Posted on 01/11/2012 1:47:59 AM PST by Windflier
To All My Valued Employees,
There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job.
What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country. Of course, as your employer, I am forbidden to tell you whom to vote for - it is against the law to discriminate based on political affiliation, race, creed, religion, etc.
Please vote for who you think will serve your interests the best. However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interest. First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story.
This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You saw my big home at last year’s Christmas party. I'm sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life. However, what you don't see is the back story.
I started this company 12 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living space was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.
My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.
Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's.
My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business --- with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.
So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9 am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5 PM, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, ****, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to me like a 1 day old baby.
You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... You never realize the back story and the sacrifices I've made. Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail out all the people who didn't.
The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for. Yes, business ownership has its benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:
I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.
The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check?
Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country. The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy. Here is what many of you don't understand .. to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.
When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the mud of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine.
Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep. So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more. Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire.
You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.
While tax cuts to 95% of America sounds great on paper, don't forget the back story: If there is no job, there is no income to tax. A tax cut on zero dollars is zero. So, when you make decision to vote, ask yourself, who understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of saving your job. While the media wants to tell you "It's the economy Stupid" I'm telling you it isn't.
If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the Constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me in the South Caribbean sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about.
Signed, Your boss,
Michael A. Crowley, PE Crowley, Crisp & Associates, Inc. Professional Engineers 1906 South Main Street, Suite 122 Wake Forest , NC 27587
Phone: 919.562.8860 x22 Fax: 919.562.8872
Location: This is a real letter
Surrender monkey! </sarcasm>
Sure, most employees think that, because their employers almost never take the time to get to know them, and share the inside story of how the company came to be, and what they personally had to do to build it.
This guy did.
You betcha. I thought others would enjoy it.
I don't put much faith in Snopes' accuracy on political subjects, but I have no reason to doubt them on something like this. I liked both versions of this letter anyway.
I sure am glad I don't work for this guy ... his description of himself is a description of me, and I sure as heck ain't the owner of the company.
You're in a rare position (unless you're working two jobs). His description of how employees and employers work, is right on the money. As someone who built a small business from scratch, I can attest to how real that is.
I can well remember that many of my guys had squirrely ideas about how much money I was making, and some of them even harbored a degree of class envy (even though I didn't have the Mercedes and the big house).
Unlike a lot of business owners, I took the time to set my guys straight about the reality of being the boss. Most of them came away understanding that I was the hardest working guy in the shop, and that I deserved every penny I made.
That may be true, but you don't tell your employees in an email you think they're f***ing the dog the first 3-4 hours of the workday. If you did that, while they actually work before noon, they sure as heck WILL screw around until noon now that they know you expect them to.
You're in a rare position (unless you're working two jobs).
My position is not that rare. I am a "left behind," meaning I've watched my department lay off half of my peers, leaving the few of us left behind with double the work. And my pay is the same as before. I'm just happy to have a job.
Anyone who would write that to his employees is a complete dick and a poor business man.
According to this story, the owner spent the better part of a decade sacrificing, and building a business that went on to provide good paying jobs for others. I'm not saying that his employees were ungrateful for those good paying jobs, but I myself have experienced the situation where my employees had developed strange ideas about how much money I made, and how hard I worked.
Maybe you're just critical of the way this guy communicated the reality of his business to his employees. If the story is real, he probably wasn't so blunt in the way he did that.
I've been there, and have had to do the same thing myself. In my case, I did so because it was important to me to maintain good relationships with my guys. I spent the first fifteen years of my career working for others, and I was very keen not to repeat the mistakes that I'd seen my former employers make with employee relations.
When I had to correct my guys' false ideas about the company, I managed to do so in a way that wasn't offensive to them. It really wasn't that hard to do.
Thanks, I saw it.
I agree. Most business owners are too keen on maintaining good relations with their employees to make such an invalidative statement.
I spent far too many years being someone else's employee, to say something that bone headed to my guys, when I was the boss.
I remember when they took the 8th grade graduation test from 100 years ago and claimed to debunk it. When all they really did—if you read the entire report— was express their opinion that it didn’t really show the degradation of education when in fact the test was real.
I do agree, it’s hard to believe something 100% when there’s multiple versions of the supposed same letter. If I was a business owner I’d be afraid to write something like this for fear of a lawsuit.
On second reading, I'd have to agree, although I myself have communicated many of the sames things to my employees in the past.
Of course there are effective ways to communicate, so that the team gains a better understanding of the real dynamics at work in your business, but it can easily be botched, too. People are just so darned sensitive these days, and the labor laws have just about instituted government mandated class warfare.
Nope. If he thinks his employees 'physically arrive at the office at 9 am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5 PM', then he should have fired them a long time ago. Bitching about it in a letter to everyone is BS.
Well, alright. Sounds to me like you've got some sort of pent-up anger with management at your job. I've been trying to acknowledge your viewpoint, but you still seem angry about something.
Hope you get it squared away. Peace, bro.
Sounds to me like you've got some sort of pent-up anger with management at your job.
I am management at my job, bro.
When people are under-performing or seem to be disconnected, I motivate them. I don't write open letters to them.
Got it. I've always done the same. It's one reason that I wound up graduating from management to ownership.
Cheers, mate.
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