The company I work for, a relatively small, privately held financial technology services company with annual revenue in the $200 million range and about 1,200 employees, was recently acquired by a Fortune 500 company with annual revenue in the $8 billion range and approximately 23,000 employees. Sounds like a great opportunity for us, right? Not exactly.
Everyone in the office where I work received this email the other day.
There will be a massage therapist on-site Thursday, May 13, from 9 am to Noon.
WHO: XXXXX XXXXX, HHP, CMT, ST, RMT certified 1000hrs Licensed
WHERE: XXXXX conference room
Session are for 10 minutes or you can reserve up to a 20 minute maximum session. The charge is just $1 per minute, so $10 for 10 minutes. Please bring cash only.
You may reserve a time through XXXXX XXXXX (ext. XXXX).
What's the problem with this, you wonder? One of my employees put it best when he forwarded this response to several of us.
Glad the employees are paying for it. I'd hate for our $8 Billion/year company to be out the 180 bucks. 😉
If the cost is just $1 per minute and the therapist is only going to be here for 180 minutes (3 hours), it certainly makes me wonder why we aren't worth the company paying the damn $200 and calling it a fringe benefit.
Go ahead and say it with me. What the fuck?