REVEALING PRIORITIES
We recently received an email responding to information we published in our last two posts concerning Priority One Credit Union's expenditures.
In many businesses, companies show their appreciation of their employees during the month of December, often in the form of a holiday party or bonuses.
In January 2008, during an all-staff meeting in South Pasadena, California, President Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. stated that the credit union had sustained losses but believed improvements in business would be seen by the end of March. Despite having borrowed $20 million from the credit union's line-of-credit in mid-2008, the credit union ended the year in the negative.
Evidently, the gravity of the credit union's financial standing was irrelevant to the President who authorized that the credit union conduct another of its annual holiday parties. The "holiday committee" appointed to plan the party, chose the Equestrian Center located in Burbank, California is its venue for the celebration. Though the President has often stated that the credit union must reduce spending, the credit union rented a large banquet room, hired entertainment, and purchased lots and lots of gifts for the occasion. Invitations were sent out allowing every employee to bring one guest. Invitations were also mailed to the credit union's ambassadors who were also allowed to bring one guest. According to one of the emails we received, the cost of the celebration exceeded $25,000.
We can't understand why a credit union that is suffering financial setbacks would choose to spend in excess of $25,000 for a single 3 to 4 hour party. Does this seem prudent? Though its wonderful, if possible, to show employees gratitude for hard work, in this case the expense constitutes waste. It might have been far less expense to give every non-exempt employee a bonus. It certainly would have been more appreciative.
That said, one of the persons who wrote to us states that employees were asked if they would like a party of a bonus and the majority voted for a bonus. The President dismissed what employees and apparently, threw the party for himself. Was his motivation for choosing to conduct a party actually a public relations move to try and impress the ambassadors? Apparently, showing appreciation to the staff for their hard work was not the reason why the party was conducted.
"Our world is drowning in a sea of self-centeredness. You can make yourself quite unique right away by leaving this ocean of selfishness and choosing to be curious about other people"- John Bytheway
Kindly Share The Love»»
|
|
|
Tweet | Save on Delicious |
No comments:
Post a Comment