Thursday, April 05, 2007
$14 Million for Paula Reynolds
I'm sure that all my friends who are being laid off because their department is being outsourced will be happy to know that their sacrifice has saved the company so much money that CEO Paula Reynolds could take a salary of $14 Million. Honestly, I can't begin to tell you how much this pisses me off. Nickel and diming hard working employees so that the CEO can pocket an exhorbitant paycheck. It really makes me sick. I don't know why we can't outsource our CEO. I'm sure there's somebody in India who will do her job for a lot less. And to put things in perspective, Mike McGavick, former CEO of Safeco got ripped in his senate campaign for cutting jobs while taking a large salary, and he was at $8 Million his last year on the job. But at least he saved the company from bankruptcy. PIF counts (policies in force) are still down from when Paula took over. The only reason earnings per share are up is because she's been laying people off and selling off company owned real estate and moving into rented office space. I have to believe that both moves are going to backfire in the long run. But then again, maybe that's why I'm not making an 8 figure salary......
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Safeco is still the strangest company I ever worked for. The three years I spent there were surreal. My first day on the job the company laid off quite a few people, so I spent the next 36 months wondering when the axe would fall in my general direction. McGavick certainly didn't make many friends, but Scott is dead on when he states that he kept Safeco from falling into insolvency by trimming a lot of fat. As much as I enjoyed the Redmond campus it was impossible to not hear the din of money being sucked out of Safeco's bottom line everytime the AC kicked on.
I don't know much about the new regime, but from what I hear their time in charge has been a mixed-bag. Outsourcing is a reality that isn't going to go away anytime soon, especially in a state as hostile to corporations as WA. Companies have to make money to keep people employed, otherwise they turn into what has become of the US auto industry and that is inflexible, cumbersome, and drowing in a sea of inefficiency and debt. Lean and mean is the way to go these days.
Scott, which departments were impacted by the latest layoffs? If you know of anyone with underwriting experience, the company I work for now is seriously hurting for experienced underwriters. They are also looking for technical/production support types and anyone that can fog a mirror in their customer service departments...
That is so lame.
Careful though. Bobbi doesn't like people talking about Safeco on their websites.
Agency Service Operations is the latest department to get the ax. They keep changing the name of the department, so there's no telling what it was called when you were there, but it was Personal Lines Operations before. Basically it is the department that services personal policies. So if you need to add a vehicle or driver to your policy, somebody in India is going to be handling that soon. Unfortunately, no real underwriting experience, other than handling requests handed down by underwriters.
And Molitor, technically I'm talking about Paula Reynolds, not Safeco. But I know I can count on you to not mention it to Bobbi. As a matter of fact, maybe it's for the best if she doesn't even know that you know me.
Selling the real property, outsourcing every function possible, laying off as many employees as you can - these tactics will not backfire. The goal appears to be to sell the business altogether. What carrier will want more than the existing business and agent base? Going this lean in such a haphazard, incautious way matters not if what is up for sale is the PIFs and agent relationships. What carrier wants the tower, the ancient systems and all those pesky employees?
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