Companies Like This Give Free Enterprise a Bad Name

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:

Losing their jobs and even their iPods

By Barry Shlachter, Jim Fuquay, Maria M. Perotin
Star-Telegram Staff Writers

National Semiconductor giveth, and it taketh away.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company gained loads of publicity last month for announcing plans to give every employee a 30-gigabyte video iPod.

Last week, the company laid off 35 employees at its Arlington plant. To the surprise of some at the plant, the laid-off workers were asked to give back their high-tech toys.

A person who called the Star-Telegram claiming to have been one of the 35 laid-off workers said many employees at the Arlington plant were under the impression that the iPods were theirs to keep. Some had sold them or given them as gifts, according to the caller.

"Nothing was ever said about ever having to give it back," the caller said. "If I'd known it was company property, I never would have picked it up."

At the time, the company had said it was handing out the devices to distribute company information as well as reward its 8,500 workers for its best fiscal year ever. [ED.: Thanks for all your hard work in helping us achieve our best year ever. Here's your pink slip.] Employees were also allowed personal use of the devices.

It was a natural selection. National Semiconductor manufactures analog chips used in portable devices including Apple's iPods.

And several media reports referred to the iPods as "gifts."

"They were not a gift," company spokeswoman LuAnn Jenkins said Friday. Jenkins said she didn't know whether the company ever intended for the workers to keep the iPods.

On the news release announcing the perk, the company said it was "equipping" its employees with the wildly popular media devices. Employees were informed about the undertaking using the same language, Jenkins said.

"We were very careful on the language we used talking about it," Jenkins said. [ED.: Apparently not.]

Employees who leave the company can return the device or pay "fair market value" for it, she said. [ED.: Hmmmm. I wonder what an iPod that's just been thrown down a couple of flights of stairs and run over by a car is going for these days.]

The video iPod normally retails for about $300.

As more than 100 workers enthusiastically received their iPods one morning last month at the Arlington plant, two company spokesmen would not directly answer questions from Star-Telegram reporter Aman Batheja as to whether workers would be able to keep the iPods once they left the company.

"We haven't crossed that bridge," said Scott Kahl, human resources director. [ED.: Oh yeah, the company was "VERY careful" in making clear its intent with respect to the iPods. Not.]

The road to that bridge turned out to be pretty short.

My Comments:
Sounds to me like the company wanted to give the impression that these iPods were gifts to their employees to reward them for a successful year, while also trying to reserve the right to change its mind (perhaps in the event of a layoff?).

If there is any justice, this company is SOL with respect to getting the devices back from those employees that were laid off after contributing to the company's "best year ever".