploy...

I think I need a beer.

He's spreading the wealth. That is close to socialism I suppose, and maybe in time, if enough of the old timers bitch, he'll come up with some fair compensation for those crybabies, er, I mean, team players.

And Goldenrule, I don't live in fairytale ville---I've manged people before, and you can't please everybody... I had a friend who won a two million dollar lottery, and he still wasn't happy & bitched about the taxes he had to pay etc.

Some people see the glass half full while the others see it half empty-right?

I think it's an interesting experiment, and nobody is being harmed.

Sure there will be some resentments, but being that everybody is getting fairly well compensated.

I'd say that those resentful employees (if that occurs) can accept it, or go work for some other credit card processing company where everybody is treated like shit.
Those same people should also be glad the owner hasn't decided to outsource the company to India, like so many of these companies have done.

So far, I have seen two versions of this story- the first showed that he was taking the $70K salary and raising all minimum wage workers to $70K, using the $900K reduction. Paying minimum wage works out to about $17K for each, so they would get a $53K raise. That means he has about 16 employees. Your version shows that he has 120 employees, so the average raise will be $7500. Adding $900K to the salary pool means the average pay will be only $5500 more.

At some point, somebody has to start doing the damn math when these stories come out. He may have added $900K to the pool, but 120 people making $70K is ridiculously easy for someone to multiply in their head and the math just doesn't work. 120 people making $70K/year comes to $8.4Million and the current salaries total $5.76 Million.

Here's the other version-

[Link: facebook.com]

Making everyone equal will probably cause resentment, now that everyone knows about this. If they all got a percentage increase, it may have been better, although I think the amount should have been disclosed to each person separately.
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
Post 25 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 19:52
highfigh
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On April 15, 2015 at 15:11, Ernie Gilman said...
Saw an article yesterday detailing that the Saudi oil minister argued in OPEC last November against OPEC cutting back on oil supplies. He wanted the free-fall of the price of oil to
a) remove profitability from shale oil and other high-cost oil "mining," thus making OPEC sources the attractive sources;
b) maintain and even increase OPEC's market share for the same reason, but most insidiously,
c) place the price of oil so low that alternative fuel technologies would be less attractive due to cost, causing them to fail or be scaled way back, and increasing the dependency of the entire world on OPEC oil.

A huge reduction in the price of oil looked good the next day, just as Gravity's income redistribution looks good the next day. I predict it will not be that simple, and in fact I predict onerously hard days ahead for Gravity. The company, not the law.

The fact that he "drives like an old Audi," a curious phrase that brings to mind "he drives like an old man," does not prove anything about his overall wisdom. It could mean he does not understand the ordinary person's wish to get ahead. Didn't he just make EVERY job at his company a dead-end job? When the mail clerks have been spat upon by upper management and have a horrible attitude as a result, will they leave the company to earn much less elsewhere, or will they stay there and poison the atmosphere?

Not that simple. Not at all.

I can't believe the oil pricing wasn't all over the news- they lowered the price in the '70s, to the point where it no longer paid well enough to bother drilling and then hit the US with the embargo but I guess the current batch of reporters din't know how to do a little research.

Jeez- he didn't put a couple of commas in that sentence. You should be able to figure out how that would be spoken, by now.
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
Post 26 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 19:58
Lowhz
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On April 15, 2015 at 19:52, highfigh said...
I can't believe the oil pricing wasn't all over the news- they lowered the price in the '70s, to the point where it no longer paid well enough to bother drilling and then hit the US with the embargo but I guess the current batch of reporters din't know how to do a little research.

Jeez- he didn't put a couple of commas in that sentence. You should be able to figure out how that would be spoken, by now.

Maybe Obama's actually a Republican [Link: factcheck.org]
Post 27 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 20:21
highfigh
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On April 15, 2015 at 19:58, Lowhz said...
Maybe Obama's actually a Republican [Link: factcheck.org]

What does he have to do with the price of oil?
My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
OP | Post 28 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 20:32
Mr. Stanley
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On April 15, 2015 at 19:11, Ernie Gilman said...
Mr. S, I still wonder what you'll do with a mail guy who's making $70K per year, who has a crappy attitude because people who think they're worth more treat him like crap, yet he won't quit the job because he can't get anywhere near this amount of money for a similar position. I say again, everything he does will poison the atmosphere at that place. And there will be plenty such people.

I'm sorry I can't follow that logic, Ernie. If I were a mail clerk making 70K, I'd be pretty happy. Again are you projecting here? By that I mean you keep bringing up how people who think they are worth more, will treat him like crap? Is this how you think?


We're not living in a cynical world. We're living in a world with real people who have real incentives to earn more by working hard, learning, advancing... why would the mail room guy have any reason now to better himself? Be real!

Well, maybe he will be happy to be the best mail room guy possible? Not everybody has the need to "get ahead", and that is not necessarally a bad thing. Not everyone wants to be at the top of the heap.
Besides, I'm sure the CEO has thought about this and will provide incentives for people to advance if they desire to.



Oh, Bruce, how I hope you will still be ready to comment on this company in a year or two when the backfire has blackened the faces of everyone in the company.

You would probably said that years ago when the CEO of Costco decided to pay all of his workers more than twice the minimum wage.

He, Mr. Senigal, had a similar vision to the Gravity CEO. Pay people well, and they will be happier and more productive and provide a better experience for their customers, not have all of the money worries that affect so many employees. I think Costco is doing pretty well, and I know a couple of people who work for Costco, and they love their jobs.


Again though, I really have to question your thinking that everyone will end up hating one another. According to the woman I know there, she says the place has always had a very postive, healthy company culture.

I'll happily report back in a couple years.
"If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger."
Frank Lloyd Wright
OP | Post 29 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 20:38
Mr. Stanley
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On April 15, 2015 at 17:00, Lowhz said...
The thing to remember is that if he's paying $70k then everybody there needs to be worth $70k. If the "think people" there with MBAs believe they're worth more they can take their resumes down the street to Amazon or across the lake to Microsoft where they can certainly get twice that salary, but it will come at the expense of work-life balance.

I think it's a nice idea and ultimately he'll have a company filled with $70k employees.

+1

Yeah, the lowest paid people were making $38,000 a year. We are not talking minimum wage guys getting jacked up to $70K.

I agree with you Lowz... $70K aint that much in these parts when the starting salary at M-soft is close to $100,000 and Amazon pays very well too.

Credit card processing has to be boring as hell, and I'll bet a lot of these guys could go to Amazon, Google, Facebook, Big Fish, F5 or any of the other companies in town and make as much or more.
"If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger."
Frank Lloyd Wright
OP | Post 30 made on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at 20:43
Mr. Stanley
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On April 15, 2015 at 19:33, sofa_king_CI said...
I won't assume anything but like to think the guy is trying to do something good for his employees and hoping that in turn they will all get a raise and work harder for it.

Hell, I would!


Probably a mix of everything everyone has said, but damn you guys jump to bitterness quick.

Yep they do don't they? Pretty incredible.


The CEO probably didn't have a $1mil salary, he may have made a mil after all was said and done as profit from the business.

No, he had a 1 mil salary. The place does a lot of business and for a relatively small company is pretty profitable. Anybody here earn 2.2 million in profits after payroll and expenses?


So he has a $70k salary, he may still very wel make significantly more once all is said and done. It's his company.

Yup.

I just thought it was an interesting article, the guy seems sincere, and it changed a lot of peoples lives for the better. Not a bad thing.
"If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger."
Frank Lloyd Wright
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