Spansion restores executive pay after 3,000 layoffs w/o severance

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Pay raises for executives as it lays off employees???

"Spansion’s board of directors last week restored the 10 percent cut in pay given to its executive officers last October on the very same day it let go 3,000 employees."

"There’s an adjective for such behavior: shameful."

Look at the KXAN link, they have video too.

"Our reduction in force was a regrettable, but an unavoidable decision that affected all levels of the company, including our executive management team," said Holly L. Burkhart, Director of Public Relations. "The remaining members of Spansion's management team are more critical than ever to leading the company through a difficult period so that we can preserve the value of the enterprise and create new jobs in the future. As a result, the Board of Directors made a strategic decision to restore the full salaries of our key executives to ensure their continued commitment to the company's future."

IT company offers no severance for laid off workers

“We are undertaking a reduction in force today, but out of respect for our employees we wish to finish the process before providing any details," Spansion Public Relations Director Holly Burkhart said.

Campbell says it's the end of an emotional rollercoaster. In December, he was placed on a mandatory furlough followed by a cut in pay. He has only worked two weeks since then.

"It's just unknown so you're tapping into resources you may need to get you through a longer period of time of unemployment,” Campbell said.

Now with less money he is starting to search for a new position.

Somehow one suspects this all wasn't quite what they had in mind when they said "Spansion’s core values of respect for people, integrity, initiative, determination and results are an integral part of the Company’s commitment to good corporate governance."

In an open letter to HP employees, CEO Mark Hurd -- who is taking a 20% pay cut himself -- said he considered laying off approximately 20,000 people instead of enforcing pay cuts. "Well, I don’t want to do that. When I look at HP, I don’t see a structural problem of that magnitude. There are pockets where restructuring needs to happen, and areas where actions will be taken as part of our ongoing workforce optimization process. But at a company-wide level, I don’t believe a major workforce reduction is the best thing for HP at this time."

A few days ago AMD spin off Spansion announced it would cut its workforce by 35 percent, or 3,000.

The laid-off workers have now launched two class-action suits against the chipmaker, claiming Spansion's decision goes against both federal and state laws, which require employers to give a two month notice prior to laying off more than 50 souls.

What's worse, the same day Spansion announced the massive layoff, the company revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that some of its executives will get even more cash.

Apparently Spansion's board rescinded a 10 percent pay cut imposed in October on some managers, saying the decision to restore their previous salaries was intended "to provide an incentive for executive officers and certain other key employees to remain employed by the company."

The lawsuits don't mention the fact that executives have restored their pay, but attorneys representing the workers believe the issue could become relevant in court.

Once again, it seems someone didn't get the memo.

When we, as a Nation, recently decided that a company/bank/agency, in the face of big layoffs, can no longer add to the insult by giving executives extra money, someone apparently forgot to tell Spansion.

On the same day that Spansion (SPSN) announced 3,000 layoffs, it also announced a plan to give executives money back, that the company previously decided to cut in the name of good corporate citizenship.

So .. massive job cuts .. and executive suite pay raises.  From a publicly traded company.

And it gets even better. Because unlike Wells Fargo, which after hearing the outcry from shareholders and other public citizens cancelled its plan to send employees to high-priced hotels in Las Vegas, Spansion responded to its own crisis -- with relative silence.  

No executive would talk on camera, only a short printed statement expressing "regret" about the layoffs, and pointing out that some of those getting the raise were below the VP level.  Do you suppose that makes any of the 3,000 who lost their jobs feel any better?

Apparently not, because some are now filing a lawsuit against the company, claiming that not enough notice was given before the layoff was announced.  As for the executives and employees who got the money, I asked Jim Basallone of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University if he thought employee retention could be behind the pay boosts.  Basallone, who comes to Santa Clara with decades of tech industry experience, asked me, in this market, where would they go?  He has a point.

He calls the message sent by the company "at best, insensitive, to irresponsible."

At a time when public relations is of crucial importance, Spansion dropped the ball, plain and simple.  But maybe they're not as worried about image as most other publicly traded companies.  As I write this, Spansion stock trades at 5 cents a share.