In the wake of employee howls of injustice and protest, Finish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reports that Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has decided to give up his personal bonus for the second half of 2006. Kallasvuo announced his decision in a blog entry on the company intranet on the heals of employee outcries over a cancelled bonus program.Despite reporting record profit and revenue in January, Nokia announced that it would not be paying out special employee bonuses because the company failed to meet the board’s goals. Employees were not to be paid, but under the plan executives were still to reap handsome bonuses. The outrage was predictable.
Worse yet, in spite of everything, Nokia recently announced 700 job cuts. Despite some innovative damage control on the corporate intranet, some 8000 white collar employees walked off the job in protest.
Initially Kallasvuo used the intranet to justify the cancellation of the bonuses in an online video speech. HR and communications managers also used discussion boards on the intranet to help calm the storm.
Nokia is proof positive that regardless of the efforts, skills and technology used by communications staff, no mount of PR can reverse a bad business decision.
Talk about all for one, one for all.
Taking one for the team really shows us how much you love your company Olli!
Update: More information found on Helsingin Sanomat:
Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, the President and CEO of the mobile telephone manufacturer Nokia, has decided to give up his personal bonus pertaining to the second half of 2006. Kallasvuo announced his decision on the company’s intranet pages on January 29th – four days after the company’s result for 2006 had been published.
Kallasvuo’s basic annual salary is EUR one million, and his personal bonus could be up to 150 per cent of his basic salary, provided that all targets are met.