Conference 7.286::digital

    
         Well, we (now former) Storage folk got some pretty nice
    bonuses, too.  Can't say that I was in the same neighborhood as RP,
    but I won't begrudge him his carrot (this time).
    
                                      Greg

	re .1:

	Must be nice!



	billl

    
    	Re .0
    
>	Palmer and other vice pres's get bonuses.  Mr Palmer 
>	got a healthy $375,000 bonus plus 300,000 shares of
>	stock.
    
    According to the Globe story Mr Palmer received *options* for 300,000
    shares of stock. There is quite a difference between shares and
    options for shares.
    
    						Ed
    
    

    You need to be level 18 in Europe to get options so I'm told.Level 18?
    You probably don't know anyone of level 18-Vps I guess.Are options
    still available to workers in the US.Anybody less than level 18 get
    stock options this year-maybe I'm being stitched up?

I'm not familiar with this "level" concept.  I assume it has some correlation
to job title?  A brief check in VTX didn't turn up anything; could someone
provide a pointer to a correlation table or something?  Thanks.

						Brian

    Re: .5
    
    Maybe Europe has a different job classification system than the US?
    Ours have SRI's (31-42) for exempt, which replaced the old level 2-~
    levels a few years back. I recall that a current SRI of 39 = an old
    level 10.
    
    kjg

    if sri 39 is a level 10,the a level 18 would be senior vp at a
    guess.I assume you did not get stock options or did you?
    AS for coherency of levels-it seems to be some sort of state secret
    which is not even divulged to 'managers'.It is spoken of in revered
    terms as though mortals aren't allowed to know,only HR.I work in France
    and the level/title/range system would do Machiavelli proud..

	Me thinks thou doth miss my point....

	or maybe the fact that Mr Palmer is realizing a 'serious' 
	windfall bonus whilst the 'grunts in the trenchs' still
	get single digit raises (if any) every two years does 
	give the same feeling to others as it does me.



	billl

>	or maybe the fact that Mr Palmer is realizing a 'serious' 
>	windfall bonus whilst the 'grunts in the trenchs' still
>	get single digit raises (if any) every two years does 
>	give the same feeling to others as it does me.

 
    I assume you are referring to a feeling of joy and happiness knowing
    that our CEO can continue to buy those high quality suits and
    look good in the marketplace :^) besides you would probably have
    wasted most of that raise on food for the kids anyway :^^)
 

    re: .3 He also received stock awards shortly after the close of the
    fiscal year.
    
    BTW: I hear that here in Digital Semiconductor, we're going to be
    participating in profit-sharing: every employee has to hand over a
    check for $10,000! 8-}

    Excuse me, but where I come from, executives who do well (ie., cut
    costs, improve profits, improve productivity, make $$$ for
    shareholders, etc.) get bonuses.  Business history is full of
    executives who did a hell of a lot less than BP has done, yet got 
    much bigger bonuses.  Call me a vegetarian, but where's the beef?
    
    No, I didn't get a bonus and no, I don't get any profit-sharing,
    either.
    
    
    

    but, I personally think the jury is still out on whether Digital has
    "done well"...
    
    tony

    MVCS...field service is the most successfull area in this company
    
    in Canada MVCS our total bonus worked out to 2.5 % of your base
    this was paid in 5 installments, once per quarter and then once
    at year end.
    
    Palmers looks more like 30 %
    
    
    Seems fair.
    
    Brian V
    
    
    PS I'm out of here 10-OCT...going to work for an OEM
    
    

    Interesting to see the upper chiefs being rewarded.  I guess Palmer's 41%
    (375k/900k) must be the cumulative sum of all Business Units profit
    sharing.  Storage 10% + Networks 7ish% + Service 2.5% + ?
    
    Cheers,
    Paul  
    
    
Extracted from VNS publication.
    
<><><><><><><><>  T h e   V O G O N   N e w s   S e r v i c e  <><><><><><><><>

 Edition : 3395               Monday 25-Sep-1995            Circulation :  4574 

...
        
 Digital - Palmer, other VPs, get bonuses
	{The Boston Globe, 21-Sep-95, p. 49}
   Digital gave chairman Robert Palmer a bonus of $375,000 in fiscal 1995,
 although he didn't get a salary increase, according to the company's latest
 proxy statement.  The executive's salary was kept at $900,016, even as the
 nation's 3rd largest computer maker posted its 1st profit in four years in the
 year ended July 1.  Palmer also was awarded stock options for 300,000 shares
 prior to the close of the fiscal year and at the time of his appointment to
 chairman in May, the statement said.  Palmer also received stock awards
 shortly after the close of the fiscal year.  In addition, vice presidents
 Charles F. Christ, Enrico Pesatori, William D. Strecker, and John J. Rando all
 received bonuses.

