The minute David had placed the corporation on the stock market; he had investors to be accountable too. Since David had been stealing from those investors for years, they were going to want answers. He smiled some more as he thought about David’s life continuing to go down the drain.
He left all the staff at their jobs for now but had memos sent out notifying them they were going to have to defend their jobs. He normally left all of that to his staff but since this operation was personal to him he’d be conducting many of those interviews, himself.
Derek had a couple of trusted associates coming with him and he was like a kid on Christmas morning. It was time to go to his new corporation and do some investigating. He’d made the decision to keep the company as it was but there would be a lot of people losing their jobs and a lot of new hires. It would take months to get it all straightened out.
He was getting ready to leave, when his father walked into the office. “Where are you off to, son?” his dad asked.
“I’m going over to the new company today. I have to eliminate some staff and get the HR set up to hire new employees,” he answered as he headed towards the elevator.
“I’ll come with you, since I’m a great judge of character,” he said, as he climbed in the elevator with him.
“That would be great. I could use an extra person I trust,” Derek answered. He knew his father had a soft heart but he was also a shrewd business man and would know who could be trusted to stay on and who was far too loyal to David to be trusted.
“Son, I know this has been your dream since that dirt bag hurt you but you need to remember most of these employees didn’t even know David Freeman. They’re just like you or I, trying to make a living,” his father reasoned.
“I hate it when you’re right, but I know. Most of the executive positions will be replaced. I simply can’t trust people who worked closest with David. I’m not worried about any of the factory workers. My staff will make sure all of their background checks pass but other than that I’ll leave them alone, well not completely leave them alone,” he added.
“What?” his dad asked, with confusion.
“David was by far underpaying the factory workers, while padding the executives’ pockets. They are barely making minimum wage,” Derek said with anger. “I’m going to raise their pay and offer bonuses for high work production and early completion of projects.”
“That’s why you’re so successful son, you actually care about the core of the company,” his father praised him. Derek knew what it was like to barely be able to survive and didn’t like that feeling. He always treated his employees’ well. He had a very low turnover rate. Once people came to work for one of his corporations, they didn’t leave.
“The bastard didn’t even offer health insurance for his factory workers. It really is no wonder he was losing everything,” Derek continued to rage.
“Well just remember these people are scared about their jobs and don’t know you’re different. It would be a really good idea if the first thing you do is call a meeting and reassure them,” Daniel said.
“You’re right, again. I wasn’t planning on doing that but I’ll call a meeting first thing tomorrow. I want to spend today looking around and then eliminating some of the dead weight,” Derek told him.
“Sounds like a plan, son,” Daniel offered, as he slapped Derek on the back.
They rode to the new office in silence. Derek was immensely satisfied to see the crew working on the new sign out front. The old one was down and the new sign was going up with his corporate name on it. Each time he saw that, his heart skipped a beat with pride.
He knew he had to take apart most of the corporations he bought up. He made far too much money not to split them apart, plus some of the companies were unfixable. He did love to keep the good ones together though, turning them back around. He could provide so many jobs for people and the feeling of success, as he fixed them, was what drove him.
Derek walked into the building, surrounded by his best team members and his father. He knew they made an intimidating sight and he enjoyed the looks on the staff members faces as they walked down the hallway.
They approached security. That had been the first change he’d made. He always put in his own security team, immediately. He didn’t want the previous owners stepping foot back in the buildings after he took them over.
“Good morning, Mr. Titan, it’s good to see you,” the guard greeted them.
“Hello Tim, how are things going here?” he asked.
“Everything has been mellow the last few days. Mr. Freeman tried to come in the day after the take-over but was escorted out and hasn’t been back since,” the man reported.
“I’ve had new badges created and no one enters without one of them. All employees who are kept will receive their badge before they leave today. There will be a lot of people let go and I don’t need them sneaking back in and causing trouble. I also want several security personnel up on the twenty-fifth floor to escort people down as they’re let go. Today, unfortunately isn’t going to be a pleasant one.”
“No problem Mr. Titan, I will send them up right away,” he answered.
“Here’s your new badge and some for your men. Some workers will be in over the next few days setting up key pads for all the elevators and exits. Here’s the list of men who will be here doing the work. These men and only these men are allowed in. If their company tries to send over replacements call me and I’ll let you know if they’re approved or not,” he finished.
“Okay boss,” Tim replied, then set to work making phone calls.
Derek spent the first part of the morning exploring the huge building. The most time was spent down on the bottom floors, assessing the factory and its workers. They were eyeing him with trepidation and he knew his father was right; he needed to speak with them soon. The work was going slow and he noticed obvious mistakes being made. He knew a lot of that had to do with their lack of enthusiasm for underpaid work and part of it had to do with the fact they were so unsure of their futures.
He decided to call a meeting right away. It wasn’t the employees’ fault that the previous owner was a horrible man. Derek knew their attitudes would change, once they knew the changes he was making.
He spoke to his men, who went in search of the foreman on each floor. It only took about thirty minutes and he had all the factory workers assembled. He looked out at the massive crowd. There were about five-hundred faces looking up at him with fear. The job market was already terrible and all the people were in fear of joining the ranks of the unemployed.