Obviously this management team doesn't understand how business is supposed to work. What were they thinking?
Eleven-year FreeWave Technologies Inc. employee Melanie Duran says the wireless data radio maker is a great place to work. But you can judge for yourself.More inspirational than Allen Stanford? Really?
The Boulder-based company says it has had profits every month since it hired its first employee in 1995. There have been no layoffs. Employees get company-funded retirement plans and bonuses based on profits and growth.
And there's more: As part of a $113 million private-equity investment deal in 2007, FreeWave is sharing $9 million of investors' money with its fewer than 100 employees as a reward for the company's success. Shares are divvied up based on individual performance. FreeWave refused to disclose individual payments.
The $9 million, for eligible employees who were with FreeWave when it won the investment, has been paid out in three installments. Company founders Steve Wulchin and Jonathan Sawyer are handing out the last payments Thursday.
"We're fortunate to have great bosses," said Duran, a production lead. The extra money is helping the 33-year-old close on buying her first house.
"This is something that in today's economy Steve and Jonathan don't have to do, and yet they've chosen to do it," said Tim Ake, a Navy veteran and production manager who has been with FreeWave for about five years. "That inspires me to go and do likewise," said Ake, who typically gives some of his bonuses to his church and to charity.
