Posted in: Recent Updates | Tagged:

EXCLUSIVE: Diamond In The Rough – Distributing A Pay Freeze

A few weeks ago, staffers tell me Diamond sent an e-mail to all their employees thanking them for their hard work, and stating that while Diamond did  better than expected this year, sadly the current climate prevented them from increasing anyone's salary.

Of course, right now, many people are just grateful to be hanging onto their jobs.

Also back in January of this year, employees tell me that after a number of redundancies, Diamond told remaining staff that they would not be matching 401(K) contributions (US government retirement savings plan) for 2008. Those who had invested part of their salary in the belief that Diamond would match it were out of luck. If employees had known of this in advance, some say they could have could have stashed the money away in an IRA (private retirement account) with a higher return instead.

Employees report that those who earned over $40K a year, including senior figures at the company, accepted mandatory pay reductions back in January, some for many thousands of dollars, with the proviso that if Diamond did not lose money this year, their salaries would return to their previous levels.

Sadly, the no-salary increases across the board policy, now also applies to those who saw their salaries fall. Although no one is complaining too loudly on the floor, as only the higher salaried employees were affected, and there are plenty of people earning a lot less.

At least there's one silver lining. I'm told that since pay raises at Diamond were based on employee reviews, those reviews are no longer mandatory. So at least beleaguered employees can take a wee breather over that.

Diamond representatives did not not wish to comment on this story.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!