Plant Services - January 2008 - (Page 48) IN THE TRENCHES The scenario presented here is based on a true story; only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. Removing the thorn Acme learns a lesson about its strategy for paying off a leveraged buyout cme Associates, a maintenance consulting firm, focuses on mega-malls, high-rise offices and other large commercial facilities. The company realized there were opportunities in the industrial market. Acme knew how to consult and run an outsourced maintenance management operation, but unfortunately it had no industrial experience. Through some creative financing, Acme Associates bought Nadir Consulting, an established, privately-held industrial maintenance consulting firm. The owners, secure financially, wanted to drop the daily grind. Acme needed Nadir’s loyal client base. The buyout gave Acme marketplace credibility. Acme established a subsidiary, Acme Industrial, to serve Nadir’s customers and other industrial clients it identified. Acme began staffing the subsidiary with its own employees who either wanted to do industrial work or had no realistic promotion path within Acme Associates. Then, Acme discussed employment opportunities with a few Nadir consultants who possessed two critical skills: they proved they could bring in new work and they could generate sufficient billable hours on existing contracts to justify hiring them. One non-union Nadir employee Acme considered was Dawn Keyotey, a reliability consultant with years of experience in the traditionally male-dominated field. To make the deal work, Acme had to keep costs low. It negotiated compensation packages with the Nadir employees that were generally less favorable than what Nadir paid. For example, their Nadir rates were generally below what Acme paid its own people. Nevertheless, Dawn accepted a position at Acme Industrial even though her commission schedule wasn’t finalized. Despite that uncertainty, Dawn racked up billable hours and found much new work. When she finally received a copy of the commission schedule for new business she uncovered, she was shocked to find Acme would be paying a seasoned consultant at such a low rate. She contacted the other Nadir consultants and learned that they, too, were given lower rates. After giving this some thought, Dawn sent an e-mail to the Acme executive team on her own behalf and that of her Nadir colleagues to report their collective opinion that the commission schedules are much too low for skilled, experienced industrial consultants. She also sent a copy of the 48 A e-mail to Al Geeblume, the Acme manager responsible for the geographic region in which Dawn operated. On both of these memos, Dawn signed off as “union president.” Dawn then repeatedly asked Emma Rilldile, Acme’s HR manager, to meet with her and the Nadir group to discuss their concerns about the pay and other issues. When it became clear that she wasn’t going to get a response, she changed tactics. At each weekly field consultant meeting, Dawn raised compensation matters on behalf of her Nadir colleagues. With that cat now out of the bag, the other Nadirites became more emboldened to voice their complaints about how Acme was treating them, the management structure, and the executives that constitute that structure. When Dawn received her first commission check under the new plan, the amount was incorrectly calculated. This only gave her more complaint fodder. Nevertheless, it didn’t dampen her motivation to continue searching out even more new business. She needed the money. Two months later, Al and Emma met with her in what Dawn thought was going to be a reconciliation of financial injustices and celebration of her success as a rainmaker. But she was tragically wrong – in vicious retaliation for her endless carping, Al and Emma fired her without warning, then danced a jig of victory with her confiscated Nadir company laptop. Now the remaining former Nadir consultants could complain about her termination that wasn’t done in accordance with the progressive disciplinary process outlined in January 2008 www.PLANTSERVICES.com http://www.PLANTSERVICES.com
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