Qwest’s amendment of its employment contract last year with chief executive Ed Mueller so his wife and stepdaughter could have access to the corporate jet was voted the worst “footnote” of 2007 by readers of , a website that tracks such amendments in regulatory filings.
Just less than 60 percent of the roughly 600 votes went to Denver-based Qwest’s decision to give Mueller’s family the perk, which Mueller sought so his daughter could finish her senior year of high school in California. Since Mueller took over for former CEO Dick Notebaert on Aug. 10, Qwest stock is down about 20 percent, though this clearly has more to do with questions about the company’s direction than a short-term perk.
Coming in a distant second in ‘s poll of the year’s worst footnotes was Countrywide Financial’s decision to award chief operations officer David Sambol a $2.7 million bonus and other goodies just before the company’s stock plummeted.
The Sol also sets Down Under
Speaking of Qwest, former U S West CEO Sol Trujillo sold his underperforming phone company to Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz and his prized telecom executive Joe Nacchio at Qwest.
Anschutz and Nacchio got the blame for running the company into the ground — and perhaps deservedly so. But Trujillo — who bears some responsibility for the fiasco — simply ran off into the sunset with millions.
Since 2005, Trujillo’s been working in Australia, where he is widely mocked for screwing up Aussie’s biggest telecom company, Telstra. A YouTube video vividly captures the sentiment Down Under for Trujillo. See it at .
But it’s not for sensitive ears. It’s set to a vulgar tune written by comedian Dennis Leary, called “I’m an …” — well, we can’t even print the title.
Job pressure, vote pressure
If you’re feeling pressure to conform to the boss’ political views, you’re not alone.
Thirty-five percent of bosses openly share their political views with employees, and 9 percent of workers feel pressure to conform, according to ‘s Politics in the Workplace survey conducted in October.
Thirty percent of the 727 respondents said a co-worker has tried to influence their election decisions.
Sixty-six percent said co-workers candidly discuss politics at work, and 46 percent have witnessed an argument about politics between colleagues.