...
    ***************************************************************************
    
    
   
    

    re 11
    Here's the beef..
    The jury is out on whether we have done well and is due to return a
    verdict of NO.
    Reducing staff is easy.Decimating consulting is easy.Efficiently
    producing commodity products is easy too(you can buy cookbooks on the
    subject..).In the Digital world,reorganising every six months is easy
    too-my cat could do that for us.
    So leaving all of these miracles out.What has been done in reality.Are
    we a more solid company than before?Do we have a well articulated
    vision that our customers share?No we don't
    Here's the future.
    Commodity servers.Commodity network products.Network connectivity as
    the key added value.
    Client/server?forget it.IBM glasshouse(watch the DVN)-must be
    joking.Communications software business?very doubtful.
    We still have a company of 60+ thousand employees with 100+thousand
    opinions on everything-ie we do not have a shared vision and our
    customers know it.CAll it diversity if you will but chaos is a better
    term.
    On paper,for a small period,we look good but we are built on sand and
    Bob does not deserve a bonus.Period

    
    	Sure he needs a bonus. That Porsche is six years old. CEOs do not
    drive six year old cars. Porsches cost *lots* of money. Uncle Sam
    needs to take his cut (can you spell 38% tax bracket?), and kids
    always need something....
    
    	Besides he really didn't get much all things considered (cash,
    anyways) compared to all the other bozos running US companies these
    days.
    
    	While the jury is still out on us, the clock is ticking. If we
    don't have revenue growth at the industry average, or better, this
    year, the spiral will continue....
    
    
    			the Greyhawk

    As Ken Olsen was driving Digital into the ground in the late 80's,
    he had some whopping $10m+ compensation years... and he drove
    cheap Fords.  Altho Palmer has some nicer cars, he still doesn't
    come even close to Ken's self-appreciation.
    k
    

    
    
    Ken started and built the company into a $14 Billion enterprise.  

There was an article in the Boston Globe Saturday on how the upper management of 
Bradlees was getting $300-500K bonuses while the company was in Bankruptcy.  It
was done to keep the key people from jumping ship.

Bradlee's management claimed this was normal.


Tim

    I was incredulous when I read that article on Bradlees. I mean why
    would you want to keep the people on board that drove you into
    bankruptcy? If they want to jump ship, let them. Use that bonus money
    to get some real talent into the company.
    
    Reb

Reb:

> I mean why would you want to keep the people on board that
> drove you into bankruptcy?

  The board of Bradlees can't fire Sam Walton.

  It's not a coincidence that Caldor, another retailer similar
  to Bradlees, has also entered bankruptcy protection.

                                   Atlant

The people Bradlees is trying to keep are not necessarily the ones that caused
the original damage.

It would look a bit better if those bonuses were postponed until they actually
succeeded in turning the chain around before rewarding them with the bonuses.

Tim

> The board of Bradlees can't fire Sam Walton.

Does Wal Mart own Bradlees?  Besides, Sam's dead....

Dave

Dave:

  My point, of course, was that it is quite possible that Bradlee's
  execs may have managed as well as anyone could, but that they sim-
  ply couldn't compete against the stronger, more aggressive Walmart.

  There of course may be a lesson for Digital in all of this as we
  compete against Wintel.
                                   Atlant

	I guess Mrs. B isn't selling then...

							mike

    re the earlier note about stock options in Europe.
    
    You don't have to be level 18 to get them.  Several years back I
    received some and I doubt I'll ever get to a level 18. The first
    "award" I had was around the time the stock almost reached $200 - I dah
    options to buy at $157 - ny the time I could have exercised the options
    the price was down to ~$80 and still falling.
    
    Digital eventually offered to buy them back and I made about $100 on
    the deal. My other half also worked here at that time and won an
    "exelence award" - the SWAS (as then) equiv of my Engineering award. 
    We had a good weekend in a nice hotel with party and side trips - a lot
    more than $100 worth (and the tax man wasn't even interested!).
    
    The moral is that stock options these days are not what they used to
    be.
    
    Jc