I watched with interest the (NSBNEWS.net) video of the New Smyrna Beach City Commission meeting where in essence the elected officials kicked the city manager (John Hagood) to the curb. After nearly 30 years of service to the city, his efforts were rewarded with "here’s your hat there’s the door."
What ever happened to loyalty to the job being something revered? Seems that notion is old fashioned these days no matter what position you hold in the company. In my Father and Grandfather’s day people stayed on a job for their lives dedicated to their companies, but were still never rewarded financially as they are today.
Nowadays if you are an executive you negotiate a contract when you are hired that speaks to what happens if they hand you your hat. Doesn’t say much about loyalty does it?
The city fired the manager, but now has to pay him his regular salary for the next six months even though he is not working there any more. Yes, he is to be available for consultation, but doubtful they will ask since they have shown a lack of confidence by the vote to oust him. So he has six months of free time on the city’s dime. Then he goes into his severance package which is sizeable (15 months at $290,0000).
While the city pays all this and the salary of the interim city manager they also will be paying a headhunter group to find them a new city manager. In this economy how can they afford this kind of spending?
Isn’t this type of government spending part of how we all got to this mess the economy is now experiencing?
The people who are the backbone of not only the companies but also of the country, the lowly workers, are being laid off left and right as the executives who drove their companies into the ground are being given bonuses and higher and higher golden parachutes.
The federal government is no better. They are not demanding the banks get rid of the men responsible for the financial mes,s but instead are giving money to them to add to their bonuses. They tell us they will monitor the funds so this won’t happen but it's happening.
Meanwhile, half the country is out of work and can’t find any kind of job. These people have no parachutes of any kind. They lived paycheck to paycheck and now are losing their homes andway of life as they knew it. They are living in cars or shelters with their kids not knowing what will happen to them from here.
One job opens up and thousands show up to fill the position. And the executives still ride their private jets, get their thousands of dollars bonuses and say they did nothing wrong.
If we ever get the economy going so there are sufficient jobs available, then we need to go back to the ways of my Grandfather’s day. Reward the workers for their dedication. Let everyone have the opportunity to work their way up. As you go you earn more, but not with salaries in the stratosphere.
We need to follow the example of the banker who sold his bank and divided $60 million among his employees and even some who did not work there any longer.
This is the kind of man we want running our companies, our cities, our government. A decent honest man who does not set himself apart from his people, but walks among them daily and knows all their names. Are you surprised his bank survived the current crisis? I’m not.
Treat your people as human beings you care about and they will work their hearts out for you. I am sure my Grandfather would have been proud to work for a man like that.
Wouldn’t you?