OPINION
Happy to report on good news, folks. What a feel good story for the thousands of workers FORMER Chancellor Andre Bouchard terrorized for years – and stole their raises and Christmas bonuses, and converted over $50 million to his friends at Skadden and his other cronies.
I’ve developed more contacts inside TransPerfect’s 6,000 person organization than any other reporter over the years. I learned TransPerfect is giving ALL its workers a total of $3 million in “anti-corruption bonuses” to celebrate Bouchard’s ouster and the lack of state-sponsered looting, that the company expects will end under Delaware Chancery Court’s new regime.
Further, I obtained from an inside source, an actual copy of the April 1st INTERNAL MEMORANDUM in which company CEO Philip Shawe announced the bonuses to TransPerfect’s 6,000 workers!
WHAT A FEEL GOOD STORY!
Respectfully Yours,
[avatar user=”Judson Bennett” size=”thumbnail” align=”left” link=”https://twitter.com/Judson_Bennett” target=”_blank”]Judson Bennett-Coastal Network[/avatar]
Text of Company Memo below:
TransPerfect Team,
It’s been a year since everything changed, and while there is optimism on the horizon, the world continues to weather the storms of 2020. In the wake of inexorable change, relentless adversity and living in a society forced to reckon with its own harsh realities, TransPerfect team members have pulled together for each other, our communities, and our clients. I am both incredibly proud and grateful for the way you have persevered.
As we begin the second quarter, I wanted to share some important updates from our internal scoreboard:
TransPerfect 1 – Tolerating Racism 0
TransPerfect unconditionally condemns all forms of violence, discrimination, racism, harassment, and xenophobia. We stand in solidarity with our colleagues of Asian and Pacific Island descent and with API communities across the globe. The recent murders of eight individuals in Atlanta-six of whom were women of Asian descent-as well as the despicable assaults that have taken place in cities across the U.S., most recently in New York this week, remind us of the dangers that minority communities continue to face.
TransPerfect’s Diversity & Inclusion Oversight Committee (DIOC), which is comprised of employees from various departments and locales around the world, will continue its efforts of building on our own commitment to diversity as a defining core value. This team will ensure that content focused on being an anti-racist organization is a core component of our Diversity Month programming, which is slated for release in May (more information on this to follow).
As I’ve said before, nothing is more important than your health, safety, and well-being. If you feel you are in need of assistance in this regard, I encourage you to reach out to your supervisor, our Senior Management team, HR, or me directly. Please know that I stand with you and all of the members of our global team.
TransPerfect 1 – Stagnation 0
While I’ve missed being able to coach in person over the past year, part of TransPerfect’s success lies in its focus on growth. For businesses to withstand the test of time, growth is not an option, it is a requirement. Profitable growth creates interesting and varied career paths, allows team members to share in the company’s success via raise budgets or other incentives, and provides an objective measurement to tell whether or not the value of the services and technology we provide our customers is increasing.
I’m pleased to report that Q1 2021 is on track to be our best-ever start to a year. What will be particularly impressive about whatever growth rate your teams achieve in Q1 (March billing is still pending), is that it will be 100% organic growth. By our definition, the revenue from our merger-partners is only counted as M&A revenue if the merger occurs in the current year or the previous year. With Covid putting a halt to M&A activity in 2020, all revenue growth your teams create in Q1 will be considered organic, which is all the more impressive.
If everything that is possible to bill in our systems actually gets billed in March, we’ll have a chance to break $80 million in a single month-for only the third time in history. Please be conscious of this potential milestone as we bring Q1 to a close.
TransPerfect 1 – Too Busy for Vaccination 0
As a policy, TransPerfect does not give health, tax or legal advice to team members. However, we do know enough to recognize that the world is not an equal place when it comes to the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. If you are fortunate enough to have access to the vaccine, and you wish to get vaccinated-please do not let a busy work day deter you. Your health and safety are of paramount importance to TransPerfect and its management team. As with any health-related matter, if you feel you are too busy at work to tend to it, please talk to your manager, and they will work with you to make time.
TransPerfect 1 – Corruption 0
The public battle waged between TransPerfect and its employees on one hand, and Chancellor Andre Bouchard and a cabal of Delaware aristocrats on the other hand, will come to an end on April 30th. Amidst controversy from his handling of the TransPerfect case, the Chancellor will resign at the end of this month. For those of you who don’t understand why this is important, or how it affects you personally, this may help explain: the amount of money Chancellor Bouchard has ordered TransPerfect to pay to court agents (many being members of his social circle in Delaware) for their unwanted “help” now stands in excess of $50 million. Furthermore, during this 3+ year government occupation of TransPerfect, no employee was allowed to see these bills or even know what work was alleged to have been done.
The reason this affects you, and every other TransPerfect team member, is because the funds that the judge so capriciously doles out to his cronies is hard-earned money that the company was paid in exchange for your hard work providing services and technology to our clients. A team with lesser character and grit wouldn’t have survived, or would have been gobbled up by a competitor. Instead, TransPerfect rose up to meet every challenge-including this existential threat-and extended our growth streak to well over 100 quarters. Thanks to your professionalism and diligence, we are now approaching our 30th consecutive year of profitable growth.
In closing, as the Delaware Chancellor resigns his position with over five years remaining on his term, I can’t help but imagine what the fictional character Omar Little of The Wire might say to Bouchard if he were witnessing these events… perhaps, “You come at TransPerfect, you best not miss.”
TransPerfect Team Members 500 – Old Boys Club of Delaware 0
TransPerfect prides itself on being a Meritocracy. For that reason, we generally don’t like compensation items in which every team member is treated the same-we call these “equalizers” and they are generally frowned upon. However, there are certain moments in history that are rallying cries and a call-to-arms. Chancellor Bouchard’s early retirement is one of these times-for far too long, he has ordered us to pay too much of our profits, for no value, to those inappropriately close to him.
In Chancellor Bouchard’s final days on the bench, I fully expect that he will write more orders with inflammatory rhetoric, and attempt to force us to pay millions more for nothing. But, “this too shall pass.” To celebrate the end of the Chancellor’s painful and expensive stranglehold over TransPerfect, ALL of you who are full-time, benefits-eligible, and permanent employees as of his retirement date, April 30th, will receive a bonus of US$500.
If it was in my power to safely fly you all into New York to celebrate this occasion together, I surely would. But alas, I cannot, so instead please accept this bonus, and the eternal gratitude of our management team for seeing us through to this moment in history.
Onward and upward,
Phil Shawe, CEO and Founder
p.s. There is a widely known tradition in the United States and other parts of the world known as April Fool’s Day, in which, on the first day of April, it is customary to play jokes on one another. For the avoidance of doubt, this communication is in no way a joke, except for maybe the Omar Little quote-it is actually Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thanks again everyone.