Check Out The Scenario

Please excuse any typos. I cranked this out in 5 minutes at work and didn't have time to edit.

Check The Scenario:

Say you work for a multinational corporate conglomerate… One that employs around 200k people in the US alone… They are always talking about their strength and stability…in public. Privately, though, there’s talk of belt tightening, reduced bonuses, and worst of all layoffs.

Then say that this company pays a majority of its employees on a fixed pay schedule. The 15th and the last day of the month. It’s been like that since you’ve been working there and although you would like to get paid every two weeks like virtually everyone else you know that’s not a teacher, you’ve adjusted to the schedule.

Then say you get an email telling you that your mulit national conglomerate is changing the pay schedule so that everyone gets paid at the same time. Payroll will run on Fridays every two weeks. For a moment, you express your happiness like the rest of your peers at this supposed piece of good news. This change will go into effect in Mid March, with the first Friday payday being April 3rd.

Then say, you start reading between the lines and discover what is not explicitly written in the email. This means you will not be getting paid on 3/31 like you normally would. This means that payday is being pushed back 3 days, which although its not a big deal to your personally, is an inconvenience. And what about those people that have rent due on the first and don’t have a grace period. And what about incentive bonuses? How will those be handled now that we no longer get paid at the end of the month? And what about people that get quarterly bonuses… And then it hits you…

This might have been done intentionally.

Say your company is trying to put on a brave face in the midst of this global recession. Cuts are being made just about everywhere. Hell, they didn’t even put up a Christmas tree in your building to save on electricity. In spite of all the cutbacks, profits are down, just like virtually every other company. But the company has a responsibility to its share holders. You start thinking… When does the 1st fiscal quarter end: March 31st. When aren’t you going to be paid: March 31st! Can this really be a coincidence. You start thinking maybe you are over thinking it..

But the thought lingers in your head. How much money could they really save by not paying us. Just for kicks, you do the math. Of course, you have no idea what people make, so this is by no means scientific, but just say we take an lowball average of $1000 per employee. That adds up to 200 Million Dollars!!! Heaven forbid we add in quarterly bonuses and monthly bonuses. You shudder to think about how much money is not being reported properly. It’s impossible to say how much money that is. You think could they really be doing this to delay this expenditure until the second quarter when things will hopefully get better? You think to yourself: This is some Enron stuff. If you can figure out this move, then who knows what else is going on behind the scenes. Should you be worried???

Here’s my question: Are you being paranoid? Are you overthinking the situation? Are you just plain wrong? I’d love to hear your opinion!