Buzz: Profits up, perks down, employees disgruntled

12:30 PM disgruntled, employees, perks, profits No Comments

The nation’s corporations have been turning in record profits of late, and yet you wouldn't necessarily know it from how their employees are being rewarded.

A Life Inc. post this week looked at how many at-work perks are disappearing even as many are being asked to work longer and harder.

Many said it’s a recipe for unhappiness.

“20 years with this company. There used to be so many little, cheap perks that were real motivators. Now there's virtually nothing,” one reader wrote. “I'm happy to have a job - and a decent one - but it is hard to watch the salaries of senior executives double in those 20 years....and profits higher....and none of the lower rank-and-file employees able to reap any of the rewards.”

Many lamented that their employees seem to think it’s better to motivate by fear than to give a pat on the back for a job well done.

“Our company has the ‘Princess Bride’ motivation package - Goodnight, sleep tight. I'll most likely fire you in the morning,” one reader joked.

But others said they don’t need perks – they’d rather have a raise.

“Spare the pat on the back. Give me the money,” one wrote.

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Grocer, 70, are shops to its employees - free

9:00 AM employees, Grocer, shops No Comments

Just in time for Christmas, a departing Minnesota is grocery store owners give a gift - owned its three stores its approximately 400 employees.

Instead of accepting anyone who received several offers from the large national chains to buy his business, becoming Joe Lueken, 70, village food in Bemidji, Minnesota, and another in Wahpeton, N.D., transferred ownership of his two Lakeland to its employees as part of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The transfer of ownership to the staff of the family Lueken begins in January and not, Employeees costs no money.

The amount of shares that each employee receives will be on content or are based. The program will pay off expected the family Lueken for sale in three to five years, according to a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

"My staff largely responsible earn some benefits for any success that I had and they get", Nigel told the Star Tribune. "It is not always possible. You have to give back."

After by being taught his sons, that she are interested in not the business that were, was Nigel and his family with the employee stock purchase plan transfer ownership.

"We could have hired a Gunslinger from Minneapolis but, that would be not good because of the wage to the right people, not sit" Lueken Sohn Jeff told the Star Tribune.

After 46 years in the business is Lakeland, who has Parkinson's disease, to travel the world in retirement with his wife. Lakeland last week announced that Brent Sicard, who began a janitorial job at Lakeland in 1998's and worked his way up to a top management position as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company will take over.

Nigel looked like a regular guy even as his business grew, driving vans for the company and hang out in the break room with other employees in the years after the Star Tribune.

Sicard, "Joe would arrive at 03: 30 in the morning," said the newspaper. "No one could outstock Joe. Nobody could outwalk Joe. Nobody can outthink Joe. He can go through a $2 million stock and how much there is tell you within a few thousand dollars."

Has the Bemidji help also for charity for years Lakeland scholarships to students in emergency State University Foundation given.

© 2012 NBCNews.com

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How Facebook is friendly to its employees

1:00 PM employees, Facebook, friendly No Comments

CNBC's Carl Quintanilla and Julia Boorstin discuss the many "perks" Facebook offers its employees, including three meals a day, free dry cleaning, and multiple bars with beer on tap.

If you just bought shares in Facebook or are considering doing so, you probably want to know what the company is doing to keep its employees happy.

At its new headquarters in Silicon Valley, CNBC reports that the social media giant goes beyond just free food and on-site drycleaning (that's so Google).

Facebook employees also can use a treadmill while taking conference calls, walk or bike the faux streets of the complex, get a beer on tap and write something on a literal Facebook wall.

Employees also apparently named the conference rooms, which gives you an insight into the geekdom at work here. Got a meeting? Put on your hoodie and head down to Jar Jar Drinks or Mai Tai Fighter.

Do the employee perks at your office compare to the ones at Facebook HQ? Tell us in the comments section below.

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