The CEO of MillerKnoll, Andy Owen, provoked outrage and even violent reactions after asking his workers to, in short, “put on their shirts” and forget about their annual bonuses. The problem? It was discovered that CEO made $5 million last year while alleging ailing company.
The luxury office furniture company was born in 2021, in Michigan, by merging high-end brands Hermann Miller and knoll. Andy Owen was CEO of the first and remained as leader of the new matrix.
The company’s sales fell 4.4% in the last quarter, which ended on March 4. Demand for its expensive furniture fell and orders fell 19%, due to the economic slowdown and the prevalence of the home office.
Given the situation, several employees asked the general director how could they stay motivated without receiving bonuses this year. Owen’s response went viral in a video for almost a minute and a half, which some Internet users have described as “unhinged”, “nasty” and “toxic”.
The comments were taken from a Zoom video call during his recent earnings call. She asked all the staff to stop ‘thinking about what you’re going to do if you don’t get a bonus’, to commit to the company and to get out of ‘the city of pity’.
Andi Owen’s statements that turn the internet on
In the video, the former global president of Banana Republic begins with a calm, relaxed tone and even with slight smiles. After mentioning the concerns of her collaborators, she asked them to be “kind” and “respectful.”
However, as the clip progresses, her attitude changes: she becomes irritated, raises her voice, and ends up yelling at them to get the “damn” millions of dollars the company needs.
“Questions came in about ‘how can we stay motivated if we’re not going to get a bonus, what can we do, what can we do?’ Some of them were nice, and some of them weren’t so nice,” Owen begins.
“I am going to tackle this head on. The most important thing we can do right now is focus on the things we can control. None of us could have predicted Covid, nobody could have predicted the supply chain, none of us could have anticipated bank failures,” he continued.
“But what we can do is stay in front of our customers, provide the best customer service we can, deliver our orders, treat each other well, be nice, be respectful, focus on the future, because it’s going to be bright.”
At this point, Andy Owen begins to freak out and seems to lose control as he emphasizes that workers should focus on the company’s financial goals.
The entire speech of the MillerKnoll CEO has no waste:
“Don’t ask ‘what are we going to do if we don’t get a bonus?’ Get the fucking 26 million dollars! Spend your time and effort thinking about the $26 million we need, not thinking about what you’re going to do if you don’t get a bonus! Alright? Can I have your commitment to that? I would appreciate it.”
The executive director ended by telling an anecdote with a phrase that, instead of being motivating, was offensive to many.
“I had an old boss who once told me: ‘You can visit the city of pity, but you can’t live there.’ So people, leave pity town. Let’s do it”, concluded the former CEO of Herman Miller.
There was no budget for bonuses, but Andi Owen won 5 million dollars
Despite the drop in sales and revenue, in fiscal 2022 the CEO of MillerKnoll received a $1.1 million base salary. Also, he got a 1.2 million bonus and others $2.7 million in stock and other compensation of the “non-stock incentive plan”.
Total, Owen made $4.98 million last year, notes MillerKnoll’s most recent earnings report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s much less than in 2021, when his revenue was $6.4 million.
Of course, Owen’s gains did not go unnoticed, as he the average salary of a MillerKnoll worker hovers around $45,000 per year. That means Owen earns about 111 times the salary of an average worker.
The company noted in a statement to CBS that the clip “loses the context of the larger discussion” as it is part of a 75-minute online meeting with workers.
“Our CEO believes strongly in the company and what we can do together to end our fiscal year strong,” a company spokesperson told the outlet. “Our bonuses are determined by the company’s full-year financial results and our fiscal year closes at the end of May.”
Editorial Team The editorial team of EMPRENDEDOR.com, which for more than 27 years has worked to promote entrepreneurship.