CEO goes viral telling workers to cease asking how you can keep motivated with out bonuses: ‘Depart pity metropolis’

MillerKnoll CEO Andrea Owen went viral over feedback she made about worker bonuses and motivation.
The chief advised workers to cease asking about bonuses and concentrate on the corporate’s wellbeing as a substitute.

A video goes viral on social media that reveals MillerKnoll CEO Andrea Owen responding to worker questions on staying motivated whereas probably dropping their bonuses.

Within the video, which was recorded final month at an inner assembly, Owen advised workers to cease asking questions on bonuses and focus as a substitute on the corporate’s monetary wants and “issues we will management.” The video garnered over 5 million views on Twitter this week and drew largely outrage, in addition to some reward, from customers on Reddit and TikTok.

“Questions got here by way of about ‘How can we keep motivated if we’re not going to get a bonus?'” Owen mentioned within the video. “A few of them had been good and a few of them weren’t so good, so I will handle this head on.”

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“It is not good to be within the scenario we’re in at this time, however we’re not going to be right here eternally. It’ll get higher so lead, lead by instance, deal with individuals nicely, discuss to them, be variety, and get after it,” Owen mentioned.

“Do not ask about ‘What are we going to do if we do not get a bonus?’ Get the rattling $26 million, spend your time and your effort fascinated about the $26 million we’d like and never fascinated about what you are going to do if you aren’t getting a bonus, alright,” she mentioned. “Can I get some committement for that?”

A MillerKnoll spokesperson advised Insider that the $26 million determine is an inner metric and worker bonuses are depending on the corporate hitting its monetary targets.

Owen continued: “I had an outdated boss who mentioned to me one time: ‘You’ll be able to go to pity metropolis, however you may’t reside there.’ So individuals: depart pity metropolis, let’s get it executed. “

The corporate spokesperson advised Insider that MillerKnoll will not decide bonuses till the top of its fiscal yr in Might, and that Owen’s bonus could be impacted if the furnishings firm fails to fulfill its monetary targets. Owen didn’t reply to a request for remark from Insider forward of publication.

In MillerKnoll’s 2022 fiscal yr, Owen was paid about $4.98 million in whole compensation, together with bonuses and inventory awards, in line with a submitting with the Securities and Trade Fee. The submitting states that govt bonuses are “in line with different salaried workers” and are “based mostly upon efficiency towards predetermined targets throughout the fiscal yr.”

“Andi fiercely believes on this workforce and all we will accomplish collectively, and won’t be dissuaded by a 90-second clip taken out of context and posted on social media,” the MillerKnoll spokesperson mentioned. Owen’s remarks had been a part of a “rallying cry” for employees in a town-hall type assembly that lasted greater than an hour, the spokesperson added.

Owen turned the CEO of Herman Miller in 2018. The ergonomic furnishings firm was renamed MillerKnoll in 2021. She beforehand served as the worldwide president of Banana Republic.

Within the firm’s final earnings report, it confirmed an over 4% decline in quarterly gross sales from the earlier yr and mentioned it predicts gross sales will proceed to say no within the coming quarter.

“Through the previous few months, normal financial uncertainty, and the influence of rising rates of interest, have weighed on enterprise and shopper sentiment ranges,” MillerKnoll CFO Jeff Stutz mentioned throughout the earnings name. “The end result has been slowing demand patterns and additional delays in buyer return-to-office timelines.”

Some TikTok and Twitter customers appeared to aspect with Owen, although a majority of social media feedback had been crucial of her remarks. One TikTok person commented, “Is that this presupposed to be dangerous? The corporate is clearly underperforming and must hit their numbers and are not…. why ought to they be getting bonuses?”

One other TikTok remark, which was “appreciated” by greater than 10,000 customers, mentioned: “‘lead by instance, deal with individuals nicely..’ proceeds to instantly mistreat everybody.”

Quite a few giant corporations have chosen to decrease or delay bonuses this yr amid financial headwinds. Final month, Meta mentioned it might scale back bonus payouts for lower-performing workers, whereas Apple selected to delay bonuses for some employees, per Bloomberg. Different corporations like Intel and Micron have chosen to forego bonuses solely for some employees in 2023.

Do you’re employed for a corporation that made adjustments to its bonuses this yr? Contact the reporter from a non-work e-mail at [email protected]