Small IT Company Takeovers

[VectraMan]

The company I'm working for was taken over not so long ago, and I don't think the permies have got anything out of it apart from a promise of a profit share scheme down the road. Directors will sell it to the staff as improved job security and maybe other improvements, but you can't hide the fact they've done it for a fat load of cash for themselves.

I agree with Cojak. Loyal employees are mugs. I'm working for me now, and wouldn't consider permidom unless I had some kind of stake in the company.

[DeadMansShoes]

Well looks like there is going to be a pay out to senior staff after all. Mind you that could mean HMV vouchers for all anyone knows.

[Churchill]

Yeah, I contracted at a firm in Derby and they stopped paying the permies overtime, said they were professionals, and professionals don't get overtime, and put them onto Profit Related Pay. The permies all thought it was wonderful, as the company had always made a tidy profit. I just started laughing (until told off).

Year later: oh dear, sorry chaps, company has not made any profit...

threaded in "Didn't even need the time machine to see that coming" mode.

Well that was pretty obvious considering your daily pie ingestion rate, they're never going to make a profit!

[threaded]

Or as a colleage of mine found out, shares are absolutely useless when the company doesn't profit (as so many are engineered not to these days).

Yeah, I contracted at a firm in Derby and they stopped paying the permies overtime, said they were professionals, and professionals don't get overtime, and put them onto Profit Related Pay. The permies all thought it was wonderful, as the company had always made a tidy profit. I just started laughing (until told off).

Year later: oh dear, sorry chaps, company has not made any profit...

threaded in "Didn't even need the time machine to see that coming" mode.

[Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]

Hmmmm, either I can give you a payrise or I can fire you, make all the other people in your team work harder and earn a bonus for cutting costs. Decisions, decisions...

[cojak]

Well you have to perform due diligence as well...

[Fungus]

This is a lesson in life, Ladies and Gents. I would only join a start up buiness as a permie if I was able to put a bit of capital forward and given shares in return. Otherwise just pay me the day rate...

The last client I was with was bought by Thales. Then the directors staged a management buy out in association with Lehman Brothers. The directors told the staff they would get substantial sums of money, enough to buy a new car each. John Lehman (a once big figure in the US state department) flew in from the US and sincerely told the permies how much he cared about them. Then he went home and not long later the client was sold for a fat profit to an American company. The directors made nice tidy sums of money and then were kicked out by the new owners. The permies got no substantial sums of money. In fact they got no extra money. Or even annual pay rises. Instead every three months 5-10 permies were laid off. And they were given the statutary minimum redundancy payments.

I've seen similar to the above at several sites, sometimes as a permie.

When a manager says they care about you, it means they are about to feck you over, and make a nice earner for themselves.

[TheMonkey]

This is a lesson in life, Ladies and Gents. I would only join a start up buiness as a permie if I was able to put a bit of capital forward and given shares in return. Otherwise just pay me the day rate...

Or as a colleage of mine found out, shares are absolutely useless when the company doesn't profit (as so many are engineered not to these days).

[cojak]

This is a lesson in life, Ladies and Gents. I would only join a start up buiness as a permie if I was able to put a bit of capital forward and given shares in return. Otherwise just pay me the day rate...

[BlasterBates]

...and without the janitor, bin man, dinner ladies, plumbers etc etc who are all vital to the company, you would starve to death or suffocate under a pile of rubbish. What will they get ?

[The Lone Gunman]

It does happen, but it depends on the guys who own the business.
A firm I worked for sold out to a big hitter. The two owners paid substantial sums to the five staff who had built the business the rest of us got taken out for a very nice dinner and drinkies. None of us felt bitter.

[Lucifer Box]

No one is indispensable and all those disgruntled permies who think they are are about to find out how wrong they are. Now if they had put their money where their mouths are and invested in the company themselves they could expect a handout, as it is why should they expect to get anything? I assume they have been adequately rewarded for their labour.

It might be a "nice" thing to do, but would you distribute your proceeds to your staff if you were bought out? I suspect not. After all, who's taken all the risk?

[DeadMansShoes]

Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience of working in a small IT company that was taken over? Was anyone offered any of the profits by the directors - or is this unheard of?
I am currently contracting in a company of 8, that is being taken over for a substantial sum. Many of key staff have been there for almost as long as the company existed, and without them there would be no company. They are not being offered anything.
Just wondering if this is standard? The atmosphere isn't great at the moment!