If you owned a medium large sized company, what would you do to keep

[LaurenG]

it solvent and in business?

My husband works for a company that manufactures tools/products that are used with compressors. The owner of the company is quite wealthy, he has worked hard for 25 years to build his company to include international sales.

The economy is sucking the life out of his business but he is creative and has employees that are constantly developing innovative products. These products are sold to bigger businesses that need compressed air such as manufacturers of chocolate, computers, autos, etc. No matter what he has done the money just isn't what it was at this time last year and of course there have been whispers of time cuts, layoffs and cutbacks. The worried gossip finally made its way to the owner who called a meeting to include every employee in the company.

He had a plan and this is what he said:

Owner to take a 50% salary decrease, employees to get no raises until company becomes more productive but all raises will be given as things improve and they will be retroactive. There will be no layoffs or salary cuts and bonuses will be suspended from top to bottom.

This man has treated his employees with fairness and compassion and when gasoline was $4 a gallon he started giving a gas allowance check for every employee in the entire company of 20 gallons of gas per week to be computed by the cost of a gallon of gas that week. He didn't cut this benefit from the workers, just management and above.

He is elderly now but not out of his leadership position and lead he did. He let the entire company know that things may get worse and things may get tight but he would continue to make cuts starting AT THE TOP, until the economy improved. This man has a plan and he started it by looking after those who call him boss, not himself or his top earners.

I just thought people should know that there are some truly good people in this country who know right from wrong and look to take care of those they feel responsible for... first.

[glowing]

1. Yep, they are out there. I think when they get really big and hire

outside "help" to cut costs, its then that the little guy gets screwed and the ceo's get parachutes if they mess up. And it sounds like this is an older guy who does the right thing.. not what the college business course taught him.

[Lasher]

2. This is not a publicly owned company.

Some privately owned companies have good character like this one.

[Turbineguy]

3. I spoke once to an older guy

whose family had a similar type company during the great depression. They approached it like that.

I don't think corporate America is ready for that type of thinking. But you never know.

[Junkdrawer]

4. This is why Republicans like to associate themselves with "small business"...

It's an image they like.

Unfortunately, the trend is for larger and larger businesses.

[Papagoose]

5. Sounds like my boss

He is a gem of a man and I am proud to work for him, though he says I work "with him", not "for him".

What bugs me though, is that he is a right wing Republican - it doesn't compute in my head.

[annabanana]

6. I truly hope that his successors have internalized the basic

goodness of this man. I have seen (from the inside) so many small companies fall into the hands of sons (or sons-in-law) that have NO instinct for the right thing.

FWIW, I'm sure that daughters also inherit and run, businesses, I just haven't seen that dynamic from the inside.

[madrchsod]

7. i`ve worked for a guy like him

great guy who respected the people who worked for him. my mother and sister worked for two families all their lives. my sister worked for a lawyers family for 40 years and my mother started working over 55 yrs ago for the founder of one of the biggest a beauty and barber supply companies in the midwest. the grandson of the founder still asked for my mother`s advise...

loyalty was the first thing to go in our working class america and business has been paying for it ever since

[HamdenRice]

8. Send a delegation to China. Seriously.

To survive, they are going to have to export. I've seen many Chinese construction cites, and they are basically using bamboo scaffolds and human power to build modern buildings.

There would be an insatiable demand for compressed air nail guns if he can connect to the right construction companies.

[Laelth]

9. A decent human being and a wise man. k&r for him.

If only other business owners could learn something from him, we'd all be better off.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Festivito]

10. Be aggressive with overseas sales for now.

Also, buckle down to stay afloat during the coming storm.

My view is that they are employing an old concept of reducing the money supply to induce a bust. Americans have no money at the moment, and neither do our main trading partners because they bought the bad-boy-bank-money along with us.

Other countries are doing fine, only hit by the downturn of the rest of the world.

Can't say it'll work, but it's all I have.

Sounds like you work for a great American. Wish him well from me, just someone touched by his goodness.