CEOs of bailed out firms don't report to work

Thursday, 01 April 2010, 15:19 IST   |    1 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
CEOs of bailed out firms don't report to work
Bangalore: The chief executives of some of the most troubled companies in U.S. - those bailed out by the U.S. government - don't report to work many days at corporate headquarters because they live too far away. The flexibility to live hundreds of miles from the office has emerged as a key perk in the bailout era, reports Wall Street Journal. In part due to public scrutiny, companies that received U.S. assistance have cut compensation and curbed other traditional benefits such as country-club memberships, private security and personal use of corporate jets. Remote living and working arrangements are among the best things the companies can offer for posts that are fraught with political risk. Since becoming chief executive of AIG last summer, Robert Benmosche has maintained a tight travel schedule that has kept him away from the government-controlled insurer's downtown Manhattan headquarters for at least half of his working hours. Bailed-out companies, of course, aren't the first or only ones to be run by absentee CEOs. When Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide was run by Steven Heyer from 2004 to 2007, the company set up an Atlanta office for the CEO because he didn't want to relocate to its headquarters in White Plains, N.Y. The management challenges associated with turning around the current crop of troubled firms are especially daunting. Management experts disagree over whether an extreme commute is harmful. Some say a CEO needs to travel extensively to run a far-flung enterprise, and technology allows the boss to connect to headquarters at any hour.

siliconindia