Proud of My Boss

[goldberry]

For years I have done bookkeeping for a smaller privately owned company.  They make window treatments, particularly interior shutters.  Every time we finish a financial period that was profitable, he gives out bonuses - to everybody.  Office, sales, and shop guys.   This owner could CHOOSE to take ever increasing bonuses for himself.  He does take a nice bonus for himself.  He could CHOOSE to say a shop guy doesn't deserve a $500 bonus for his particular low level job, cause the market sets the rates, right?  But he acknowledges that everyone at a company contributes to the success.   For this reason he has loyalty among his employees.  People stay there.

I often wonder how this would run if it was publicly owned.  Shareholders are everything, and how dare you give lower level employees extra money?  I really wish more companies were like this.  It's not common to feel proud of the company you work for, but I feel proud of the way this guy runs his business.  It is indeed possible to make all employees feel appreciated.

Editing, he has also helped shop employees who wanted to buy a house by giving them loans to repay with small weekly payroll deductions.

Edited May 11, 2022 by goldberry

[lmrich]

Honestly, this is why small businesses are the backbone of America. Building trust and caring for your employees makes better employees and then makes a better business. It is a win- win. So glad you have found a good one. 

[Scarlett]

I have the same kind of boss.  He has such integrity while also being a brilliant businessman.  He has helped a lot of people over the years. 

[Kanin]

Aww. That's so awesome. 

[LifeLovePassion]

Reminds me of the guy in Seattle who lowered his salary to 70k as well as raised everyone else's to that amount. It was featured on the news and his company is doing well and growing. Imagine that. .. treating people right encourages loyalty.

[goldberry]

8 minutes ago, LifeLovePassion said:

Reminds me of the guy in Seattle who lowered his salary to 70k as well as raised everyone else's to that amount. It was featured on the news and his company is doing well and growing. Imagine that. .. treating people right encourages loyalty.

I know, I mentioned once to the owner that it was so nice that he took good care of his employees.  He said well it helps when you have good people to work for you, and I said, yes, but there's a correlation there.  People work harder when they feel appreciated.  And good workers who don't feel appreciated... leave.  Poor workers find out pretty quickly they don't fit well in the environment and seem to kind of weed themselves out because everyone else has a standard they meet.

[Katy]

When I was a kid one of my uncles worked for a small business like that.  When the owner wanted to retire he sold the business and gave every employee something like a year's salary for every year they had worked there.  Uncle started in high school so it was around 2 million dollars.  Such a wonderful owner.

ETA: I remember it was more than 2 million, but clearly my elementary school memory didn't have a good grip on math.  I have no idea what the multiplier was.

Edited May 11, 2022 by Katy