And they still want guaranteed bonuses

I had lunch with a friend this past Monday. He's simply one of the best software developers I ever met and he credits me with saving his life - back during the summer of 2001, I recruited him to a software company I was helping to build and it was down to me and eSpeed. Being quietly persuasive must have helped because the eSpeed offer was for more money.

A few months later, many at eSpeed were murdered on 9/11 at the WTC.

He now works at one of the companies involved in global financial services (one of the big ones - and I can't name names). This week, his group will hear what their bonuses might be for 2009. What's unusual for me is his assertion that if the group doesn't hear the right guaranteed numbers or a decision on the bonus structure is pushed out several months, they're going to bolt.

I'm not sure this is a wise decision at this time despite my belief that someone is sure to come up with guaranteed numbers. Abandoning ship would be great for any recruiter working with these people since the lowest base in this group is $200K. But every person for themselves, while great for a free-market system (of which I, despite being a lifelong Democrat, am a big fan of) would further deplete a company that doesn't need any more depletion.

The group generates a good deal of profit for the company - and frankly, the people in this group are happy with the work and the culture. Guarantees are wonderful to have but I reminded him of the title of an Erma Bombeck book, The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank. Ah, the devil you know versus the devil you don't...

What would your advice be to him?

Comment by Maureen Sharib on January 29, 2009 at 11:48am: What do they say about mysteries wrapped in enigmas wrapped in conundrums wrapped in riddles wrapped in paradoxes wrapped in quandaries...you get the picture. When more than 1/3 of the population reports being "deeply affected" by the current financial crisis and another 47% report being "moderately affected" it seems to me that maybe caution might enetr into and preside over decision making. I understand that maybe these guys are young and hope springs eternal and all that but my goodness, can't someone get through to them that these times are like nothing any of us have seen before?

Comment by Jim Durbin on January 29, 2009 at 1:52pm: I believe Congress is looking into a windfall profit tax on workers who get more than a 3% raise or a bonus.

http://www.utterli.com/u/utt/u-NTAyNzgzOA#utt-NTAyNzgzOA

Comment by Steve Levy on January 29, 2009 at 2:05pm: Jim, the bill must be sponsored by Vladimir Putin and Wen Jiabao.

If superior personal performance begats superior business performance, the those who drive this should receive the bonus and not be taxed for what some might call out of line. Who decides what out-of-line means? What is excessive and what is reasonable?

To create statutes that limit the free market system is to accept mediocrity. We already have it in education and we see what this has brought us.

Comment by pam claughton on January 29, 2009 at 2:05pm: Does he want advice? I think he has to do whatever he wants to do, whatever is best for him. Is he aware though of how different the market is now? And that he is in the elite pay range for software developers? Salaries of over 200k on base are few and far between. However if he is that good that he can command that kind of money, odds are he won't have too much difficulty finding work.

Comment by Jim Durbin on January 29, 2009 at 2:32pm: We have it in our energy policy too - and we're definitely suffering there.

There's a funny cartoon that has a woman talking about how she works to get the best salary she can, maximize bonuses, and enhance her benefit package. When she hears that oil companies did the same, she screams and points her finger" PRICE GOUGER!"

There is no difference between penalizing a company for making too much and penalizing a person for doing so. Luckily, a Democrat controlled Congress for the last two years and projected into the future is yielding fruit.

We're poorer, no happier, but more equal. Only a few decades to go and we'll be Soviet Russia! All equally poor!

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-01/cheer-were-no-happier-we-are-more-equally-unhappy