Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees • Hacker News Board

Re: Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees

#91

Post by rayiner » Fri, Jul 20, 2012, 9:04 PM UTC

sirclueless wrote: post #71

rayiner wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without the line workers, there is no product. Without a CEO there is no product. They're both but-for causes (in the legal sense), and in that sense equally indispensable. What you need is a sensitivity analysis, of profitability of the company versus changes in CEO versus line worker performance. I'd imagine you'd find that a 20% efficiency jump in the line workers would have a much bigger change on the bottom line…

But think of the labor costs. Can you get a 20% better CEO with 3 million dollars? Probably. Can you get 10,000 line workers 20% better with 3 million dollars? Probably not. So even if the line workers are more important, a large CEO bonus may provide better value.

I'm not arguing that the CEO is overpaid. I'm pointing out that the amount the CEO is paid is not determined by value to the company, it's determined by supply and demand in the labor market.

Re: Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees

#92

Post by nateburke » Fri, Jul 20, 2012, 9:05 PM UTC

ralfn wrote: post #59

nateburke wrote: post #29

Guts. This guy has guts. Hoarding away a 3m bonus like that has an implicit statement of "I'm afraid for my own fiscal future to the tune of 3m dollars" stamped on it. Instead, he gives it away, telling the world and his employees that he is confident, nay, OPTIMISTIC about the company's future. To contrast, take the typical American CEO: he or she would have taken this money, offshored it, spent another couple of ye…

A bit off topic, but anyway: In buddism, the term for discipline is the same turn used for morality. ( they dont make the distinction ) You, here, interrestingly, suggest that a relationship between morality and guts. Im not agreeing or disagreeing with anything in particular here. Just considered the contrast interesting.

I think this makes sense, personally. I have often found that it takes courage to follow one's own moral compass.

Now does it follow that it takes guts to have discipline or vice-versa? I think so, more in the sense that it takes discipline to have guts. Courage (guts) has a shelf life--it needs to be exercised to be maintained.

Re: Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees

#93

Post by keithpeter » Fri, Jul 20, 2012, 9:08 PM UTC

bconway wrote: post #78

keithpeter wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I received the equivalent of a month's wages as a bonus when I met a certain set of criteria for my teaching. It was a nice pat on the back. This feels good.

Depending on your location and level of teaching, how did your union feel about that (if relevant)? Every time we try to reward our best teachers, it gets blocked because it's not "fair" to those who didn't excel. Go figure.

UK specific, in Further Education Colleges. A one off bonus payable when teachers met certain criteria: accessible to all teachers in the College, not any form of performance related pay or anything like that. Union were fine with that.

There was also a government initiative known as 'the threshold' but that was a permanent uplift in pay, again depending on transparent criteria, and again accessible to all teachers after their 'probationary year' (first year of teaching) was completed.

Re: Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees

#94

Post by bherms » Fri, Jul 20, 2012, 9:09 PM UTC

delinka wrote: post #49

rayiner wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without the line workers, there is no product. Without a CEO there is no product. They're both but-for causes (in the legal sense), and in that sense equally indispensable. What you need is a sensitivity analysis, of profitability of the company versus changes in CEO versus line worker performance. I'd imagine you'd find that a 20% efficiency jump in the line workers would have a much bigger change on the bottom line…

CEO takes two weeks off. What happens to the company? 10,000 "low-level" employees take two weeks off (all at once.) What happens to the company? Companies operate without CEOs while boards seek candidates. Companies can't produce product while it seeks 10,000 replacement workers. As long as we have the chief executive on one hand and the workers on the other, that is.

10,000 line workers can easily be replaced by another 10,000 people with (likely) little to no education, credentials, etc... CEO on the other hand? Doubt it.

Re: Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees

#95

Post by DigitalSea » Fri, Jul 20, 2012, 9:17 PM UTC

Considering just how expensive everything has become, maybe the employee's can use that $300 to fill the gas in their tanks all the way up!

Re: Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees

#96

Post by product50 » Fri, Jul 20, 2012, 9:18 PM UTC

marknutter wrote: post #84

How is this any different than, for instance, Steve Jobs taking only $1 per year in CEO salary?

He is not giving away his salary but the bonus. All CEOs of major companies make more money through bonuses and stock options than just salary. This guy gave away his bonus away. Not sure I have seen a lot of that. To contrast see this guy who virtually destroyed Acer and still took away $43M - http://allthingsd.com/20120622/ousted-acer-ceo-gianfranco-la...

Re: Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees

#97

Post by rayiner » Fri, Jul 20, 2012, 9:24 PM UTC

bherms wrote: post #94

delinka wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CEO takes two weeks off. What happens to the company? 10,000 "low-level" employees take two weeks off (all at once.) What happens to the company? Companies operate without CEOs while boards seek candidates. Companies can't produce product while it seeks 10,000 replacement workers. As long as we have the chief executive on one hand and the workers on the other, that is.

10,000 line workers can easily be replaced by another 10,000 people with (likely) little to no education, credentials, etc... CEO on the other hand? Doubt it.

Again, you're conflating supply and demand with contribution.

Re: Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees

#98

Post by malnourish » Fri, Jul 20, 2012, 9:24 PM UTC

jakejake wrote: post #81

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now there's a backhanded compliment! Dude, it doesn't matter how rich he is. He gave away his own money to the people who are making him rich as a gesture of thanks and goodwill. WTF would you find anything to belittle that?

I agree it's a nice gesture & there's nothing negative about it. Just don't expect me to bow when you throw out a few scraps to us peasants. I'd be more impressed by somebody who is living check-to-check donating $10 to a good cause.

It is our responsibility to do what we can, some can do more. Do not belittle those that are doing what they can.

We must encourage the wealthy to give back, and snide remarks are certainly not encouraging.

Re: Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees

#99

Post by DannoHung » Fri, Jul 20, 2012, 9:36 PM UTC

biot wrote: post #61

delinka wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CEO takes two weeks off. What happens to the company? 10,000 "low-level" employees take two weeks off (all at once.) What happens to the company? Companies operate without CEOs while boards seek candidates. Companies can't produce product while it seeks 10,000 replacement workers. As long as we have the chief executive on one hand and the workers on the other, that is.

If you permanently eliminate the position for one line worker, there is essentially zero impact to the company; it continues along with only a 0.01% drop of efficiency. If you permanently eliminate the CEO position, there is multiple orders of magnitude greater impact to the company. That's why the compensation for each role is different.

> If you permanently eliminate the CEO position, there is multiple orders of magnitude greater impact to the company.

Has this been actually measured?

Re: Lenovo CEO Gives His $3 Million Bonus to 10,000 Employees

#100

Post by sbov » Fri, Jul 20, 2012, 9:36 PM UTC

biot wrote: post #90

delinka wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's not the comparison. It's CEO versus all the employees, not a single employee.

I thought the salient point was the relative compensation of the average CEO to the average employee. What insight do you gain by comparing a mass exodus of every employee to a vacation by a single CEO? Isn't it trivially obvious that if every single person in a company takes off at once, that the company is effectively stopped regardless of who you compare it to?

Because he gave his bonus to 10,000 employees, not 1 other random employee.