Dear Ceo,

I am aware of how much you earned last year and noticed you got a 12 % pay rise on your 20 million dollar pay check and that you earned a phenomenal bonus to top it off.  Congratulations.

In order to meet your objectives and orders from the share holders to cut back, I hope you are fully aware of how unfair it seems when some of your workers only got a 3% pay rise.  The first in four years I might add.  My hard working husband only got a 3% bonus. He is entitled to 20% but you make the objectives unrealistic just so you can pay out less. 

When we first got the opportunity to move to Houston with my Husband's work, I was a little hesitant.  It was a big move from the little village we were used to in Scotland.

Most of my doubts disappeared though when I saw the relocation package your company offered.  It sounded amazing and too good to be true.  I mean I was even going to be given full support throughout the move from the relocation company.

There was the promise of a meet and greet at the airport followed by a tour around the city.  We were promised help with finding a home, a school for the kids, career support for me and a relocation package.

We decided to go ahead.  I want you to know how hard it was.  In reality it was very different.  No-one showed up to the airport for a meet and greet.  We drove ourselves to the temporary accommodation we had arranged for and had paid for with our own credit card.  Apparently we had to pay all the costs upfront and your delightful company made things so much easier by continually questioning every payment we asked to be reimbursed for.

Five years on and your company has really excelled itself, by making sure that my husband has very little time off.  He now does his bosses job for less pay along with several other people's jobs.  

You took his company vehicle away with 2 weeks notice.  Then, to save even more money you made people take furlough.  They started off voluntary but it was made very clear that it was expected that you take them.  

To add insult to injury, my husband took his furlough's to comply with orders but ended up taking conference calls and sending emails.  Yes, effectively you had everyone WORKING on furlough.  Illegal and just plain wrong.  Every time he tries to book holidays an "emergency" happens and he is made to fly away to deal with it.  We have had to cancel holiday plans many times.

Your company makes it very clear that work comes first and family comes second.  I have watched time and time again, my husband being forced to put his work first and his family second.  It hurts so much to know he is forced to make this choice or he will be fired.

I wonder if you know that the cuts you make to meet targets set by the shareholders only feed down the chain and hurt the workers that make your company.  Instead of rewarding excellent work, you squeeze every last penny you can from these people like my husband.    

​Just to make your targets, you are firing people that are a necessary part of your machine.  My husband now runs a multi million revenue almost alone.  He is doing at least 6 other people's jobs.  I guess your company doesn't care about that though.

To make matters worse our family's visa runs out in a few months and nothing is being down about it, no-one is planning our future.  We are in a state of limbo.  We deserve to know by now whether we are staying or going.  You have no right to treat us like we don't matter.  We are not robots.  

By the way I am still waiting for my career support you promised me in the contract for relocation.  No-one from your company has every contacted me or supported our family in any way.  Thanks!

I wonder if you are happy with all the money you are making and if you are aware of how much your decisions affect my family.  I wonder if you give your job the same level of commitment my husband gives your company every day.

I really would like to know if you think it's fair that you get all these pay rises and bonuses,  yet you don't order the same percentage increases for all your workers?  

​Do you think you are motivating them to do their best for the company?  Do you think they would stay with you if they had a choice? Oh, that's right you made them sign a non-compete to make it even harder for them to leave even when they have had enough.  Nice. 

Your competitors don't treat people as badly as you.  Your company has built itself a reputation for not allowing a good work- home balance but I don't suppose you care.  You will be too busy looking at your big bank balance, driving your fancy car and living in your swanky house.  I hope one day you actually care!! 

Years ago corporations worked hard to keep employees and treated them fairly.  Ceo's didn't earn millions of dollars more than their workers.  People working for the corporation were rewarded for their hard work.  They were given family time and corporation understood the need for family time.

Anyone else got stories from working in a corporation?  I would love to hear them. :)

You only have to turn on the news nowadays to hear about all the negative things going on in the world today.  More often than not it is only the bad stuff you hear about. If you are a sensitive person then turning on the news each day will not do your personal physical and mental well being any good.


When we are more sensitive to the suffering of the world and find ourselves tearing up and the devastating events that the news covers it can be difficult to stop that empathic feelings from affecting you, even ruling your moods.


Some of us are more empathic than others and that's ok.  We are all different.  We all handle the news in different ways.  For some it can trigger extreme emotions which start to impact the individual.


Take a sad movie for example, for some they can watch the film and not actually be emotionally affected by the film but some of us it is a completely different experience.  For some people they become emotionally involved in the film where they actually  immerse themselves fully in the film, so they are actually feeling the emotions of the actors as if they were actually living the story line.  For these kind of empathic souls, the news itself can become an emotional rollercoaster that leaves them feeling emotionally exhausted, unable to stop thinking about the images they saw that day.


At the moment there have been so many stories of lives lost to hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes and terror attacks that I'm almost afraid to put the news on.


I am one of these people who actually empathize a little too much with what I see on the news.  it can leave me feeling drained, upset and despondant about the current state of the world today.  I can find it difficult to shake the feelings off long after I have turned off the news.


For someone who is very Empathic or who is a Highly Sensitive Person, the news can be simply too much.
​

I for one am not proud of the state of the world right now.  We as a collective are letting ourselves down.  We mistreat animals, put pigs in cages where they cannot move until they are ready to be slaughtered, dump dogs, puppies, cats and kittens that are an inconvenience. Animals WE domesticated and took away their ability to survive in the wild.


There are wars raging that we hear nothing about, where hundreds of innocent children die.  There  are children that die from dehydration and hunger every day in Third World countries.  


Corporations are getting richer and richer and have less and less compassion for their workers who make that happen.  Instead of being rewarded they are made to work with very little time off allowed so they can spend time with their families.  Corporations are acting like they own the souls of these people and that their families comes second to their profits.


Sexual, domestic and childhood abuse has been found to be swept under the carpet and hushed up by people who have their own agendas for staying silent.  It's the minority that are brave enough to step up and speak up.
​

Mental health issues are hushed up, people are encouraged not to discuss the pain they are suffering.  Then when a mass shooting occurs like the one we had in Florida, it comes out that so many chose to turn the other way and ignore the warning signs.  Scared to speak up and be the one to rock the boat.


We are chopping down our rainforests, there is climate change issues, pollution issues, government corruption issues.....am I proud to be human right now?  No I am not!!  For someone who feel deeply and cares deeply I am disappointed and horrified at the state we humans and our planet are in right now.


Every life on this earth should matter.  Every life should matter more than money or guns or power.  How can we change this?   How can we turn this around?  Because if we all sit there in our comfortable houses and switch off the news and choose to look the other way what will change.......nothing.  Nothing will change.


How do we make a difference in the world?  How do we become more accountable fo the state of the world today?  I for one want to be proud of the world I live in.  I want there to be peace.  I want every child to have access to basic medication, food, water and a roof over their heads.


I want us to stop polluting our oceans.  I want the greedy corporations to start treating their employees like they are trash, putting their profits second to their families.

​
I want us to be responsible and accountable.  I WANT CHANGE! :)