Real Letter From CEO To His Employees. This is a legitimate letter -- the company actually exists. To All My Valued Employees, There have been some rumblings about the difference of salaries between Senior Management and the lowest paid employees. First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees by the Unions 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. Youve seen my big home at last years Christmas party. Im sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life. However, what you dont see is the back story. I started this company 14 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. I did not get a loan from a bank or BEE shares from an existing profitable company, I had to work for someone else during the day and build my own company part time. My wife and children left because I did not make enough money. My diet consisted of noodles and bread with jam because every Rand I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didnt 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 R50,000 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 the fashion boutiques for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didnt look like it was birthed in the 70s. 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 8am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 4pm, I dont. 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, sh!t, 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. Most mornings I arrive at work long before you and leave work long after you, mostly late at night. When you are relaxing on the weekend, you dont think about your work, or see my car parked outside the office. If you still feel hangovered Monday morning from your drinking over the weekend, you just dont turn up for work. If you dont feel well from the flu, you take a week off work and do not worry about who is going to do the work you were supposed to do. I cannot take a few days off when I am not feeling well. 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 Ive made. The people without a worthy education, no experience, who took no risks in their lives are now demanding higher salaries. The people that are overspending their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed more than a decade of my life for. The fact that you have 8 or 10 children that you cannot feed and properly look after is not my responsibility. You cannot expect to be paid a high salary because your lifestyle requirements are different from others. If you want the same benefits as me, start your own company. No one is stopping you. But certain groups and individuals feel that they are entitled to share only in the profits, and not in the risk or the losses. Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price Ive paid is steep and not without wounds. A salary is usually link to your contribution and value to a company. The more value you add as an employee and contribute to the company and the more you increase the profit of the company, the higher you can expect your salay to be. If you are the Tea Lady or delivery person, your contribution to the company is different from the Sales Director, the Financial Director, the CEO and Owner. Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you with your higher salary demand without increasing your value to the company will take a toll on the future of the company and your employment. I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I dont pay enough. I have state taxes. Local 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. Recently, I wrote a check to the Taxman for R580,000 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 more than 1,000 people good paying jobs and serves over 3,000,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her sixth 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 youd quit and you wouldnt work here. I mean, why should you? Thats 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 dont understand; to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had the government suddenly mandated to me that I didnt need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that R580,000 into the Government 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 dont 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 a Country and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in the Government believe the poor and unemployable are the essential drivers of the Countrys 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? Its quite simple. If you insist on higher wages, I can fire some of your co-workers and then give you their monthly salaries. But as we are now a few people short and the work still have to be done, you will now have to pick up the slack. This means you will have longer working hours and take less time off from work. And, before I forget, you will now also pay more taxes. Who should I let go? You, or some of co-workers, or just some of your co-workers? What makes you different from your co-workers? Why should I chose you over them, or them over you? Maybe I should look at your employment record. How many days were you off sick recently? If you insist on a higher salary, 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 vehicle, and your childs future. Frankly, it isnt my problem any more. Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, Im done. Im 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 doubling salaries and increasing taxes as high as possible sounds great on paper, dont forget the backstory: If there is no job, there is no income to tax. A tax on zero Rand is zero. So, when you make a decision to strike, ask yourself, who understands the economics of business ownership, me our your Union Leaders? 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 Unions wants to tell you Its the Employers Stupid Im telling you it isnt. If you lose your job, it will be at the hands of the Unions; it will also 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 on a idyllic Island sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about. The future of your employment lies with the choices you make, and will make in the future. So make the correct choice. I know I will! Best regards, Your CEO and owner.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 14:50:06 +0000
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