Andersen Corp. (window makers) is a well-known employer up here in the Twin Cities whose business has slowed down greatly with the housing slow down. Nonetheless, the company is still issuing profit sharing checks for all of its eligible employees (22% of their salaries!). The part that caught my eye:
Andersen announced in early December that it was cutting 400 manufacturing positions at its Bayport plant and an additional 40 at a plant in Menomonie, Wis. The company cited a dramatic downturn in housing construction as the reason for the job eliminations. Those workers’ last day on the job was Jan. 2.
In that same December announcement, Andersen officials said that the employees losing their jobs would still get their profit-sharing checks for 2006.
Good for Andersen – that is the right way to do it. Unfortunately, I think there are many companies that would not be so exemplary in their approach.
I’m reminded of a different example. A salesperson friend of mine worked for a family-owned and run company for 8 years with a profit-sharing plan. Despite increasing revenue in those years, the non-family employees only received a single, small profit-sharing check one year out of the 8 he worked there. Strangely, each improving year saw increased expenses . . . expenses that were never explained nor revealed to the employees.