Reading Sam Palmisano’s official IBM biography, it’s difficult to tell why he’s working. As chairman and CEO of the world’s largest tech services company, he is both well-regarded and scandal-free. And IBM is doing relatively well, so it’s not like he should be embarrassed to show up at the office. It’s just that if we were to, say, resign, he would walk away with, according to today’s WSJ, more money than he could stuff under a mattress factory.
Palmisano, who reportedly earned $24.5 million last year, “could be in line for greater rewards if the computer giant meets performance targets over the coming years,” says the Journal. But then again, why bother? He is eligible to take home $4.5 million a year for life in pension. Is there a point at which his executive compensation package becomes just a little bit demotivating?
So, let’s put ourselves in Sam’s loafers: if you stay at IBM in 2007 you will earn a hefty $25 million. But if you leave to go enjoy that money, your pension pay is at least $4.5 million annually for life, plus you can earn hefty speaking fees. Which would you choose?
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[…] IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, rapidly reinventing Big Blue’s corporate culture to become transnational, talks about global workforce management: “The big issues for us are: Where do you put them? How do you retain them? How do you develop them? How do you move work to them or them to work?” […]