preview

Our Goals For 2016 Are Focused On Increasing Shareholder Value

Good Essays

“Shareholder value. Our goals for 2016 are primarily focused on increasing shareholder value.”

As I watched many of my colleagues being escorted out of the building on a Wednesday morning in March 2016, my thoughts wandered back to those words spoken at our most recent employee forum from the previous month. Our CEO was on his annual tour of the country speaking to thousands of employees along the way. The message was a positive one. Success in 2015! Projects completed, money saved, and improved customer satisfaction. All of these accomplishments made possible by the innovative and hardworking staff working both behind the scenes and on the frontlines. Now, it was time for new challenges. The message was clear as our CEO …show more content…

Surely if it was attached to a name, they wouldn’t have let my colleague go. If it was attached to a name, they would have remembered that he took a lower paying position with the company just over one year ago because management convinced him it was a more stable, longer-term position. They would have known that he had finally saved enough and just bought his first home one month prior. They would have known that he takes care of his elderly mother. If it was attached to a name they would have known that he came to Canada to find a better life and was in the middle of a two-year application process to sponsor his wife to move to Canada. But they didn’t know. How could they know? He was one of tens of thousands of employees. By outsourcing some of the work to a firm from China, the company could potentially save millions of dollars in Operating Expenses. At the end of the day, really, management was making a calculated decision to place “shareholder value” over the value of their employees.

This is a challenge with being a manager in the world of globalization. When making decisions, it’s tempting to not attach names, to not attach faces, and to get caught wearing blinders with your gaze solely focused on bottom line figures. To be fair, top level managers are primarily judged on their ability to improve profitability. If they can’t deliver financial success, they will most likely not be a top level manager for very long. Globalization is a viable

Get Access