The Sears story is taking a familiar but interesting turn. CBC is reporting that Sears Canada is planning on handing out big bonuses to senior management during the retailers restructuring process. While trying to keep talented executives during a tumultuous time is most easily achieved by handing out money, the problem here is that Sears has stated that they will not be paying severance to laid-off workers; some who have been there for over 3o years.
The CBC reports that according to court documents, Sears will pay up to $7.6 Million in retention bonuses to 43 executives. That works out to be an average of just over $175k per employee. While the funds realistically won’t’ be divided up evenly that’s an awful lot of money.
Rightfully so, this news is not going over well with former Sears employees who have lost their jobs and have been told that there will be no severance pay.
While everything Sears is doing is above board (the executive compensation plan was approved in court), it just does not look good in the public court of opinion. It seems as if it’s just another big retailer with head offices internationally that has relied on Canadian consumers and employees for decades and now backs are turned.
The story takes an even more interesting turn, as one of the biggest stories within the story is the fact that famed Canadian Mike Myers’ brother worked for Sears and was laid-off. They even tapped him and Mike Myers for a Sears commercial a few years ago in an effort to bring life back into the company. Well, even he got the boot and received no severance. You think Sears would have thought about how it would look getting rid of their de facto spokesperson.
Employee featured in hit Sears Canada ad with famous brother Mike Myers loses job and severance