We’ve had suitors, but none that offered enough to answer the two main co-owners’ big question of “this is still fun, so what else am I gonna do if I stop?” They both started around the age of 20. I graduated college, so I didn’t come on until I was 23, which was still over 50 years ago! There were only about 12 of us then—over 1000 now. They’d never get $1.7 billion for the company, since it doesn’t make anywhere near enough to justify such a purchase price.
However, the co-owners are still human. No expense is spared when offices want food or birthday cakes, summer parties or year-end celebrations. When people fall sick, they are kept on no matter what to keep them insured. We have one guy who has been with us for about 35 years. He is now 86, bankrupted by daughters on perpetual drug rehab, now being eaten up himself by cancer. No way does he get let go. Some time ago, another employee had a different addiction problem (religion), and he started to try to convert everyone in the company to Christianity. He was let go, but kept on the payroll for the health insurance until he found a new job. Only about three things will get you fired outright: physical assault, theft or sexual harassment. The company makes an effort to rotate who goes on the occasional trips to Hong Kong, so that employees get to go who would otherwise never be able to afford it.
I have no idea if there is some kind of earnings formula that guides the price at which a company gets sold. I am relatively confident that after fifty years, our two co-CEOs will not forget the people who helped them be successful. One was born in Texas, and the other hails from New England. No one lives forever. In five years, those few of us who were there “from the beginning,” or close to it, will be pushing 80. Judging by family medical history, I figure my chances of making it that far are 50-50 at best. But do I gracefully retire and divide my time between cruise ships and TV? Not my style. Yet, anyway!! I am forced to admit, Europe and its catastrophic travel infrastructure are wearing me down, especially after the last week.
Still, I like working for an outfit that lets me determine my own work schedule, take whatever vacation time I want, when I want. Moreover, ALL employees who come across unexpected hardship situations get heard, and deal with HR people whose job it is to hear them out, and help if possible. We may not have a billion dollars to toss around, but there is more than one company in the USA that could have taken a mercenary attitude toward its employees and chooses not to.
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