Hey guys. I have a troublesome issue that is plaguing my company and I don't have an answer in how to deal with it. I'm hoping that some of you can give some helpful answers and also hope that through some discussion, I can come up with a way to resolve the issue. Here's the deal.
I am CEO of a LARGE company. We employ about 300,000 people at my company. So as you can expect, there are problems with not only making sure there's enough work for my employees as the economy goes through it's turbulence, but also with the cost of insuring and keeping up with cost of living increases and all the other things that come with a workforce of that size.
My dilemma is this. It has always been my company's policy to allow anybody who wants to enter the company facilities and start working, regardless of qualifications, ability, age or even health. This was established long before I took over a few years ago. Let me just tell you....The number of new, unqualified employees grows by the day now! It is estimated that every single day, between 15 and 25 new people show up to start working at my company without any previous invitation. This is in addition to the new employees that were actually hired through the HR department and have qualifications. These new, unqualified people also do so without any new jobs available for them to take. Not only that, but my company bylaws state that we are not only obligated to give these people a paycheck no matter what their ability, but also to give them free healthcare AND free housing on company premises!!! Meaning that somehow, I MUST come up with extra funds each day to pay these people, house these people, AND insure these people. And I am not permitted to fire any employees I already have, nor to fire any new employees NO MATTER WHAT! A daunting task, as one might imagine.
My solution has lately been drawing fire from my long established employees. Please tell me if you agree with me or my employees in this disagreement. I decided that due to the escalating cost from taking on these new, unqualified and untalented employees, my company must lower the wages of all employees who ARE qualified. I also decided to make them pay a much larger portion of their health benefits to help pay for these new employees and their health benefits. As you can see, when adding between 15 and 25 new employees daily, it is becoming a huge drain on the finances of not only my company, but it's also becoming a morale problem with my already existing employees. But I feel my hands are tied. I must also add that last year, I started forcing all longtime, qualified employees to purchase healthcare whether they want it or not, so I can also insure those that are not qualified and have no money to pay for healthcare.
Anyway, my employees feel I should shut the company doors and not permit any new people to enter company grounds. They also feel that I should take the estimated 12,000 to 14,000 unqualified employees who entered the company and started drawing a company check, and boot them out and not allow them back in! I just don't feel this is the American way and have stated that to my employees in "State of the Company" meetings. This has drawn many jeers and my managers and board all tell me that what I am doing is going to bankrupt the company. That's IF we aren't bankrupt already. We get a subsidy from the government and have complicated books that no CPA can read, so nobody really knows what financial hardships we face.
What I am asking is, am I doing the right thing? Or do I owe it to my longtime employees to do what they feel is fair so I don't have to keep lowering their wages AND raise their mandated healthcare costs?
What do I do with these people who keep breaking through the company gate and thus force me to employ them? Also, I forgot to add, my company policy is to automatically give a job and free healthcare to any children born to these new, unqualified employees. Which means I have to lower the wage of those already working even further!
I need getting this issue resolved and don't mind asking my Covers brothers for some advice. Thank you in advance.