AMAZON CAN GIVE $100K IN SHARES TO EACH AND EVERY EMPLOYEE
Amazon continues to fend off accusations of mistreating its employees (CNBC April 14 “Amazon fires three employees who were critics of its labour practices”).
Imagining coming home at night and not being able to kiss your children because you spent the day working exposed and so you must be in isolation when you return home to rest.
In many areas Amazon does extremely well and is recognized for its enormous achievements, however these achievements are overshadowed by the accusations of poor employee relations and this makes some quite uncomfortable about using Amazon’s service, and often making the company the target of the ire of politicians.
However there is an easy solution that will alleviate a lot of the criticism and would make a big difference to many lives, especially for those Amazon employees who risk their lives going to work every day. And the solution is easy because it will only create a small blip in the market whilst having a huge impact on people:
Amazon should give $100,000 in shares to each and every one of its employees!
This is like a bonus, the same given to executives, but this one will be equal for everyone.
Giving out shares usually reduces the share price in the same proportion. Well, Amazon shares rose significantly since 27th February, adding more than $200billion of shareholder value. If they were to issue $100k in shares to each and every one of its 647,000 employees, the total spending of market value will be about $65billion or barely above 5% of its total $1,202 billion value today. That is often what the shares move in a single day. A blip!
Meanwhile imagine the benefit to the employees, those who everyday travel to work to handle our goods. This would cover an unexpected medical intervention, the deposit on a house, the college fund for the kids, a safety net...
It is those very employees whose work added $200billion in wealth to Amazon shareholders in two months and it is those employees who help me stay safe at home! And if giving them $100k also makes them big defenders of Amazon against critics, so much the better for us shareholders.
Today the government is also giving out money to the country’s workforce because that is what is needed right now but this idea is not just about the crisis, nor it is a handout. This is about good business sense and fairness and it will actually help the company's sustainability. Other large enterprises could do the same with a small portion of their shares. On that same basis Google, with far fewer employees, could easily give $1m to each one of them and still make shareholders very happy.
Amazon, it’s a prime idea, isn’t it? Next-Day Delivery please!